Friday's Fave Five - 24/4/26

Friday's Fave Five is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.  Each week she reminds us to look back and find the things we were grateful for during the week.  It's good to be grateful.  Why not join us?

1)  Well firstly I am grateful for my Hubby.  He had a birthday last Saturday and we celebrated by attending a fund raising evening organised by a friend of his doing what he loves best - singing and playing his guitar.  He was one of several acts that performed at a nearby church and although I don't usually go to watch him play I couldn't miss out on his birthday.  We'll have been married for 42 years in June.  Definitely a keeper.

2)  The quiz night I mentioned last week raised £3967 for the Foodbank which is amazing!  

3)  Spring weather.  It's been sunny all week and although not that hot yet I was still able to get all my washing done and a lot of it dry on the line outside. (I still tumble dry things like underwear and t shirts to cut down on the ironing.) 

4)  Postal votes.  We have elections for councillors next month but our postal votes came yesterday.  I'm grateful not to have to get to the polling station on the day.  Usually it's fine but one less hassle to deal with.

5)  A good meet up for the evening book club on Wednesday.  There were only 5 of us but we had a good discussion about the book and lots of other things too.  We all agreed that we didn't like the book:

Hopefully the next one will be better:

And the jumper is nearly done.  I just need to do a few more rows and then the decorative bottom.  Oh and all the tedious sewing in of ends and seams to do.  Don't hold your breath for a picture of me modelling it!

Have a good weekend all.

Friday's Fave Five (on Saturday) - 26/6/21

Yes I know it's Saturday but I have so many things to be thankful for that I couldn't miss the Friday's Fave 5 again.  Thanks to Susanne for hosting - give her a visit at Living to Tell the Story and see who else joined in.

1.  Well firstly I'm thankful that my laptop seems to have dried out - hubby spilt some wine on it on Thursday evening and yesterday it was typing complete gobblydygook!  Here's a before and after:

Thmeb quj7icykb b rown,b foxb ujujhmpsb overb thmeb lazykb dog

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Just trying to type my password in to get into the laptop took ages and really challenged my patience!  So no blogging done yesterday but this morning all seems ok. Phew!

2)  I'm especially thankful to my GP service and our NHS.  I missed last Friday's Fave Five as I was in hospital.  I'd gone to my GP on the Monday as a cyst I'd had for a while quickly became infected and turned into an abscess.  He prescribed antibiotics and arranged for a breast clinic referral - mainly as a precaution.  By Thursday morning things were much worse but again I was able to make contact with my GP who arranged for me to be seen by the surgical team at the hospital.  This resulted in a hospital stay of 5 nights and intravenous antibiotics.  I came home on Tuesday with oral antibiotics but the wound is healing and I'm feeling better although still tired.  Being in hospital is not restful, especially when you getting woken at 2 am each night for observations and the night staff seem to think the day starts between 5.30 and 6.00 am!  (Yes I know some of you reading this are early risers and will agree with them but I'm a night owl lol.)

3)  While I was in hospital I was seen by the breast clinic and thankfully it was confirmed I'd had a sebaceous cyst in my chest wall and there was nothing causing alarm in the breast.  They managed to do an ultrasound but I was spared a mammogram - that will be done in about 6 weeks just to be completely sure all is ok.  

4)  A catch up with my best friend.  She came for a visit yesterday and brought me this:

Isn't it lovely.  Not the best picture - it says welcome on the sign.

5)  It's my birthday!  Despite all the craziness in the world right now I've lasted another year.  And this year we can celebrate with some of the family - our daughter and youngest son and their families are coming for afternoon tea today.  

I started the day with breakfast in bed and then hubby attempted to do croissants.  Sadly the first ones got forgotten, burnt and ended up on the floor!

Fortunately there were 2 left and they were delicious.

Apologies if I haven't got around to visiting all your blogs yet.  Normal service is gradually resuming.

Have a good weekend all.

Happy birthday me! 26/6/20

This is taken from my Facebook page.

Today is my birthday. Thank you all for your good wishes. Looking back on my Facebook memories of this day many of them revolve around either eating out at some nice restaurant or being with family members. Not today.

Today I'm spending a lazy day at home, just with hubby who brought me breakfast in bed and has just cooked my lunch, washed down with some wine. We have cake to eat later.

