#Jusjojan / #One Liner Wednesday - 30/1/19

 Here's the reason for my missing blogs!

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 

Today's prompt is linked to One Liner Wednesday which is also hosted by Linda.

#Jusjojan - 27/1/19 - Cathartic

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here.

Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 27th is brought to you by Enthralling Journey! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Enthralling Journey’s word for our prompt today is “cathartic.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

Well I knew things were going too well, posting nearly every day and then oops, a two day blank!  Including a Friday when I often post several meme type posts.  

My routine was different this week, looking after Grandson Nathan two days running on Wednesday and Thursday left me very tired on Friday so I opted for some retail therapy and a date night with Hubby.  I needed to pick up a few bits and pieces now that I'm having Grandchildren here regularly, including a travel cot.  We also needed a new kitchen bin as ours was falling apart and I managed to get most of what I needed.

For our "date" we went to a local bar that serves food so no cooking!  It also meant a bit of exercise as we walked there and back.  It was nice to get out but the food was a bit too spicy for my taste and I definitely didn't like the choice of music playing.  It was also a bit loud.  But we were out, together, so that's a win as far as I'm concerned.

Saturday we had Grandson Rory here for a few hours so the travel cot was christened.  He seemed to like it.  He's rolling around and nearly crawling so it will be handy to have somewhere safe to put him if I'm here on my own with him.  Our son had a meeting to attend and our DIL was at a baking course.  They both joined us here later and the bonus was that we all got to try the vegetable pie our DIL had made on the course which was delicious.

The rest of the weekend has been quiet.  Hubby was out with a friend to a music venue today so I put my time to good use.

I have tidied my clothes, shoes etc.  Oh yes I've been watching Marie Kondo on TV and my daughter had her original book.  I didn't follow her methods religiously though but I have tried to store things vertically or folded as she suggests which does make sense.  I certainly did not thank each item that I was throwing out or checking if things I kept were giving me joy.

Now I just have to get around to disposing of the things I'm not keeping but it was definitely cathartic doing the tidying!

No before and after pics though - I forgot to take the befores and I'm not going to parade my underwear on the internet!
 

#Jusjojan - 24/1/19 - Zoomie

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here.

Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 24th is brought to you by Bee! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Bee’s word for our prompt today is “zoomie.” Interpret it any way you’d like, and use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

Well I think I need to be a Zoomie right now as the clock is ticking down on today and I've only just started this post.  I'm also conscious of not getting around to visiting other blogs, particularly those whose owners have kindly left me comments in the last few days.  It's been a busy couple of days as I've looked after Grandson Nathan 2 days running this week.  I usually have a day in between but not this week and it's tiring with no break.  

We were playing zoomies today - he has a new toy which sends cars zooming down a track with lots of sound effects.  He's not quite sure if he likes it yet although by the end of the day he was telling me "more" as in send more cars down and was moving closer to it.  He had quite a few nice things at Christmas so it's easy to keep him entertained even when the weather's cold and horrible like today and we can't get out.

Image nabbed from Fisher Price - hopefully free advertising will earn me a reprieve from any copyright issues!

 Now though I'm zooming off to bed!  Goodnight.

 

#Jusjojan / #1liner Wednesday - 23/1/19

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 

Today's prompt is linked to One Liner Wednesday which is also hosted by Linda -

Help!  I've finished all my Christmas chocolates. What do I do now?

#Jusjojan - 21/1/19 - Echo

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here.

Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 21st is brought to you by Lady Lee! Click here to find her last Just Jot it January post and say hi while you’re there! Lady Lee’s word for our prompt today is “echo.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

We were away at the weekend visiting our Grandson Noah and his parents.  It was lovely to catch up with him but it meant I missed doing a post yesterday and today I am tired and lacking inspiration.  Echo isn't really grabbing me.

Now tomorrow will probably be a different story.  I'll be with our oldest Grandson Nathan who is increasing his vocabulary all the time and often repeats himself or us.  One of his favourite words is "more" and that one is definitely echoed, a lot.

Another favourite word is Granga, he can't quite get Grandpa but he says it a lot as Granga is his favourite person, after his Mummies of course although sometimes that might be debateable! lol  He also loves his "Nana".  He hasn't got the hang of Nanny yet which was what I opted for when we were asked what we wanted to be known as but his "Nana" is quite cute so I think it might stick.  And that gets echoed a lot too.

#SoCS / #Jusjojan - 19/1/19 - Television

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “television.” Talk about your favorite show, past, present, or future, or about the apparatus itself. Enjoy!

Both challenges are hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you can find out more.  It's the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.
 

