Laura's Rebel Journey

WRITER - four months done and into my fifth. CONSCIOUS CONSUMER -  Clause 2 - just this final month left to only buy myself second-hand clothes.  This one works well because I really do NOT like shopping for clothes anyway. Clause 6 - I have made more cross-stitch items for presents, so this clause is now complete. BAKER - I'm using this for the Quarterly Challenge, but I don't think I'll be able to complete it by the end of the year.  I'll roll it over into 2023 and see if I can complete it. Corn bread done.  One more bread needed. No further progress on cakes. No further progress on biscuits. Still no photo of the crumbles! Savoury pie has become a sweet pie.  A much better swap as the family were very pleased with blueberry and apple pie. 😋 No progress made on eclairs, and I'm not sure there will be at this rate. Pumpkin pie has been made as it is indeed a "sweet tart".  The pastry was surprisingly successful. Batch bake done. No further progress on...

 Monday 21st - honestly, it's getting ridiculous.  RAIN! Tuesday 22nd - overcast today, but that's as it should be on the day that Lavender left us.😢 Wednesday 23rd - saw Jupiter on the way to football this evening.  By the time I got back home though...clouds. Thursday 24th - rain Friday 25th - brief break in the weather this evening, but I didn't get outside fast enough. Saturday 26th - rain Sunday 27th - rain

 Look, I know these things are called 'pies', but it isn't a pie, it's a tart.  That's a gluten and dairy free sweet tart crust that I had to make in order to create this dessert.  So this is the completion of Clause 7 - A Sweet Tart . Technically, this is also part of Clause 3 of the Foodie badge 'cook with at least three ingredients you have never used before' .  The pastry includes Trex , which I had never even heard of before making this, AND it's dairy free, so I could've been baking with it for years.  That'll be going into more bakes from now on.

  This is for the Clause that asks you to try five different varities of something.  I've chosen local honeys, because that's good for the Bees.  I'll judge them when I open them.

  My second type of bread - cornbread!  I baked this as individual portions rather than in a loaf as I'm the only one in the family who eats them and I count the calories easier this way.

 I had a load of blueberries to use up, so I gave this pie a try.  It's an odd combination of pie and crumble, but it worked a lot better than any of my recent crumble attempts.  I even remembered to take a photo! Clause 5 of the Baker badge is actually a savoury pie, not a sweet pie, but there all the pie recipes I feel I could attempt meet with a lot of negative noises from the family.  I feel there's little point baking something that nobody will eat. So here is a sweet pie.

  Clause 1 - Ticket to Ride falls into the Category of 'Train' on Wikipedia.  We own a few versions of the real life board game, but I played this digitally with my daughter.  She played yellow.  She won.

 This week I would hope to see the Leonids reaching their maximum on the nights of 17th and 18th November. Monday 14th - overcast and saw nothing Tuesday 15th - raining.  I checked the weather forecast, and it predicts overcast / rain for the rest of this week and into next! Wednesday 16th - raining.  I chose Autumn for this as it's usually crisp, clear evenings, the clocks go back and you can stargaze earlier in the evening.  Unlike the summer when you have to stay up until gone 10pm to see anything decent.  Oh well, I will continue to persevere! Thursday 17th - it rained again. Friday 18th - rain Saturday 19th - rain Sunday 20th - it was sunny all day! Of course, by the time evening fell it was overcast. What a wonderful week of Stargazing!

  Clause 1 - Everdell falls into the category of "City Building" on Board Game Geek .  This is also one of the games that I'm counting for Clause 7 'visit a board game cafe and play at least three games that you have never played before' .  It was so good that I came home and imediately bought it.  That is the drawback with visiting board game cafes.

  Clause 1 - Patchwork falls under the category of 'two-player' on Wikipedia. Clause  11 - Play a digital version of a board game.  I have Patchwork on my iPad so I can play it against the AI, this time I played it with my daughter.

  Clause 9 - Display your collection of fossils in an interesting way. This is my current collection of rocks and fossils that I keep with my Earth science books. I'm not focusing on this badge yet, so I may well have a rearrange of these at some point, but this Clause is otherwise done.

  I am attempting to get new foods into my daughter.  She recently tried Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and really enjoyed them, so I was hopeful that peanut butter might be enjoyed as well.  Sadly no, which meant we were left with a large pot of peanut butter. So we made these three ingredient peanut butter cookies .  Unfortunately, she wasn't keen on them either, even coated with custard.  Luckily, they are gluten and dairy free, which means I can eat them, but doesn't help with the calorie counting! However, I am determined to get her liking peanut butter, so as well as this being Clause 3 of the Baker Badge ( three types of biscuit ), this is also Clause 9 of the Foodie Badge ( three variations on the same dish ).  I'm going to attempt a regular recipe that involves more ingredients, perhaps the flour will help take away some of the peanutiness?!   Also going to try a Vegan recipe so I don't need an egg.  We are going to experience an egg sho...

