All I did was take approx. one dozen roses worth of petals, and steeped them in four cups boiling water (like you do tea) till they were discoloured.

After squeezing as much moisture as I could out of the petals I put the water (which smelt heavenly) onto the stove, brought it to the boil and added four cups of sugar, stirring till the sugar dissolved.

Then I left it on a low boil till it reached the jelly stage (where you take a tablespoons worth, put it on a small plate and put it in the freezer for a tiny while, and when it comes out its thick and slimy), and they I chucked it into my ready jars!

Oh! The smell in my kitchen was almost worth paying money to experience!

Better still, my husband has forbidden me to give any more of it away as he wants it all to himself! Isn't he a love?

If you have an excess in roses that are past the pretty stage in their bloom, I strongly recommend to try this instead of just throwing them away! It is worth it for the smell alone, let alone the beautiful flavour of the spread!

The site is www.faceofthefuture.org.uk/

Here's what it came up with for me:

Michael discovered that the grout was falling away left right and center, and some of the tiles were easily lifted off, so he has chipped them all away and left it to dry so he can fix it all properly, but it means the children have their wsh in the laundry tub, and Michael and I can only have sponge baths (as we don't fit!!)

Augh!!! I hate not being able to have a shower!!!

And its been sooooo hot!

I am a bit paranoid about mold, though, as my Mum caught pneumonia  because of mold spores, and I really, REALLY don't want to catch pneumonia!!!!!

On the plus side, however, I'm sure we're saving HEAPS on our water bill!

Hadassah has no interest in letters or numbers, but she has better dress sense than any child her age I know.

Phebe can count to three, and she is saying all sorts of words now, AND gives the BEST bear hugs ever!!

Can any one help me out? I do not have time to go to each individual and check to see what I've missed, but I do not want to miss anything either!!

But our church is having a garage sale and we wanted to help, and so I started to half heartedly look through this and that, saw some stuff I didn't really love, and so it began!

Three car loads later and we are left considerable lighter and wondering where we kept all the stuff.

But wait - theres more! There are still pockets of stuff to look through, and I just can't seem to stop!

Help me! Somebody! Please! I've caught the spring cleaning bug!!

There is only one ears nose and throat doctor in the valley, and its really hard to see him, and he cannot see Michael about this problem till next month.

It is very hard to deal with this as we are helpless to fix it, the painkillers only dull the pain not kill it, and he has been getting nasty bouts of temper and unreasonableness because of the pain that his depression medication should control and is not.

I keep telling myself that it'll be okay and I am trying very hard to believe myself, but sometimes my cheerful self is very small and quiet.

Well, the house is up and running again! We still have to paint, lay floor and carpet and finish many, many little things, but it is weather proof, and we are, for the most part, moved in! Yay! The house feels a lot bigger, and Michael and I wonder how we every survived with it the size it was before!

Malachi is in his own room, with his own furniture, and his own toys, and his own STUFF, and the girls are in their own room also, and now we are trying to teach them the meaning of the term, 'Respect of privacy'! Slow going, but I know we'll get there in the end .

The bathroom is at least twice the size of the old one! We are LOVING it!!!!

Oh yea, and we hardly miss the yard space either!

Michael has had his sinus surgery, and is feeling very sore and sorry for himself, and there is the chance, we've been told, that the problem may come back again, but we are optimistic . . .  let me rephrase that, I'M optimistic, Michael's a grump, and when he feels up to it, the work will start again, and the house will be finished . We've also got a sleep apnia machine to help with Michael's snoring when he can breath through his nose again.

Malachi is learning to sound out his words, now, and he can write all the alphabet, and know what he's writing!! Hadassah has extremely good dress sense, as is dressing herself and learning to do her hair. Phebe is chattering away now, and you can sort of understand her, and she is an amazing (and terrifying) climber!!

Michael, as I mentioned earlier, is a grump, and I have hit  65 kilo's !!!

The builders have arrived a week early, the back yard is a muddy swamp, the front yard is okay, but we need to leave the front door open so that the children have access, and the cold, cold, COLD wind usually blows from that direction!

I am starting to get excited now. Its hard for me to get excited about something when some one is only telling me about it, as so often words amount to very little, but to SEE it happening is completely different!!

I hope that the whole build  finishes as quickly as it started!

Oh yea, and its SO cute - the two older children have taken to sitting on top of the chest of drawers with their noses pressed against the window pane watching the the builders work!

Malachi is in the preschool class and is learning balance, propultion, and blowing bubbles. His confidence grows by the lesson, and he is a joy to watch!

Hadassah is still in the infant class, will be till she reches three and a half, so she needs a parent in the water with her, but she is getting better. She just worked out last lesson that she can hold her breath and look under water!! Still has trouble blowing bubbles though. Recons you have to suck the water in and then blow it out (eeuw! eeuw! eeuw!!!!).

Phebe is in the same class as her sister, and at just a year old is the youngest of the group, but she has the time of her life! I'm also impressed, as she understands blowing bubbles, and even spits the water out most times she gets a snoot full!

I just enjoy being in the warm water, but Michael has a lot of trouble as the chlorine interacts badly with his sinus, and at the end of the morning when he comes home he's a write off for the rest of the day. When Hadassah is old enough to do it herself he's gonna stop coming, poot thing.

It was great! We stayed in the tent, and my three children were doted on by my eight brothers and sisters! (my youngest sister is actually five or so months younger than Malachi!) And I got to spend quality time with Mum.

Problem is, two nights is not long enough for me to consider it a 'holiday', so one has to find another word that fits, and I think 'break' does the job nicely!

Yesterday was 35 degrees, and it was great! The children were in ABC Chirdcare (affectionatly known as 'dog house' by the children) and Michael and I spent the day in the pool and watching TV. Then night came and it cooled off maybe 7 degrees? And by the time this morning made an appearence I'm over it. Over just about everything. Grump, grump, grump!!

I shall live.

The children are coping really well. They are all pretty fair, like me, so I need to keep them inside, and we are getting really creative, activity wise! Even Malachi is acting as if he was never in the hospital for major surgery a week ago.

I hope I am the only one suffering in the warm weather!

It is now 4 hours later and all I've heard is that they think it might be apendicitis.

I know he'll be alright. Thats what doctors are paid for, right?