I could talk about television all day - I watch too much of it.  Well it feels like it to me probably because I definitely don't watch informative programmes.  I do watch the news most days but I watch a lot of UK dramas, quiz shows and American shows.  I don't actually watch daytime TV though and I don't watch Soaps.  If I added up the amount of hours I spend watching TV it probably wouldn't actually be that bad considering I'm retired and can spend my time pretty much as I please.

But I still feel it's a bit of a guilty pleasure so I try and combine it with doing something else - like doing the ironing or knitting, or even blogging if the programme isn't too taxing.  The trouble is I like many of the Scandinavian drama series that get shown here but of course they have subtitles.  Watching TV with subtitles and trying to knit anything complicated (or simple for that matter) do not go well together!  However if I'm in need of a total break from everything else watching something with subtitles is useful as it does focus the mind!

I tend to record a lot of programmes but I'm not convinced that I will ever get around to watching them and occasionally I have to purge the list because I've nearly filled up my recording space. 

As for the apparatus, we don't have a huge TV and it's not wall mounted either.  It works for me.  Unfortunately it doesn't always work for Hubby.  He struggles if he manages to accidentally change the source the TV is showing or for e.g. if I've been watching a DVD and then he wants to view television programmes he gets in such a muddle with the remotes.  And frustrated very quickly.  It's not so bad now that the remote control for our cable service can also be used to adjust the volume.  When you had to use the TV remote for that he found it very trying.

Fortunately we don't have the same taste in TV programmes so we don't often watch together.  Or perhaps it's unfortunate because if something does go wrong he will summon me from wherever I am in the house to sort it out.  And yes I have tried to explain it to him - many times!  Don't even get me started on what happens when the digital system needs retuning from time to time.

#Jusjojan - 18/1/19 - Companionship

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 


Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 18th is brought to you by Di! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Di’s word for our prompt today is “companionship.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

I have been lucky to have a great companion in my Hubby to go through life with me.  We've been married 34 years and I can't imagine anything but death parting us, and hopefully that won't be for some time yet.

I don't think I'd want to find a new companion if anything happened to him.  I'm happy with my own company but I do understand that some people find it harder to be on their own and need someone for companionship, even if it's only on a friendship basis.

I'd be much more likely to get a dog if I was the one left on their own.  Hubby wouldn't.  I'm sure he'd cope on an emotional level but I'm not sure how good he would be on the practical side of things.  Our kids insist that he has to go first (and as he's older than me it's statistically more likely) because they reckon he would drive them nuts with his inability to grasp new technology and often showing "grumpy old man" traits! lol

Hubby would probably cope though, he's much more sociable than me and I'm sure he would soon have women vying to be his companion.   He's been warned though that if ever he allowed that to happen while I'm still here he'd find the locks on the house changed and his belongings in the front garden.  I'm not into sharing!

#Jusjojan - 17/1/19 - Inch.

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 


Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 17th is brought to you by John Holton! Click here to find his last post and say hi while you’re there! John’s word for our prompt today is “inch.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

I'm one of the generation that grew up with inches, feet, yards and miles not to mention pounds, shillings and pence but during my lifetime have had to get to grips with centimetres, metres and kilometres and just pounds and pence.  Thankfully we never had to convert our cash to Euros unless we were venturing abroad. 

Fortunately I've been happy to embrace change and sometimes, especially when taking part in a quiz, or a blog challenge it's been quite useful to know my inches from from my centimetres.

Of course many of our measurements are quite quirky.  An inch is based on the width of a thumb.  So why not call it a thumb?  After all we have a foot?  And what was using schemes that relied on knowing your 12 times table all about?

I'm glad we're now using a metric system but must admit that I'm still happier using miles - unless I'm having to walk them where you'll find me inching along!

#Jusjojan / #1 liner Wednesday - 16/1/19

 Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 

Today's prompt is linked to One Liner Wednesday which is also hosted by Linda -

 

I've done some ironing.  How many chocolates Have I earned?

Rhetorical question.  I've already eaten some!

#Jusjojan - 15/1/19 - Paris

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 


Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 15th is brought to you by Kelli! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Kelli’s word for our prompt today is “Paris.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

I've been to Paris a few times - I'm lucky enough to have a sister-in-law who is married to a French man and they lived in Paris for a while and we visited them.

The visit I most remember though was before that with one of my former boyfriends.  We did the usual touristy things and not being a particularly adventurous eater I'd managed to steer clear of frogs legs or snails.  I was quite pleased with myself on our final meal for ordering in French what I thought was a piece of pork.   Imagine my horror when I found out I actually ordered a pig's trotter.  I confused piece with pied!  It was one of the worst meals I've ever tried to eat and not a mistake I'm likely to repeat.