 I don't really have a Farmer's Market to visit, but we do have a number of local delis and similar shops that sell locally produced items.  Our Oddbox also delivers food that comes from local producers. Clause 7 - had some lovely local apples from the Oddbox this week.  Too small and too odd, but they're lovely.  I also bought some honey made by local bees - Cambridge Honeybees .  Also delicious.

 Monday 7th November - rained. Tuesday 8th - today is the first full moon of November.  Fellow Rebel Emma tells me that this is a Beaver Moon.  Her neighbour celebrates the full moons by meeting with friends and drinking gin, which is irrelevant to stargazing but still a genius idea. Anyway, it is known as a Beaver Moon as this was the ideal time to set traps before the swamps froze.  Thus ensuring a good collection of pelts ready for the winter months. Despite the patchy clouds tonight I was able to see the moon, Jupiter and Mars.  Possibly Arcturus as well Wednesday 9th - the moon was beautiful tonight. Jupiter and Mars still looking good. Saw Vega in the early evening.

 Clauses 1 through 3 are compulsory.  Then choose five of the remaining Clauses. Clause 1 - Learn about at least ten different categories of board game, and play at least one from each category. I'm not sure that what Charley means by "category".  What Wikipedia considers a board game category and what Board Game Geek consider to be a category are not necessarily the same thing.  This first list uses Wikipedia categories. Abstract Strategy - Azul Cooperative - Forbidden Island Dexterity - Ice Cool German-style (or Euro) - Catan Guessing - Battleship Paper-and-Pencil - Patchwork Doodle Story-telling - Dixit Tile-based - Carcassonne Train - Ticket to Ride Two-player only - Patchwork  Looking at the Board Game Geek list of Categories , here is a second list of games. Animals - Wingspan  Card - Sleeping Queens Children's - Rhino Hero Super Battle City Building - Everdell Dice - Dragonrealm Environmental - Mariposas Farming - Takenoko Party Games - Sushi ...

  Two pages from my Rebel Journal.  These are the upcoming Astronomical Events and the Phases of the Moon.  With some added stickers and washi tape from Under the Rowan Trees . 😍

 If it doesn't appear here, then I'm not doing it! One of the things I find a little annoying throughout the books, though, is having to spend money on things in a certain time frame.  Only three months to complete five crafts seems a little unfair as there is an outlay involved unless you share supplies with a friend or already have them to hand.  This crops up a few times and is why I am not going to bother with Theatre Critic.  Five plays in three months?!  Different genres as well. I suppose I could adapt, and I certainly shall in some areas.  You are allowed to modify Clauses to suit yourself as long as you remain in the Spirit of the badge, but I don't see how you can modify things like Theatre Critic unless you totally alter the time frame. CREATIVE BUILDER - DONE CRAFT PART TWO - time frame of three months to complete five projects .  I have an embroidery kit to do, so I'm glad that this now counts.  I have abandoned decoupage , so ...

 It came! Time to start planning some new badges. 😍

 One of the clauses in the current Quarterly Challenge for the Rebel 1st Birthday, is to learn to sing Happy Birthday in another language.  I figured I could learn to sing it in Klingon, because why not? The Klingon Wiki offers a few variations which can be found here . I have no idea how to pronounce any of that, so I probably can't count it, although I have learnt something. May your birthday cause you to be happy! DuQuchmoHjaj qoSlIj!

 I have a physical logbook, which also counts towards the November Challenge of writing every day.  I'm writing this today, so here's some writing for November 6th. Tick! Tuesday 1st November - rained. Wednesday 2nd November - rained. Thursday 3rd November - clear skies, but out pretty early so the summer triangle was still visible in the sky.  Cygnus very easy to see. Moon is currently a waxing gibbous and Jupiter was clearly visible to the left of the moon. Friday 4th November - same conditions as yesterday.  I forgot to look at Jupiter with the binoculars to see if the moons were visible. Saturday 5th November - rained.  Didn't even bother with the fireworks. Sunday 6th November - clouds with a bit of moonshine poking through.

Clause 5 - A couple of pages from my Rebel Journal.  I chose ten of my favourite constellations in the Northern Hemisphere, which made more sense than chosing things in the Southern Hemisphere that I haven't seen for literal decades! I have also done a spread about the history of space exploration for Clause 6, but it didn't turn out as well I wanted.  So no photo!

  CRAFT - I have completed this, although I still have a candle kit to try. CRITIC - I have completed this and blogged about it.  I also used this for the Quarterly Challenge. WRITER - three months done and into the fourth month. CONSCIOUS CONSUMER   Clause 2 - two months left to only buy myself second-hand clothes. Clause 6 - I have the printing blocks and need to make at least two more items. I'm using this for the Quarterly Challenge. FUNDRAISER - made a final bank donation today, so this complete. BAKER - I'm using this for the Quarterly Challenge. Banana Bread done - two more breads needed. Rock cakes and Carrot Cake done - need one more cake. No progress made on biscuits. Apple crumble made twice and forgot to take photos twice. Savoury Pie - I'm unsure what to do for this when half the family won't even eat it.  May need to adapt. No progress made on eclairs. Sweet Tart - I'm going to make a pumpkin pie, which is actually a sweet tart, despite the name. Spo...