Valentine's treats!

We all had a lovely lazy start to the day and pottered about, managing to watch some of Saturday Morning Kitchen. As usual, I caught up with some things I hadn't been able to do while I was at work, and Sophie hoovered the house, bless her!

The weather in the morning was sunny and dry, and I've noticed all the bulbs I planted in the Autumn starting to really poke their way through the soil. Hopefully, it won't be long before we have a riot of Spring colour!

For lunch, we enjoyed the leftover pasta dish I'd made on Thursday and after we'd eaten and cleared away, we decided to pop to Beckworth so Sophie could get some foodie treats for Zain and Laura as Valentine's gifts. 

The restaurant looked busy, and I was glad we'd eaten lunch at home! We pottered about and I bought two beautiful iced muffins and a bottle of Prosecco for my Mum and Dad from each other as a surprise. Sophie bought cards and some sweets. There were red hearts and Easter goodies everywhere!

We drove down to Riverside and I treated Sophie to a coffee in the Costa outlet in Next. Afterwards, we had a look around the housewares part of the shop and I was astounded to see some strange things for sale, at ridiculous prices!

£44 - I mean, why?

Why would anyone part with good money for this tat? There was also a sheep with a bear doing a piggyback over it... the mind boggles! The most bizarre one, for me though, was an umbrella stand made of fake wood with a bear on a swing priced at an astonishing £72!

Maybe I'm missing the point, and there were a lot of good reviews, but I can think of better ways to spend my money!

After Next we briefly called into Boots and then made our way to Laura's house to drop off her card and sweets. The traffic was horrendous as the A45 from the large Queen Eleanor roundabout to junction 15 of the M1 had been closed and would remain that way all weekend for roadworks. Sophie was due to drive to Milton Keynes tomorrow to meet Zain so she decided, very sensibly, to take the train instead, and Zain could pick her up from the station.

Laura was delighted with her gifts, and we made our way home through the town which was a bit of pain as the traffic was heavy again. We got home after Keith, who'd been to see Sileby play, and enjoyed a drink and a game of Scrabble. We had decided to cook pork steaks in homemade breadcrumbs with a cheese sauce, and to be honest, I don't think any of us wanted to do this so late in the day, but we prepared everything before we sat down to relax.

After dinner (which was delicious) we watched an Oscar-nominated film, The Power of the Dog. Halfway through, I could see Keith wasn't enjoying it so we turned it off. No doubt it will probably win, but it was a bit strange!