Last week I thought I would bake some cookies... simple recipe and I have used it before and they turn out lovely... but something must have been different this time, Arabian flour for one thing, and Arabian sugar for another!! The mix seemed stodgier than I remember and it didn't behave the way I expected it to... when I plonked lumps of it on the cookie tray... it stayed in lumps and what is even worse, even after baking them they didn't change shape into flat round cookies... they came out in those very same spoldges as they went in!! But... we don't judge a book by its cover, do we? So I tried one... ummmm, ok, the cover of this particular book was trying very hard to tell us something ahead of actually eating it!! Chris came home from work and inspected them, and bless his cotton socks, in the 10 years we have been married he has bravely eaten everything I have ever cooked, so he ate one and then offered to take the rest to work to distribute through the office 'to get rid of them'.... He brought the container back from work after a week... still with splodges pretending to be cookies inside!! He apologised but said he couldn't give them away!! Oh dear, that's my reputation trashed in the new job.... but Chris says its not so bad as now people feel sorry for him and give him stuff that there wives have baked!! LOL
Well, not being one to give up too easily this morning the 3 bananas hanging off the banana tree thingimebob were looking particularly sad and over-ripe and Chris suggested cooking something with them rather than waste them.... so I did a search on the Net and found a recipe for Banana Bread... checked cupboards and had the ingredients so started mixing... it takes an hour to bake banana bread.... that's one entire hour with your house filled with the most delicious baking smell.... then you have to wait for it to cool down!!
So I cut a slice off, take a bite and it is divine!! No ways am I sending this stuff into the office.... it will be nothing short of a miracle if there is any left when Chris gets in from work tonight!!
When we were on holiday in Egypt, at one of the hotels the signs on the toilet doors to indicate ladies or gents were beautiful and Mum and I fell in love with them. We did have a look about for something similar but to no avail, so I told Mum I would give it a go and see if I could make her something similar. Mum, hope this will do.... it's in the post!! :)
Another piece completed! This piece belongs to She and her request involved browns and 'grunginess' and oh... yes, a mini book!! LOL Well, I figure I got 70% of it covered... as I haven't a cookin' clue how to make this appear 'grungy' and in the words of a Meatloaf song 'two out of three aint bad'....
This is the mini book, which is attached with magnet so She can remove it if she wishes.
I made the pages little pockets and put tags inside them (and yes, you can see the size of the little beggar as that is my thumb nail in a lovely shade of green polish)!!
These are the tags, not having a remit for a theme for the mini book I have used quotes from the brilliant book by Kobi Yomada titled She.... which I figured was appropriate!! 
So, I'm off to start on another jiggie piece... what's the betting she wants a mini book too??!! 
So, another jiggie piece completed, this is Juliwan's and her chosen theme is China and surprisingly, she wanted a mini book on hers too.... (do you see a pattern here)???
The mini book is attached with magnets so it can be removed and read. I have to admit I was perplexed as to what to fill the mini book with and in the end used an old favourite song by T'Pau 'China in My Hand'.... and yes, I do know that the china of the song has nothing to do with China the country... but I love the words so hope Juliwan does too!
On the backs of the pages I have used Chinese symbols - let's hope there are no Chinese readers of my blog that will now tell me they are upside or sideways or something! ;)
Hopefully she will like it.... 
So, being a complete nutter, I joined this year's Jigsaw Puzzle Swap on UKScrappers and this is my first piece. This is Paddy's and she chose the theme of Christmas and decided she wanted a mini book on her piece! (Can't imagine why)!! ;)
The jigsaw pieces are about 5" x 5", with the obvious bits missing! The mini book is 2" x 2" and anyone who has worked on books less than 6" x 6" will tell you... there isn't a lot of space on those pages, so you can imagine what it was like playing with these little devils!! Well, least said soonest mended, as my old Granny would say! (The air in the scrap room was blue on a few occasions)!! ;)
LOL... I even wrote inside that teeny weeny card!! (its ok, the men in white coats are coming by tomorrow).