#Jusjojan - 14/1/19 - Reflection

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 
 
Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 14th is brought to you by Janet! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Janet’s word for our prompt today is “reflection.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

I missed yesterday as we were visiting our Grandson  Nathan who is just back from holiday.  He was really pleased to see us, especially his Granga.  

One of the things I've found with all my Grandsons is that they love looking at their reflection in mirrors.  It's a good way to distract them, especially if they're upset.  Personally I don't enjoy looking at my reflection, it never seems to look quite how I want it to.  The mirrors in my house must be faulty!

#SoCS / #Jusjojan - 12/1/19 - Art

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “art.” Talk about something that’s hanging on your wall. Add a picture, if you’d like. If you have no art on your walls, talk about something in a museum. Have fun!

Both challenges are hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you can find out more.  It's the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.















Well I don't really have works of art on our walls.  We have a few prints here and there but nothing worthy of discussion.  But hey photography is art so I'm going to discuss this - a framed collage of photos that hangs in our kitchen and is often a conversation starter.

The photos are of my hubbies family - hubby is top left, his father is top right and his grandfather is the central photo.  The kids on the strange looking donkey are hubby and a few of his siblings plus his parents and there are various family photos of different generations.  

His family came over from Germany and the shop (below hubby) is near Victoria Park in London's East End.  It was run at the time by his Great Grandfather as a bakery.  It's still there and last time hubby went past it was back to being a cafe / cake shop.  It has also been an interiors shop at one time and Hubby's Grandfather ran it as a butchers.

Family members have traced the family tree back to relations in Germany and we have visited them and a few have been here.  It's good to know your roots.

Sadly this collage reminds me of how much I need to work on our photos.  I have lots of old black and white photos from my Mum and my Grandmother that need sorting and putting into albums.  The kids do love to look at them.  And now I have grandchildren I'm conscious of how many of our photos are just digital and although they could look at them on the computer when they are older, it would be so much nicer to have the real thing to look at.  It's a project on my objectives list (19 in 19) but on the back burner at the moment.  

Hubby used to take a more active interest in photography, belonging to a club at one point and in our first home having a dark room in the cellar.  Now it's too easy just to snap pictures on our phones.  Great to be able to create so many memories but I still prefer to see photos even if hubby's could be a little bit strange.  Of course he'd call them art!

#Jusjojan - 11/1/19 - Flew/flu/flue

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 

Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 11th is brought to you by M! Click here to find her last SoCS post and say hi while you’re there! M’s word for our prompt today is in SoCS style: “flew/flu/flue.” Use one, use them all, use them anywhere in your post or make one or all the theme of your post. Have fun!

I will need to be able to say my fingers flew over the keyboard to get this post done and posted on time.  The day seems to have disappeared on me and dinner was late so clearing up even later and now I'm rushing to get all my Friday posts finished.

Thankfully I don't have flu.  I have actually had real flu in the past (as opposed to a really heavy cold/cough etc that many people would call flu even though they are able to function almost normally)  It really hit me for six and left me with a chest infection requiring antibiotics and it was almost a month before I had a day where I thought "I felt ok today!"   I try and get the flu jab each year but must admit I haven't done that yet this time.

Hmm 2 out of 3.  But actually I do have a flue that comes out of our boiler which is in the kitchen.    There is also a chimney flue to the fireplace in our living room.  We've never actually used it for an open fire.  I believe the former owners of the house did but that was a long time ago so if we had any real desire to use it we would have to get the flue checked out.  Not something I'm keen to do.  Open fires are lovely but I much prefer to enjoy someone else's than mess about with trying to get the fire going and then clearing up the ash etc afterwards.

Well this has definitely been a waffle kind of post but my fingers were definitely flying!  Hope there aren't too many typos!

#Jusjojan - 10/1/19 - Sunrise

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 



Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 10th is brought to you by Toortsie! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Toortsie’s word for our prompt today is “sunrise.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

Hmm, what's a sunrise?  Of course I'm joking because I know what a sunrise is and I have seen a few.  But I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON!

This probably sums me up before I've had my first cup of tea of the day.  (I used the pic as my avatar for a while.)  It takes me a while to get going so I'm not going to see many sunrises.

Actually this time of year would probably be the best time for me to see one as it's so late (around 8am at present)  but of course the weather doesn't often oblige.  It's very murky here this morning and frosty!  Also I don't have a view to the East that would work very well.  Then of course as the year goes on and the weather improves sunrise creeps more and more into what I would say is the middle of the night!  Before 5 am is definitely still night time.

