Still here - 2/2/23

Well the January challenge is over but I'm determined to keep blogging regularly if I can.

Today has been quite a productive day despite not getting up that early.  I've done most of the chores I wanted to get done and I also did some tidying in the garden.  We're having a dry spell at the moment although it's still chilly.  

I did have getting out for a walk on my to do list today but I clocked up quite a few steps just doing the chores and the garden work, plus I was out in the fresh air for a bit so I gave myself some leeway on the walking front.

I haven't managed any knitting yet today but Maisie does now have a head!  Next up is to make her snout then that just leaves her ears and tail.  Knitting the body pieces will be the easy part, stitching them together will be a bit more tricky.

Right, off to knit now.

Drumroll please! (And August Challenge day 10)

Why the need for a drumroll?  Well according to my post list, this will be the 1000th blog post here on blogger!

Goodness.  How can so much waffle come out of one person?

Interestingly I have just been scrolling back through some posts (I was looking for a picture) and it was good to revisit some memories.  It wasn't until I came back to prepare this post that I realised it was going to be #1000.

Although it's just a number (as I keep telling myself having had a big 0 birthday this year).

I was looking for a picture of an outfit as that's the prompt for today's August Photo Challenge.  Sorry but you're not getting a selfie of my current outfit which is still my nightdress!  Time flies when you're blogging.  I was up before 8 but I put the kitchen to rights first, then made some tea and then sat down with my laptop. (And I'm still here lol)

I'll get dressed at some point and the most important thing about the outfit for the day will be comfort!  That's what matters these days.  Gone are the working days when I had to look smart thank goodness.  Now I can wear what I please.

But to fulfill the challenge for the day here is an outfit:

It was the outfit I had for my eldest son's wedding back in 2016.  Funny what you find when scrolling back through blogs!  The shoes did not make it through the whole day and I don't think I've worn them since.  We're doing a jumble trail (yard sale) again in September.  I think they will be included in my items to sell.

I also found the post I wrote just after the brexit referendum.  It's depressing to think that over 3 years on and we've still not left and are no clearer on what Brexit will actually mean for this country.  The political situation just gets more farcical by the day.

I understand that, as a country, we (although not me) voted to leave and that decision should be respected.  However, I don't feel we had enough information at the time to make an informed decision.  Sometimes we have to admit to making mistakes and retrace our steps.  Unfortunately it seems unlikely that will happen (as in a 2nd referendum) and frankly if it did and we were to remain in the EU I don't think we would hold as much power within it as we've had before.  The other 27 countries must be sick of us by now.

Right now it's looks like we are definitely heading for leaving on the 31st October without a deal.  The trouble is most of us don't understand what that will actually mean in the day to day scheme of things.  How will it affect us?  Will there be issues with getting goods into shops, continuity of medical supplies etc?  I've just been reading this article by the BBC on this.  Might need to stock up on canned fruit and veg.  And not travel anywhere.

Of course we will survive this.  Hopefully in time to come we might even be able to look back and laugh about it.  But right now it doesn't seem funny at all.  And while we might have laughed at Boris Johnson in the past with all his gaffes and the jokes made about him, we not laughing about him now.

I think we just have to hope that in this current game of calling one's bluff, the EU blinks first!

Lethargy strikes!

After the buzz from completing the A-Z challenge this year I have definitely struggled with my blogging.  I know that I'm tired - 3 days of Grandsitting a week is exhausting.  Lovely, but exhausting.  I will be glad when the summer holidays start and I'll be back to 2 days a week.  But it's not just that.  I seem to have lost a bit of enthusiasm. That coupled with the fatigue and it's been a struggle just to keep up with reading and commenting on your blogs let alone finding inspiration to come up with my own posts.

Of course having a big O birthday coming up doesn't help.  I think I'm a bit in denial over that.  It's just a number after all.  I keep getting asked what I'll be doing.  Will there be a party? etc etc.

Well no there will not be a party.  We are going away the weekend after with all the kids and Grandkids so I'm looking forward to that but I'm hoping it will be quite low key.  I just love spending time with them all, especially watching the interaction between the little ones.

