#SOCS - 12/8/17 - Guess what?

If you'd like to take part in SoCS here's the link to all the details.  It's hosted by Linda at Life in Progress.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “guess” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
Guess what?  I'm here two weeks running.  I wonder how many weeks in a row I can keep this up.  I like guessing games.  

We're away on our annual family holiday soon and by family I mean our extended family so there will be 38 adults and a few children all together for a week.  Surprisingly we all get on well and we usually have a lovely week catching up with one another and spending quality time.  This gathering is all my hubby's siblings, their partners, children (nieces and nephews) their partners and now children of the children.  We're part of that now with our 1st grandson attending for the first time this year.

One of the things we like to do together is play games and some of those involve guessing.  The younger children love playing things like What's my Name and the craze the last couple of years has been a game called Werewolf.   We're also partial to things like Trivial Pursuit but for the more athletic members there is also table tennis or tennis.

We also like a bit of karaoke which could sometimes end up as guess that tune as some of us should not be singing in public!

I'm definitely a quizzing person too.  I love doing crosswords and logic puzzles and other challenges.  My sister-in-law set me one yesterday.  I had to work out what the following means:

HCr2.8mmvtDT

Any guesses?  (The capital letters are proper nouns.)

Friday's Fave Five 11/8/17

Fridays are a time to look back on the week and share our blessings.
If you want to join in or check out the other participants pop over to our host Suzanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story

Here are mine for the week: 

1) Progress on the diet.  No pics this week but the scales are showing it's working!  Only a few pounds lost but going in the right direction.

2)  Finally my hubby has chosen a new mattress.  He hasn't been happy with the one we have for some time.  He says it's too firm.  I'm happy with it but as I'm easier to please I was happy to go with one he felt would suit him better.  He has been moaning about it for ages but this week he actually did something about it.  He spent hours in a nearby bed shop before narrowing the choice down to two.  At that point I joined him and we agreed on one which will be delivered next week.  We have a 40 night return guarantee on it but hopefully it will give him a good nights sleep!

3) Lunch with 4 of my sister-in-laws on Friday.  We were planning for our upcoming family holiday.  A glass of wine helps with planning right?

4) A successful shopping trip for bits and pieces needed for birthdays/anniversaries coming up.  My son and his wife celebrate their first wedding anniversary on Sunday.  That year has flown by.
and of course my week wouldn't be complete without
5) Nathan time.

They made it over to us for the first time since he was born and my best friend was able to join us.  She has been wanting to see Nathan so much so this week it all worked out.

 

Have a great weekend all.

Wednesday Hodgepodge 9/8/17

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at

From this side of the pond

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add the link to your Hodgepodge blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post and don’t forget to visit at least your neighbours on the list.

1. Do you try to set rules for yourself about how you use your time? Explain. 
Off and on.  Now that time is really my own I don’t like to see it wasted and that is easily done.  Pick up a book, turn on Facebook and oops there’s an hour gone.  Of course part of me knows that if that’s how I choose to spend my time it’s actually ok as long as the essentials get done.  But I do like to be productive as well so yes I will set myself tasks to do each day and plan projects so I don’t feel too much time is frittered away. 
2. Monday was National Lighthouse Day. Have you ever visited a lighthouse? If not, do you have any desire to see one up close? Of the 10 Most Beautiful that made this list which would you most like to see in person- 
Yes I’ve seen a number of lighthouses – the benefit of living on a somewhat small island.
Of the ones listed I’d like to see Yaquina Bay Light in Oregon because it looks quite different from most traditional lighthouses. 
When you've been away, what's your 'lighthouse' telling you you're on the right road home? 
That would probably depend on how we’d travelled but no particular lighthouse for us. 
3. What have you unintentionally stopped doing? Is this something you need to pick back up and begin again, or is it something you need to let go of for now (or even permanently)? 
I’ve stopped allowing myself reduced how much I let little things bother me so no I  don’t need to pick that up again at all.  A definite gain from withdrawing from the workplace and the associated stress. 
4. We've had a full week of August. Share a GRAND moment from your month so far. 
Well that was today when our Grandson visited our home for the first time.
5. Tell us one song you love with the word 'baby' in the title. 
Just one Joyce?  There are so many lullabies with baby in the title and of course I’m loving them all right now as I’m sure you are too! 
6.  Insert your own random thought here. 
Worrying times right now, particularly with the North Korean situation.  We need some calm in the world.

#SOSC 5/8/17 Highs and Lows

If you'd like to take part in SoCS here's the link to all the details.  It's hosted by Linda at Life in Progress.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “high/low.” Use one, use both, bonus points for starting and finishing with one or both. Have fun!

Well this is a low point, it was back in February that I last did a SOCS post.  I managed 3 out of the 4 weeks in February but it looks like in March I did a lot of reading as there are book reviews but no SOCS posts.  Not a one!  Definitely a low.

April of course was taken up with the A-Z Challenge but it brought another challenge to my life - that of being a grandparent.  You'd be forgiven for thinking that should have been a high and of course it was but it was tempered with a lot of lows too.  Our first grandson actually arrived on 31st March.  At 29 weeks gestation i.e. 11 weeks early.

He was so tiny.  And so fragile.  And so dependant on tubes and wires and monitors and wonderful NICU staff.  Those early days in the NICU were punctuated with highs when he seemed to make progress and lows when he slipped back but he was always moving forward, just slowly. 

Highs when it had been a good day, lows when the travelling backwards and forwards and trying just to be there for my daughter and her wife became exhausting.  Trying not to say the wrong thing, trying to be strong.  

Thankful for those extra few weeks inside.  The difference between a 26 or even 24 weeker and a 29 weeker is evident when you see how those earlier babies really have to fight to hang on and how much longer they tend to spend in the NICU.  I'm not an expert but I'm much more informed on preemies now.

Inevitably blogging has suffered over these last few months but I'm trying to pick it up again now.  Now Nathan's home,  he's 4 months old, and doing well.  He's now smiling and trying to make nice noises rather than just crying and it's all beginning to feel NORMAL! And yes, we're on a high!