I do have a view to the West for sunsets though.  And when we're away on our big family holiday we have a lovely view of the sunset.  I'm not a great photographer but this was from last August.

Today I was actually awake just before sunrise (8.03 am) because I'm babysitting Grandson Rory later and that's a good reason for getting up!  Who wouldn't want to see this face first thing?  (Apart from his Mummy and Daddy who've probably seen it too many times during the night lol.  He's teething and isn't sleeping very well.  The joys of parenthood.)

#Jusjojan / One Liner Wednesday - 9/1/19

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 

Today's prompt is linked to One Liner Wednesday which is also hosted by Linda -

Yesterday on the theme of "self" I googled my name to see what images came up.  None of me but one of my Mother-in-law (RIP.)  Should I be worried? lol  Where's the chocolate?

(I may have eaten it!)

#Jusjojan 8/1/19 - Self

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here.

Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 8th is brought to you by Ritu! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Ritu’s word for our prompt today is “self.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

Hmm I don't like talking about myself.  I definitely don't like being the centre of attention and I'm absolutely rubbish at taking selfies.  I do like being by myself though.  I can enjoy being at home with just my own company.  I don't even need music playing like some people do.  

I like to think I'm not a selfish person but heaven help anyone who takes my last chocolate!  

Right that's enough about me.  Off to check out more of today's posts. 

#Jusjojan 7/1/19 - Memento

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 


Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 7th is brought to you by Tara! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Tara’s word for our prompt today is “memento.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

I try not to keep lots of mementos.  I'm trying not to have lots of clutter in the house and keeping lots of mementos can add to that.  When my Mum had to be admitted to a nursing home I had to clear out her home.  She had lots of china pigs.  Shelves of them.  Plus clowns.  Not to mention lots of other knick knacks.  Initially I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them so we stored them in the loft.  After she had passed away we started to deal with Mum's stuff.  Most of the pigs went to a summer fete at the school where I worked.  Along with many of the clowns.  I've kept a couple of the clowns which were actually quite expensive china  ones.  The only pigs I kept were 3 little pink ones.  They're really small and I often carry one of them around with me.  

Of course I don't need a memento to remember Mum but I like having something of hers with me.

#Jusjojan - 6/1/19 - Master

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 


The prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 6th is brought to us by Sadje. Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Sadje’s word for our prompt today is “master.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Enjoy!

Well Master is such a masculine term that I'm finding it hard to think of how to compose a post around it.  I haven't even managed to master my time management today.  We had a nice visit from Grandson Rory and his parents and hubby prepared a lovely roast dinner.  No photos from today but this is a recent one of Rory.

He's getting more and more mobile and has definitely mastered the art of rolling over.  He's also getting on to his hands and knees a lot.  He just hasn't worked out how to move forward from there.  Heaven help us when he does!

#Jusjojan / #SoCS 5/1/19

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 

As today is Saturday Just Jot it January is combined with Stream of Consciousness Saturday and the prompt is:

 “sap/sep/sip/sop/sup.” 

Use one or all of these words or find a word that contains them, but most of all, have fun! 

Oh my goodness that's a hard prompt, it's sapping my brain power.  It's quite upsetting that nothing is springing to mind. I might have to sip some wine but then you might think me a sop but I suppose you'd be right!

Pass me a glass.

#Jusjojan - 4/1/19 - Enigmatic

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 

Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 4th is brought to you by Virgobeauty! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Virgobeauty’s word for our prompt today is “enigmatic.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

I find blogging platforms enigmatic.  I'm going to shamelessly plug my guest post on the A-Z Challenge blog here.  (They picked 10 people from those who completed their survey after the last challenge finished to do a guest post.)

I was excited.  I've never done a guest post before.   But then I started thinking about the logistics of it.  How would I get my content on their blog.  Of course they gave helpful advice.  Something about a direct Tweet was mentioned.  Hmm.  I do have a Twitter account but it's rather dormant.  No problem.  There were alternatives.  E-mail an HTML version of the post.

Great I thought.  I know that Blogger lets you toggle between composing and HTML.  Prepare the post.  Tottle to the HTML version, copy it and e-mail to the A-Z team!  Easy.  Right?

Wrong!

For some reason, despite the preview having paragraphs, when it was posted the paragraphs disappeared.  Thank goodness I've included some photos which break the text up otherwise it would just be one long diatrible.  I know I tend to waffle but I do like to punctuate and present my posts.

Why did it happen?  No idea.  It's an enigma to me.