I'm even struggling to come up with suggestions for a family present.  Nick's family always collect for big O birthdays and I was asked what I'd like and I'm finding it hard.  I have thought of a few things but I really need to sit down and sort out some ideas for the organiser.

I feel a bit in limbo at the moment.  There are things I want to be getting on with in the house but our daughter is trying to move and there is a small possibility that if the timing doesn't work well they could have to stay with us for a little while.  We are more than happy to help out if we need to but the next job we need to get done in our house will mean a lot of disruption in the kitchen so I'm waiting on that for now.

And now I feel like a moaning minny but I guess I just wanted to explain my absence and lack of visits and comments.  Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon and I did manage to count my blessings for a Friday's Fave Five post this week.  I definitely have a lot of blessings to be thankful for, especially this lot:

#Jusjojan 3/1/19 - My blog.

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 3rd, is your blog. Why did you start blogging? How did you come up with your theme, if you have one? How has it changed your life? Tell us about your blog in your jot! Enjoy!

Where to start?  In the beginning I blogged on Yahoo.  I shamelessly copied my cousin.  She got me started.  It just seemed a nice idea, especially when you enjoy writing.  And it meant connecting to other people.

Over the years I've migrated through various platforms until I settled here on Blogger.  I do have a Wordpress account but I've never actually set up a blog there.  Sometimes I'm tempted - I like the pingback idea and the LIKE button so that people can see I've visited their post even if I've not had time to comment!  Blogger please please please invent a "like" button.

As for a theme, well Waffle pretty much sums it up generally.  I write about everyday things mostly and yes I can waffle pretty well.  Occasionally I can come up with a few words or wisdom or even something to make you laugh but if you're not into cute babies (I've gained 3 Grandsons in the last 21 months) you'll probably want to give me a pass, although I don't post (many) cute cat or dog pics as we are now without any pets.

I try to post fairly regularly (although life events have caused long term breaks in the past) and now I'm no longer working I have more blogging time.  I still find myself relying on challenges like this one to keep me up to speed at times.

I definitely enjoy the interaction with others.  I spend a fair amount of time at home so that's definitely an outlet for me.  And sometimes one thing leads to another.  For example yesterday I posted a picture of a local recycling centre. 

Now I know that many of my visitors are from America or Canada and I have no idea how recycling works there but here it is quite patchy.

For example, our local council provides us with a recyling bin in which we can put paper, card, cans and plastic bottles.  They also claim that if we put glass bottles in our ordinary trash bin it will get recycled.  I'm not convinced!  Sooo I save my glass bottles and take them to a designated glass bin.  Trouble is I have a cellar so it's very easy to save the bottles and then it becomes a car trip to get them to the recycle place.  (And the risk of being classed as an alcoholic if anyone witnesses me depositing all the bottles!)  

Hang on, before all you Greenies out there start shouting about using a car to make the journey negating the benefits, the recycling bins I pictured are at a big local supermarket that I was going to anyway!  Supermarkets usually have bins for batteries too.

What would be really good would be for my council to start collecting food waste.  Some London councils already do but ours does not.  I do put as much as I can into the compost bin but inevitably we still create a fair amount of trash!

Hmm I've gone from waffle to trash.  Time to stop! 

Getting back on track

Well it's the end of September and I'm slipping.  I'm not living up to my potential - that was the prompt for 5 minute Friday this week but I was just too tired to compose a post.  Even for 5 minutes.  I've signed up for the October challenge of writing for 5 minutes every day.  Five minutes doesn't sound a lot but some days it's hard to find them.

Actually it's not that hard but finding the motivation is.

Friday was busy - I had a hair appointment first thing which meant an early start and from there I went on to visit Rory and his Mummy.  The evening was spent catching up on some TV and I did do some blogging just not the 5 minutes Friday.

Yesterday was a lazy day until the afternoon when we went to babysit Nathan so his Mummies could have a night out.  We had a lovely time bathing and putting Nathan to bed - well when I say bed we got him to sleep in his buggy.  He is not good at going to sleep on his own and is usually in bed with Mummy.  That may change now because on Saturday morning Becca woke up to find Nathan standing next to the bed, telling her Bye Bye.  (His favourite phrase at the moment.)  Somehow, despite being in a "Grow Bag"  (think sleeping bag with shoulder straps) and a bed rail, he'd managed to get out of the bed. 

