Friday's Fave Five - 11/5/18

 

Friday is time to look back on the week and find five things to be grateful for.  Drop in to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for full details and other participants.

Here are mine:

1)  A successful shopping trip to IKEA with my son and DIL.  They needed some things for their new flat including a chest of drawers.  I was happy to take them last Saturday (they don't have a car) and we got most of the things on their list and it all fitted in the car.  It's great to see them enjoying settling in to their new home.

2)  A lovely trip to Nottingham for a baby shower for my eldest son's wife.  Her sister had organised it all as a surprise.  Nick and I went plus our other son's wife and our daughter and her wife and Nathan of course.  It was a lovely afternoon in a local pub and then we stayed overnight.  They received lovely gifts.

 

3)  A short break away.  Nathan and his Mummies have gone to Devon and Cornwall this week so we decided to get away as well.  As we were already in Nottingham we carried on to Lincolnshire and then to Norfolk.  We were lucky with the weather and got to the beach!

Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

Chapel St. Leonard's

 

The Nelson in Burnham Market

Wells Next the Sea

Wells Next the Sea

4)  A lovely meal out with hubby while away.  We stayed near Skegness which is a typical English seaside town complete with amusement arcades, lots of fish and chip shops and deckchairs and donkeys on the beach.  We managed to find a lovely Italian restaurant away from the main beach.  The food was delicious and portions were huge - I couldn't manage dessert!

Smoked salmon & prawn starter

Chicken with mushrooms & asparagus in a yummy creamy sauce

served with a selection of vegetables.

5)  A cat in the house!  But only temporarily.  Becca and Vicky are away until Monday so we collected their cat from the cattery yesterday on our way home.  The cattery she was in was lovely but that was reflected in the price.  Lady has stayed here before so she's fine here.  As you can see, she's made herself at home.

 And of course the obligatory photo of Nathan who is clearly enjoying himself down in Cornwall.

Everytime I look at him I feel blessed.

Have a good weekend all.

A - Z Challenge 2018 - Reflection Post

 

Well we're now into May, the challenge has expired and it's time to reflect.

What went well?  I completed it and posted every post on time.  I also managed to add my link to the daily list on 29 of the 30 days.  (I think!  I know I missed one deadline but I'm pretty sure it was just one.)

What went badly?  I wasn't as prepared as I'd hoped to be.  Posts for the second  half of the month were often rushed and I wasn't that happy with some of them.  Mainly because my theme didn't give me a lot of wriggle room on some letters.  I had to get creative but I didn't always have the time to do that.

What went really badly?  I was rubbish at visiting new blogs.  I did try and make sure I visited people who took the time to leave me comments and I think I was pretty successful at doing that.  Apologies if I did totally ignore anyone.  But I didn't work my way through the list of participants as I have done in previous years.  

What would I do differently?   I would try and be more prepared so that all my posts were pre-scheduled, giving me more time to visit other blogs, plus keep up with the regular posts and memes I usually follow.  I'd also think through my choice of theme to be sure it would work for all the letters or at least how I could get around any difficult ones.

Will I be back?  Definitely.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 09/05/18

Joyce sets the questions. If you want to join in, post a link to your post here


1. What are your ingredients for a perfect Saturday?
A lie in, followed by a cooked breakfast - egg bacon etc. Then reading the paper and doing the quiz together. Preferably all with family. Then maybe a relaxed walk or outing of some sort.

2. What skill do you wish more people took the time to learn?
How to listen.

3. What's something you ate as a child you can't stand now as an adult?
Nothing but there are many things I wouldn't eat as a child that I do eat now, especially green vegetables lol

4. Something parenting has taught you? If you're not a parent tell us one important lesson you learned from your own parents.
You can't always be in control
5. Share a favorite quote or saying about mothers or motherhood.
See below.

6. Insert your own random thought here.
We're away at the moment so I only have my phone and iPad. I wanted to catch the Hodgepodge but composing a post on the iPad is a pain.  So no fancy quotes, no pics and the layout is probably all askew but I'm here! Except I'm really in Norfolk having a lovely time.

Friday's Fave Five 4/5/18

 

Friday is time to look back on the week and find five things to be grateful for.  Drop in to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for full details and other participants.

Here are mine:

1)  Completing the A-Z Challenge.  It was hard posting nearly every day in April.  I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be and it meant I missed being here every week but it was so satisfying to finish it and I was helped along by lots of supportive comments.

2)  Having an empty nest.  Our son and his wife finally moved out and spent the first night at their own flat last Saturday.  Of course we will miss them but this is the order of things and their "year" with us to save became 2 years but we're just glad to have been able to help.  And much as we would have coped if they had still been here when the baby comes I'm glad we won't have to.

3)  A lovely baby shower for my 2 DILs.  Somehow we managed to cram 18 people into my lounge.  Thankfully a few family members were away or it would have got really cosy!  It's getting really exciting now.  Not many weeks to wait now to meet these babies.

4)  Our NHS.  I had something like a mole develop on my face recently.  But I was referred to dermatology by my GP, was seen quite quickly and advised that the best course of action was to remove it.  I only waited a few weeks and on Wednesday it was removed.  Hopefully it will be nothing sinister but I'm glad to have been seen and treated within a short space of time.

5)  Time with Nathan.  It's been quite hard adjusting to looking after him 2 days a week, especially with an hour's journey each way but he is such a joy to be around and I'm doing so much walking!  He's a very happy baby but he's not good at going to sleep but taking him out for a ride in his buggy usually does the trick.

Anyway these are things I'm thankful for this week, and the prospect of a warm sunny weekend to look forward to.