Back to walking - 28/11/21

Firstly thank you for all the kind comments on my last post.  

I'm feeling much better and today hubby and I managed to get out for a walk around the lake.  It was freezing cold but we have warm coats and added hats and gloves.  We left it a little bit later than we intended - the sun had disappeared although it had been lovely and sunny earlier but it was just nice to get out in the fresh air.

It's also wellie time again as the ground is quite muddy and, at the moment, covered with leaves.  We're so lucky to have the lake and woodland on our doorstep.

Other than that it's been quite a lazy weekend although we did babysit for our daughter and her wife last night.  Ella took a little bit of time to settle and woke during the evening but Nathan, probably because he was later to bed than usual, was asleep within 10 minutes of getting into bed and we didn't hear another peep out of him.  We weren't too late home either.

Now I'm catching up on Strictly Come Dancing.  Would more could you want?

Friday's Fave Five - 26/11/21

Sleet is forecast for tomorrow so this snowy picture seemed appropriate today.

Joining in with Susanne at "Living to tell the Story" to list five things I'm grateful for today.  At the time of writing, Susanne's post with the link to others taking part wasn't up but the link above will take you to her site and hopefully you'll be able to find her Friday Five and linky for this week.

1.  Well firstly I'm thankful to be here.  Actually that's a bit over dramatic.  I'm currently getting over a sinus infection and before that I probably had tonsillitis but yes once again I've definitely not been feeling great.  I'm on a course of antibiotics now and I've been taking things very easy.  It seems to have been one thing after another and I was probably a bit run down after a spell of visitors here and providing childcare for some of the grandchildren.  I also wasn't great after my Covid booster last weekend.  But since starting the antibiotics I am feeling better and even a bit more motivated.

2.  Catching up on blogs.  I have been so down in the dumps I wasn't even bothering to read any blogs.  Well I rectified that today.  I have read loads!  I've still missed loads and I didn't stop to leave comments but hopefully I haven't missed any earth shattering news.  You are such a mixture of people that I follow and I will be back to leaving comments soon.  For starters there are those of you that join in with this meme on Fridays - a great bunch of people and thankful to Susanne for keeping it going.  Most of you are far more upbeat than me and definitely more mindful.

Then there are those people that are down to earth and tell it like it is.  No punches pulled there but that's refreshing too, even if I don't always agree with an opinion.

Some bloggers are following a challenge and their blogs are so informative and interesting - it feels like you're with them on their travels.  Others are very creative, either in things like crafting or just in the way they write.

And then there are those of you that always leave me a comment which is another thing I'm grateful for.

3.  Well this happened a couple of weeks ago now but it was such a wonderful day I have to post about it.

We finally managed to have a family gathering of my husband's family.  Nearly everyone was there including all 18 great grandchildren.  5 of those (including our 3 youngest grandchildren) were lockdown babies so hardly anyone had met them.

Trying to get group photos was EXTREMELY challenging lol

Our 3 little ones: Miles, Ella & Vinny.

The older 3: Nathan, Noah and Rory.

Me with daughter Rebecca and sons Matthew & Michael.

And it was just before Ella's 1st birthday so of course there had to be a birthday cake!

We got all the great grandchildren sat down but only realised afterwards Miles was missing - sleeping!

And then we added in the parents and cousins

You had to be quick before the littles started to escape!
  

Sadly hubby's parents are no longer alive but they would have been so proud to see this gathering.

4)  Progress on a crafting project:

This will be a blanket for the newest great grandchild which my daughter, 2 of my DILs and myself have contributed to.  We've all crocheted granny squares and I was tasked with sewing it together.  Except I haven't got all the squares yet!  I might be making a few more than my allocation.

5)  We had a visit yesterday from Nick's eldest sister and her husband which was nice.  We're gradually getting people over to see our new house that we've been in for 14 months now!  We had a nice catch up and they also brought over a chair they no longer wanted having recently downsized.  I'm hoping it will make it easier to rock my grandchildren to sleep when needed or maybe just rock myself to sleep!

Have a good weekend all.

Friday's Fave Five - 15/10/21

Yes it's me!  I'm here after several weeks' absence.  Although I've been in a bit of a mental fog the past few weeks I do still have lots to be grateful for so I was determined to join Susanne and other blogging friends over at Living to tell the Story today.

1)  Nice weather.  It's definitely been chillier recently - the heating is on in the mornings and evenings - but this week we've had dry days and some sunshine.  Perfect weather for enjoying the changes to the trees now that autumn is here and checking on the cygnets at the lake who are almost swans now.

Ella wasn't overly impressed lol.

2)  A new roof on the downstairs extension.  Our dining room, part of the kitchen and the utility area of our house are an extension to the original house and have a flat roof.  When we moved here we knew one of our urgent jobs was to replace the roofing material and we finally got that done this week.  (Grateful again for the good weather so that the works could go ahead and not need rescheduling.)

3)  I got my flu jab this week and today I've had the invitation to book my Covid booster.

4)  A night away.  One of our presents last Christmas from our youngest son and his wife was a voucher for a night away, including dinner and breakfast at a pub with rooms that we had stayed at years ago.  The pub used to be owned by the parents of the chef Jamie Oliver and although it has now changed hands it was still very much the same.

Set in a village in Essex it's a peaceful setting and it was lovely to get away and feel like we were doing something normal again.  For dinner I had mushrooms in cream on focaccia bread, followed by lamb shank with new potatoes and veg and then hubby and I shared a sticky toffee pudding dessert.  I'm not used to eating 3 courses though so I was very full!

5)  Books and bits for the grandchildren.

After a lovely full English breakfast at the pub we drove to Saffron Walden, an old market town and had a good mooch around the shops, many of which were charity shops.  I nabbed some books for me and some cars and puzzles for the grandkids.  I also got myself an umbrella as mine collapsed on me recently.  I also had to buy a couple of folding bags to carry it all in as Hubby bought a few bits too.

We stopped for tea and cake (too full from breakfast for lunch) and then we headed home taking the country route rather than the motorway.

Although it was short it was a lovely break.  

Now I'm looking forward to a lazy weekend and then preparing for guests next week.  Our American DIL's parents are coming for a visit and they will be staying with us.

Hopefully I'll have time to visit some blogs and catch up with news as I'm also thankful for the lovely comments I got on my last post.

Have a good weekend all.

World Mental Health Day - 10th October 2021

 

It's been weeks since I posted here, mainly because I haven't felt the motivation.  I've felt rather flat recently.  Nothing actually wrong physically but mentally definitely not in the right place.  I'm finding it quite hard to get back into normality.  I'm naturally quite introverted so although it was hard not being able to see family during the lockdowns being stuck at home wasn't that hard for me.  But then it's easy to disappear down a rabbit hole.

Life is a little bit hectic at the moment, our house is definitely becoming like a creche several days a week and the past few weeks it's also felt like a launderette as both our son and daughter have had problems with their washing machine and dryer.  It's been quite full on and I have been quite tired as my sleeping hasn't been great.

Looking back on my Facebook posts this was something I posted 5 years ago today. 

 I need to revisit this but another image posted by a friend was this one which is definitely helpful.

 

 

Another friend posted about the things she does for her mental health and that made me realise I need to focus and be more proactive.

On the plus side hubby and I enjoyed our first trip into Central London this week.  We had a lovely afternoon tea here.  It was delicious and was actually a Christmas gift to us from our daughter and her wife for 2019!

I even remembered to take some pics!  We had sandwiches, followed by cheese scones and then pastries on the theme of English biscuits and finally sweet scones. And of course lots of tea!