Anyway he slept well in his buggy for us but stirred and got a bit upset just before they got home but I had managed to get him back to sleep.

I love it when he's snuggly!

Anyway tomorrow is the start of a new month so I'll be polishing off my bullet journal, planning ahead and trying to find five minutes everyday for a post.  I hope you'll join me.

Wendysday 26/9/18

 This is usually me on a Wednesday morning after a day looking after Nathan.

Today's prompt from RDP is inspire. (Click on the image to visit the site.)

Back in the day when I first blogged on Yahoo and then Multiply before ending up here on Blogger I used to do a "Wendysday" post on Wednesdays which started off being mostly (well ok all) about me.  I worked my way through lists of various favourites and all sorts of things.

Looking back the last Wendysday posts were in 2012!  Blogging took a bit of a break after that.  During 2013 -14 blogs were few and far between.  Life wasn't good.  Things have picked up since then but Wendysday didn't.  Then I discovered the Wednesday Hodgepodge that Joyce hosted over at From This side of the Pond 

Sadly Joyce has recently retired the Hodgepodge - life moves on.  We've both gained Grandchildren in the last year or so.  Priorities change.

Today feels like it's going to be a Wendysday though.  It's often known as Hump Day but I've never been good with that term.  To me, things that give me the hump are things that annoy or upset me.  So to call Wednesday Hump Day makes it sound bad.  Of course I understand why people call it Hump Day but when you no longer work it doesn't quite have the same significance.

Anyway back to Wendysday.  It's the breathing day for me between the two days I look after my Grandson Nathan.  I love him to bits and he is so good usually.  I really enjoy looking after him but I need a breather inbetween.  Especially at the moment with a very dodgy knee.  It's improving but slowly.  I want to run but walking is a challenge and stairs are still proving painful.  Wednesday is also the first working day of the week for Nick so I'm home alone.  

It feels like it should be a Wendysday - a day for me to do what I want and not feel guilty about it.  I still find it hard not to feel guilty about pleasing myself and not ticking off the never ending to do list but I'm getting there.

Today I'm enjoying a lazy morning in blogland.  I have some TV shows recorded that I'll probably watch and it's lovely and sunny so I'm definitely (well maybe) going out for a walk.  I've also been INSPIRED to start thinking ahead to next year's A-Z challenge.  What?  Yes!  Why?  I've been selected to write a guest post for the A-Z site.

I've never been asked to do a guest post before so I'm both excited and apprehensive.  After all I'm a blogger who blogs not a writer who blogs or a blogger who writes.  But just putting pen to paper (or composing a blog) makes me a writer and thinking about doing the guest post gave me a few ideas and it also prompted me to think ahead to the next A-Z challenge.  Who knows, if I start now I might not end up flying by the seat of my pants come April!  Deadlines were never my thing.

I'm a blogger who blogs.

I noticed this title come up in my reading feed today:
Are you a blogger who writes or a writer who blogs?

I think I'm a blogger who blogs.  Of course I know by blogging I'm writing but I have no real ambition to become an acknowledged as in published writer.  I write here for various reasons, mainly because I enjoy it and it provides a sort of journal but also because I love the interaction with other bloggers.

I also have fits and starts.  Some months, particularly like April where I'm following a challenge, I'll blog most days.  Then there are quiet spells when I'm either too busy to get on the laptop and blog or I just don't feel there's anything worth blogging about.

I'm having a better spell at the moment but that was mostly facilitated by having a bad leg and not being able to get out.  That's changing.  The leg is improving, slowly, and today I managed to drive the car without it being too painful so I no longer feel housebound.  Yesterday hubby and I also managed to successfully babysit Nathan and will do so again tomorrow, one of my regular days.  I'm not doing Thursday this week though as I don't think I could get him upstairs yet on my own.  Stairs are still proving a bit of a challenge.  Today in particular as I probably overdid it a bit yesterday.  Two steps forward one back!

That also happened with new meals.  I made a lovely mushroom and ricotta filo tart at the weekend.  I've never used filo pastry before and yes I confess, it was shop bought not homemade.  Why would you make your own?  Have you seen how difficult it is?  I looked up a recipe that gave the instructions but more or less told you not to bother and wished you good luck at the end!