This will be a lengthy post as I know it will pop up in my feed again next year and will serve as a good reminder that we're still dealing with Covid-19. We've spent months now under restrictions that have driven us all mad at times. Staying at home, keeping safe, protecting the NHS. Not seeing our families, or friends. We've managed to get our shopping delivered and got our daily exercise nearly every day and Nick and I are still talking to each other!

We've watched the horrors of the ICUs when things were at their peak and remain grateful that those we know who were working on the frontline (Sarah & Coralie) have remained safe and well. We clapped especially for them on the Thursday nights.

Now we're moving through the "Staying Alert" phase to what feels like a "Use Your Common Sense" phase. Sadly many people don't seem to have much common sense as recent news reports show crowded beaches, massive gatherings and, in our local area, forest fires due to the stupidity of people holding BBQs on tinder dry open spaces.

We're still a long way off getting a vaccine, or a reliable antibody test and as for track and trace well good luck with tracing anyone from the beach or mass gatherings with no reliable phone app in place. It would be interesting to know how many parents with kids on the beaches would try and justify how being there was safer than sending their kids to school.

Yes I understand that we need to get the economy moving again and restoring some sort of normality to our lives but it feels like we are rushing into this next phase and I wonder how long before we pay the price? How long before the mothballed Nightingale Hospital down in Docklands needs to be reopened or how long before the temporary morgue near us is dismantled and removed because it's no longer needed?

I know that the reality is that, until a vaccine is available or reliable treatments found, we are going to have to live our lives knowing that Covid-19 is still out there and many of us who are either older or more vulnerable need to continue to be cautious and try our best to avoid getting it.

That's why today, I'm glad to be safe and well, have a roof over my head and money to put food on the table and that my nearest & dearest can say the same.

Happy birthday me!

20 in 20 - Weekly Photo #15 - 12/4/20

Caught sight of this heron on our walk yesterday.  There are lots of ducks, geese and swans in the pond but we've only seen the one heron.  It was a quick walk yesterday - we thought the rain had passed over - we were wrong lol.

And I need to include this one today:

Happy birthday to my hubby!  This was taken last year at a steak restaurant.

Today he'll have to make do with home cooked steak and shop bought dessert.  I did offer to buy cake but he's not that mad about cake and declined.  We'll celebrate properly when things get back to some sort of normality.  

At the rate we're going we'll all be celebrating together - our eldest son's birthday was back in March just as this pandemic was beginning to grow, our daughter's birthday is in the first half of next month and it's unlikely we'll be fully out of lockdown by then.  Maybe by my birthday at the end of June we might be able to do something normal.

By then we'll also have the 3 Grandsons' birthdays to celebrate.  We'll need a big cake!

Birthday celebrations - Part 2

The 2nd part of my birthday celebrations involved spending the weekend with all my favourite people - hubby, our 3 kids, their partners and of course the 3 Grandsons.

We rented a lovely house in a place called Wells next the Sea which is on the north coast of Norfolk. It was really spacious with big rooms, plenty of bathrooms and a big garden for Nathan to run around in!
















We arrived quite late on Friday due to people working. We also had to deal with my daughter spraining her ankle the night before so Nick took our car and brought Rory and his Mummy and Daddy while I drove Nathan & his Mummies in their car. We had fish & chips for dinner.

On Saturday we had a good English breakfast, which set us up for a walk down to the town centre. We were aiming for the beach but is was TOO hot. Especially for young children. We returned to the house for afternoon tea with lots of cake.




And there was also a very large chocolate birthday cake!



We had a lazy start on the Sunday and after lunch and naps for the babies we did make it to the beach!



We'd lost Mike & Liz by that point - they'd gone home to watch a baseball game. (The Boston Red Sox were playing the New York Yankees at the Olympic stadium and they had tickets.)

Rory stayed with us. He was really good - he went to bed without much crying. He stirred at 3 am but I was able to get him back to sleep quite quickly but he was up for the day at 5.30 am!

It wasn't long before we both needed an early nap.




We had to vacate the house by 10 am on the Monday and because of the travelling logistics and picking up the cat again we didn't hang around.

