The FastDay Forum

We are a well oiled machine Debs. Or well muddied one.
One springer goes in end washroom, 2 dogs up front and puppy in cage by the door. Good job it's a big caravan! They are trained not to disturb our sleep and all works well. At home, they are not allowed in our bedroom.
It's so wet again today that we are reconsidering our site and may well move the van to one which has got good drainage and isn't waterlogged. Lovely though it is here, it's no fun wading through mud.

Oh dear Penny my dogs would be most put out if they couldn't sleep in the bedroom. They sleep in my bed! It's great in the winter...not so good in the summer!

By the way, Penny, is Captain Phillips any good?

Bean

Cold potatoes that reminds me that my grandmother in laws favorite midnight snack was cold potatoes, pickled herrings and black bread.

She must be Swedish your grandma or maybe Russian

Rain has stopped the patio building. Only 6 slabs left to lay as well. But it was so uncomfortable it wasn't fun any more. A hot shower is on the cards, unless it shows a streak of blue at the horizon in the next 20 minutes or so.
The downstairs carpets will need a shampoo after all this. Even with leaving the boots at the door, the mud still works its way into the rest of the house. I can't even mop as the mop is now the other side of the mud.
Tomorrow is clips out and the delivery of the wood for the retaining wall and the planters.

Know what you mean about the mud, Julie. We lifted our caravan carpets and have brought them home. I have never been anywhere so muddy.
Good luck with the clips tomorrow x

Just back from a really great weekend away as a family, albeit we did different things...

I was on a two-day course to become an accredited sugarcraft demonstrator. Hubby and the girls dropped me off on Saturday morning, tootled off to Legoland and had a great time. Picked me up late on Saturday afternoon and we all stayed at a local premier inn. This morning the dropped me off again and went off to legoland again! We had Merlin passes which expired today, so perfect timing.

The course was brilliant; great group of trainees and trainers, and a LOT learned. The great things was that we all had to do a ten minutes demo, and with no prior knowledge of the other demos, we all did something very different. We were videoed and later watched ourselves back one-to-one, and had a five minute dissection. I'm proud to say that my demo was declared to be "brilliant" and the trainer only had two very minor points to make. Both of which I would have corrected had I come home last night and had the means to add some props. I feel really positive

We're all exhausted but happy this evening!

sounds like a good time was had by all @Winsome
Having seen examples of your fantastic cake artistry I'm not surprised you were judged so well, brilliant outcome and a great boost to your confidence I'm sure! xx

So @winsome are you now an accredited demonstrator? Well done whatever happens x

Thanks Callyanna

Pennyforthem, not yet. I have to have two demonstrations assessed before I am accredited, and they have to be at least a couple of months and demos apart. This is so that the assessors can see that the trainee has taken on board any comments made in the first assessment. The time limit between the course and getting the accreditation is three years, so I have plenty of time

Well done @Winsome

@PennyforThem - it may be boggy but I have serious caravan envy!

[carieoates]

Well done @Winsome

@PennyforThem - it may be boggy but I have serious caravan envy!

Me too
I miss our caravan.
My wish is to have a gap year travelling in a camper van. Australia is my destination.

Any takers.

I could share the driving @Carieoates!

How funny, I always wanted to travel in a camper van...but across America!

@Winsome? Will we get to see your "demonstration cakes" when the time comes? I don't think I've ever seen better cake decorations before (even in books) so I just know you'll pass easily...and with distinction! Why don't you enter the Great British Bake Off?

Ah well, getting tired now as the day is closing. Bean is off to bed now. I gut, night everyone!

Bean xx

Bless you Beanie, you are very kind to say so but I have to be really honest here and say that if you ever went to a sugarcraft exhibition, or looked through some of the many specialist icing books I own, you would know that I'm pretty mediocre. That's not false modesty either; there is some AMAZING edible stuff out there. It never stops blowing my mind even after years of being really into the craft. It's good to have something to aspire to

One of the ladies training this weekend is already a well established teacher and has been doing sugarcraft for over twenty years. She just isn't BSG accredited, and as she wants to make a second career out of teaching, she's getting boxes ticked so to speak. Her thing is royal icing and her work was stunning! I'm hoping to go on one of her courses in the future because she is clearly a brilliant teacher too.

The little bunny I made today was one I did with my after school club. Very straightforward, but yes, I'll post a picture at some point. Thanks for asking

Hi @Debs- When you mentioned daylight savings time ending, I got thinking about Perth time, my sister lives there and when I want to phone her I got to wait till late, late for me 11 pm for a chat, 3 hours behind in the winter time. Then I got thinking you do fly in and out from Tassie to WA, how the heck do you cope with time shift. I would think it would be a biggy to recover from.