Friday 22 April 2016

Friday's Fave Five 22/4/16

http://susannesspace.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/fridays-fave-five-376.html

It's Friday so it's time to join in with Suzanne's Fave Five.  Click on the picture above to visit her site and see who else is playing.

My five for this week are:

1.  No more empty nest.  My son and his wife moved back in at the weekend.  They'll probably be with us for about 18 months while they try and save enough money to get their own place.  It makes no sense for them to continue renting when we have all the space here.  But of course it will be a learning curve as we get used to living with one another.  Fortunately I get on well with my DIL and they are both working full time so we won't see an awful lot of them.  But it's good to have the company.

2.  Bluebells.  I mentioned last week that we wanted to get over to our local woodland park but didn't make it.  This week we did.

 Just in time too as the bluebells were just starting to wilt a bit.

3.  Birthday dinner - it was hubby's birthday on Monday and we went out for a meal at a Chinese restaurant on Saturday with our youngest son and his wife and my daughter and her wife.  It was lovely but I ate way too much!

4.  Time - I'm loving having time to do the things I want to do.  I've been busy with the A-Z blogging challenge and doing more reading and I'm working on my cooking (see below).  Life's too short to worry about the chores and the things that need doing in the house!

5.  Cooking.  Having my DIL living with us now has made me aware that I need to up my cooking game a bit.  But that's a good thing because I've wanted to do that for a while.  Left to my own devices I would cook the same things over and over, probably why hubby has taken over doing a lot of the cooking.  I'd also avoid cooking recipes with things I don't like - or imagine I don't like.  So I'm trying to be more adventureous and less repetitive.  Yesterday I cooked chilli con carne from scratch.  Not particularly a favourite of mine as I'm not a lover of pulses but I'm gradually getting used to them.  It seemed to go down well.

Have a great weekend all and if you're looking for today's A-Z post you can find it here.

12 comments:

  1. That's funny, my husband had his birthday last Wednesday So you have full house again, I think if that happens both parties have to put some water in their wine, as we say, but it's good for them that you have enough space !

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    1. I'm enjoying the company and so far so good, otherwise I might be adding wine to my water! lol

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  2. Lovely to be in a field of bluebells!
    How kind of you to re-open your nest and adjust to having (and cooking for) family living with you. Perhaps you and your DIL will sharpen each other's culinary skills.

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    1. I hope it will definitely make me plan more when cooking.

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  3. hope your husband had a blessed birthday

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  4. Hopefully your DIL will be able to pitch in and help some with the cooking. I'd be assigning certain days and then enjoy the help! :)

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  5. We had our son and d-i-l here for a few months when they first moved here - he was ill and couldn't work for a time. It went ok, but we were all glad when they could get their own place.

    Left to my own devices, I would probably just make heat-and-eat dinners so I could use the time doing other things I enjoy more. Yet I do enjoy family get-togethers around the table, and they do challenge me to try new things.

    The birthday dinner sounds fun!

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  6. Happy belated birthday to your hubby! Chinese food is so easy to overindulge in...delicious. I make my chili with ground beef and beans. Have you tried it that way? Might not be so overwhelming with the beans then for ya. Sweet field of bluebells. Love spring!

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    1. Thanks, the chilli had ground beef, kidney beans and chick peas plus lots of veg so I didn't notice the beans and peas so much.

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    2. I've never tried chickpeas in them. I love them so I will have to give this a try!

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  7. Ha! It's funny how quickly an empty nest can get filled up! Our daughter and son-in-law are living in our basement after an extraordinary rent hike on their apartment. Sounds like you had a good week enjoying life. Hope your weekend is going well.

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  8. My hubby and I helped his parents with empty nest transition by moving in with them a couple of times for short periods. Fortunately I loved my mother in law!
    Happy Birthday to your hubby!
    That woodland walk looks wonderful--love the bluebells.

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