It was lovely to have all the family together and the kids were really good at not letting me do any cooking or clearing up. It was still full on though with the 3 little ones, especially as we had Rory overnight for the first time.

Nick and I wisely decided that a quiet weekend away on our own would be a good idea so we'll be carrying on celebrating in a couple of weeks time!

I also have a couple of outings to look forward to with my boys and Rebecca & Vicky got me an album of all the lovely photos we had taken a few weeks ago.

I'm a very lucky Mummy/Grandmummy!

Wednesday Medley - 26/6/19

The Wednesday Medley is hosted by Terri over at Your Friend from Florida.
The questions usually start with the National Day and follow on from there. No rules and there is no obligation. Link up if you want to over at Terri's site and see who else is joining in the fun.

Today is National Parchment Day!

1. Who knew there was a day to celebrate parchment paper?! Do you ever use parchment when you bake or cook? Tell us about your favorite way to use it, please.

I do use it but not much and usually only when a recipe calls for it.


2. When Terri thinks of parchment paper, she usually thinks about special writing or artist papers. She loves using specialty papers for creating cards or other art projects. Tell us about a creative way you have used parchment paper other than to bake with!


I've used parchment paper in creating cards or signs for things in the past but not recently - I'm not a particularly creative person - I can copy stuff ok and follow instructions but I'm not very original.

3. Terri used to be in the cake business and has piped many borders and roses and leaves and letters, etc., etc. You can make a pastry bag from parchment paper! Have you ever tried decorating a cake with a pastry bag and specialty tips? Do you have a picture to share? Don't be shy, now!

I've never decorated with a pastry bag, I've always used a piping set. I've made quite a few cakes in the past when the children were little but not recently. I got the bug from watching my Dad. He would make and decorate cakes for family events.

4. Tell us about something you baked or cooked in the past week or so that turned out great, parchment or no parchment. Will you share the recipe?
 
I cooked 2 new recipes last week, a lemon chicken and a mushroom stew that we had one night and then I turned it into a pie the next. The chicken was ok but nothing special. The mushroom stew was good - it had mustard in it and artichokes. No parchment involved.

5. The last Wednesday in June!! How can that be? Has your June flown by or have you been able to enjoy each day and make it slow down for you?
 
It has flown by, busy with Grandkids, a few days away and now.......

6. Tell us something about your week so far, if you will.
 
It's my birthday! Celebrating by catching up with my best friend this morning, a meal out with hubby this evening and away with all the kids and grandkids this weekend at the seaside. I'll just gloss over that it's a big 0 birthday lol

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday.  I'm officially old!  I've qualified for free travel but I won't be getting my pension any time soon thanks to the way the pension age for women was increased to be the same as men and then increased again.  (I think I get it when I'm 66 but by the time I get there I'll probably have to wait until I'm 70.)

Yes it's a big O birthday but I've been in denial about it.  No party, no fuss.  Hubby and I will celebrate with a meal at a nice restaurant this evening and then I'm spending the weekend with all the family and grandkids.

Of course it's just a number and somebody tried to tell me 60 is the new 40 to which I replied, tell that to my body.  I know that I've always been a glass half empty sort of person and it's hard to change the habits of a lifetime, particularly when I know I've got less years ahead of me than behind.  BUT I am enjoying life, becoming a grandmother has added a whole new dimension and even if I can't always keep up with the little ones I love spending time with them. 

I'm trying to be more positive.  I want to be around to see the Grandchildren grow up.  Our family is our legacy.  Hubby and I actually sat down at the weekend and talked about changes we could make to our lifestyles to ensure we give ourselves the best chance at that.  I think I'm more on board with it than hubby, especially when I mentioned reducing our alcohol intake.  Although I'm not advocating changes that would make us miserable.  Hubby can be enough of a grumpy old man without my help! 

There are a few things I've learned along the way to this point in my life.  Such as what's important, (family) and what's not (having an immaculate house to impress visitors for starters) and also that it's ok to please myself, saying no to things I don't want to do without feeling guilty.  I know that I should also be trying to say yes to more things too.  That's still a work in progress even at this advanced age!

I'm going to view this birthday as just one more than the last one and not worry about how many still to come. 

I've asked for a garden bench from Hubby's family so I can sit back, relax and smell the roses - mine are starting to bloom.

