Harvest...in a tin?!!

I've had a note back from my son's school requesting items to donate to a local charity for needy families and it's headed 'Harvest - Supporting the Local Community'.

Great idea - I used to love Harvest Festival at school with the wonderful display of seasonal food. I continued to read the note to see what they wanted us to donate and was appalled:

'dried and tinned food'...'tinned meat, tinned vegetables,cereals,pasta,rice,tea,coffee,sugar,long-life milk,jams and other spreads,biscuits,bottles of squash' - WTF? Harvest time?

Now I fully appreciate this charity knows it's clientele well enough to realise any fresh food will not be eaten but this makes me thoroughly sad. I almost want to send a marrow in protest!!!
However, I'll probably have to pick the healthiest option and go for pasta or rice - at least then I'll be supporting the Italian and Far Eastern harvests!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It brought back a comment from a few years ago from someone I used to work with in my time as a Weight Watcher's leader. She was a 'homemaker' but not in my own home baking, fresh food (minimal housework), hair like a haystack sort of a way - more in a getting your nails and hair done at £100 a time, immaculate house and buying jacket potatoes ready-made with fillings sort of a way - and I'm certainly not saying my way is THE way - just MY way.

We were talking about veg - during a WW meeting - and she said 'Ooh yes, I love carrots.' no surprises there then - but why did she have to say 'I could eat them straight out of the tin' - whaaaaaaat?


Ho hum.

Glad that's dealt with then.

So today I 'ave been mostly clearing out my kitchen cupboards (said in a 'Jesse's diets' from the Fast Show voice - if anyone in UK remembers him!).
Tesco had a BOGOFF (love writing that!) on McDougall's Flour - great girls it's 'no need to sift' flour - sift, who are they kidding!! When I got home it dawned on me I had nowhere to put it in my minuscule kitchen but the cupboards were long overdue for a clear out.

I even took all the magnets off the fridge, found the doors and cleaned them!

I then mucked about rearranging said magnets because hey, I've nothing more pressing to do (!!). If you want to read them try clicking on the photos to enlarge them, as I foolishly imported small photos and can't be a**ed (sorry!) changing to legible ones ... see, a closet rebel, that's me!

There seems to be a bit of a weight issue theme doesn't there!

The Marjorie Daws character from Little Britain was, in fact, modelled on me when I was a WW Leader - joke ;-)

A big Thank You to the very talented Kate from DizzyDesigns

for posting this beautiful package out to me so quickly. My first etsy purchase!

Ooh, pretty package - what could be in there?

Here's a clue...

It just gets prettier, the more you unwrap...

but the very best bit is inside...

The photo goes nowhere near doing this gorgeous glass pendant any justice. Kate you are very clever and I'm thrilled with my necklace xx

The kids have got friends round after school so I'm just pinching a minute to finish my post - they are all upstairs getting changed and doing lots of shouting at the moment. Any second now four hungry children will descend for an after school snack.

Wish me luck ... there's a glass (or two) of Chardonnay at the end of this xxx