Anyway the tart was delicious and I remembered (in time) to take a photo.

So that was a step forward although I won't be making it too often as it has a lot of butter and Hubby needs to get his bad cholesterol level down so we're working on that.

Today I attempted another new recipe, a prawn curry.  Well that was a step back, in fact a giant step back.  It was edible, just, but not one I will be repeating.  Not sure what went wrong but definitely needed a stronger curry powder as even I thought it was bland! (I used mild as I don't like things too spicy.) I also overcooked it so the prawns were too chewy.  In fact it was just a disaster so I've binned the photographic evidence.  Actually it didn't even merit a photo being taken.

But today wasn't a total write off.  We managed to drop off and collect Hubby's CPAP machine for its annual service at the hospital.  We (ha as in the royal "we" as Hubby did both trips for this) also got the car through its annual safety check.  We thought we might have to get at least one new tyre but they all passed and we got the garage to replace one of the brake lights we knew wasn't working.  We were going to attempt that ourselves but they're a bit tricky to get to and neither of us are that hands on.  

We also secured a new window cleaner.  Hopefully she will turn out to be more reliable than the last one who just stopped coming.

I mentioned a few weeks back about securing some label holders for drawers online well today I actually got 2 of the 3 sets of drawers kitted out with the holders:

I'll get things organised even if it does leave a blister on my hand from tightening the screws!

Tomorrow we're back on Nathan duty so I think I should get an early night plus I've done enough waffling (writing?) on this post!

I'm still here!

Over 3 weeks without a blog!  Lots of reasons.  It's been a busy time but part of me just hasn't had the enthusiasm for it.  The election result was disappointing but not unexpected.  However it makes the negotiations for Brexit even more worrying when the credibility of our Government is even lower.

The disaster at the tower block has also been pretty depressing and the ensuing chaos over which buildings are safe or not is very worrying.  I'm so glad we have been in a position to own our own home and be in control of our circumstances. 

We've been fortunate to be safe from all the recent terrorist attacks but one event was a bit close to home this weekend.  We could hear a helicopter flying round and round on Sunday evening and then saw on the news about a protest outside our police station.  This was about the death of a young man who had been stopped by police and subsequently died.  There were claims that the police had used excessive force when detaining him and that he had suffered a variety of injuries  including a broken neck.  This led to the protest which began peacefully but erupted into violence including the lighting of fires in the street.

This was worrying to us as only the day before we had walked through the streets nearby on a garden trail.  To watch the news and see fires burning and protestors throwing bricks at police was quite disturbing.  Especially when the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) have since released details of the post mortem which show the victim had no spinal injuries and had swallowed a number of packages.  Unfortunately social media played a big part in spreading misinformation.

I'm becoming more wary about social media lately with all the fake news and vitriol that seems to be on it.  It's curbed my enthusiasm for bloggin but not buried it.  And then of course there is just the small little bundle that is dominating our lives now.

Seeing this little face can always cheer me up.

Monday's musing 6/6/16

 

It's official.  I have a small mouth.  Yep lots comes out of it but it is officially small.

Of course you are wondering how I came to this conclusion.  Well as part of the pre-op assessment that I attended recently I was asked to open my mouth as wide as possible.  This was so the nurse could check they would be able to get a tube in for the anaesthetic.  They measure the opening by how many fingers of your hand you can insert into your mouth from top to bottom.  

For most people it's at least 3.  I cannot get three of my fingers between my teeth when my mouth is wide open.  Almost, but not quite, so my mouth is small.  They managed ok with the anaesthetic though so not a major problem.

It also doesn't explain how with such a small mouth I still manage to eat too much.  You'd think it would help with dieting.  Apparently not according to my scales.  Oh but wait, the size of my mouth will only help with the dieting if the size of my plate is small too!  Hmm, didn't get that memo.

I have such a sweet tooth and the last couple of weeks I have done very little exercise.  Maybe I won't get on the scales today.

What I am going to do is try and get back to some sort of normal routine.  Hard to do when hubby's around all day but I've promised myself to stay away from time wasting games and no Facebook until this evening.  Just couldn't resist posting a blog though.