Weekend round up

Phew it's been a busy blogging month thanks to the A-Z challenge and we've just had a busy weekend.

My daughter, our eldest child, turns 30 in a couple of weeks so we spent this weekend in the Cotswolds with all our children and their partners.  It was lovely.  The house we stayed in in Burford was lovely and we enjoyed clay pigeon shooting, a meal out in a very old pub, a tour round a whisky and gin distillery and a meal cooked for us in the house by a former Master Chef finalist. 

It's so gratifying to see all our kids and their partners together - they get on so well and we all had a really great time.

Being respectably lazy.

 
One of the questions on last week's Hodgepodge was about whether it's ever respectable to be lazy.

Well I think it can be as I've just had several lazy days.  Starting last Friday, which was my birthday.  I spent time in the morning collecting a relative from hospital and taking her home.  The drive gave us a nice chance to catch up and have a one to one chat.  

I then popped in to see a friend on the way home for a cup of tea. This gave me the opportunity to meet her daughter's new kitten which is a bengal kitten.  She is gorgeous and still really small at the moment.  But already ruling the roost - apparently she spits and hisses at their other cat who is quite old and a big ball of fluff.  Hopefully they will soon adapt to one another.

Then I got home in time for a visit from one of my oldest friends.  (As in the length of time we've known one another.)  Again it was good to have some catch up time.

In the evening hubby and I went out for a meal (a greek restaurant in nearby Westfield) which was nice and we finished up in the local bar that he usually goes to on a Friday evening where a group of musicians usually get together and have a session.

On Saturday we had a BBQ in the evening and all the kids and their partners were here plus a couple of friends so that was nice.  Our eldest son and his partner stayed over so were here for breakfast on Sunday.  They left before lunch so that they had time to get back to Nottingham and catch up on studying (him - accountancy exams) and school work (her - she's a Maths teacher).

Hubby went out to a music event in the afternoon so I had some quiet time on my own and caught up with all the Hodgepodge posts.

So I was respectably lazy although I did do shopping and get the house ready for the BBQ.

Today I've been more in the swing of things, catching up on chores and doing washing etc and cleaning the BBQ.  Not doing anything too fast though as we definitely have summer weather at last.

Birthdays & Memories

Having completed the A- Z challenge I have to keep my momentum going and continue with my blogging.  That was a bit difficult this weekend as it was all a bit hectic.

We celebrated my husband’s 60^th birthday.  His actual birthday was a couple of weeks ago but for various reasons we delayed our main celebration until Sunday.  One advantage was that it was a bank holiday here on Monday so no work for most people.

Originally he didn’t want to have a party, shying away from too much fuss.  Not wanting to admit he’s old enough to retire probably although he’s planning on working for a couple more years at least.  Then he decided it would be nice to mark the occasion with a small party.

Our family doesn’t do small.  We’re around 40 in number before you even add in friends.  It still seemed manageable.  I stupidly planned to organise the food myself (not as stupid as it sounds as I have catered for large numbers before and I have got plenty of time on my hands at the moment) but during last week the numbers seemed to keep growing.  I’d gone from 60 to nearer 80 people in the space of a few days and was trying not to panic. 

As it turned out I think we had about 70 guests on the day and Marks and Spencer and I make a good team.  (Just debated that one with hubby – M & S and I or M & S and me.  Of course it should be M & S and I although as I pointed out to him there is no I in team!)

The team was pretty much me leading up to the day but I did have help particularly once we got to the venue with setting everything out.  Note to self:  Ask for help next time.  (Next time???)  His musician friends provided free entertainment which everyone seemed to enjoy and a good time was had by all.  The food went down well too.  Quantities for the savouries seemed to be just about right and we had more than enough dessert and birthday cake.  Someone suggested that I might like to think about catering as a new career but I made enough sandwiches at the weekend to put me off that idea straightaway! 

The kids did a nice speech between them and my daughter had organised a collection of 60 memories for my hubby – they had come from members of the family as well as friends and she’d placed each one in an envelope, some with appropriate (or inappropriate!) photos.  We had a good time looking through them on Monday and I’ll set them out in a scrapbook at some point.

I think when my turn comes I’ll be heading for the hills.