Things I Love Thursday isn’t a new series. Also, I’m pretty sure that there may already be a version 1 somewhere in the depths of this blog. However I know if I go looking for that information, I will disappear down a rabbit hole and not achieve anything right now.
I am currently tapping this out on my rather unloved and Old Lady of a MacBook. Then again maybe that should be Old Lady MacBook (instead of Lady MacBeth…?). I got it off the bookcase this morning and attempted to charge it before coming to a meeting at Mum’s house. However, the charger wasn’t talking to the MacBook and I was a little worried it was to be the end of Old Lady MacBook. However she’s now at 59% and improving so maybe it was just she was having a small crisis.
Right anyway, things I love.
Chiari Bloggers
This post by Hannah aka The Little Golden Daffodil. Hannah’s been blogging on and off for a while but then there was a big off because of health stuff but now she’s back. I love this post from this week about people who inspire her. First up was Pascale who is a fellow blogger. But they have something else in common, both Hannah and Pascale have Chiari Malformation – although some of their symptoms differ, a lot are the same. It’s also one of those invisible illnesses. If you saw either of them in the street you would probably never ever notice something was wrong.
Feeding Kids at 3/4pm
This popped up on Facebook and I think I had a little eye roll along with “oh another thing us Mums should be doing”. Then it hit me. With Chris starting a new job this week, scheduling has been a bit loopy – he’s here longer in the mornings and gets home later than usual in the evenings. On Monday, we waited until Chris was home from work to sort tea but while fighting Jaxon to get him to eat his dinner. The penny didn’t just drop it created a crater in the kitchen floor. What if the lady writing that article on Scary Mommy had a point. So Tuesday and Wednesday, I made Jaxon’s dinner around 4:30/5 – pretty much when he kept telling me it was too early for tea but he still wanted a snack. Both times he reacted a bit like “I should still be playing as Daddy isn’t home yet” but he eventually sat down and did eat some of his food. So right now that eye roll has turned into “things I love” this week. You can read the article here. If you’re a parent, grandparent or care for children, do you find something like this works better in your house?
I love this painted tin by Anna aka Mrs Brimbles. I tried doing a dirty pour with Jaxon’s poster paints but they weren’t runny enough so it didn’t entirely work but when I’ve had some more practice, I might try this with one of the biscuits tins in the cupboard!
These from Lanabou – I’m sure I could find more goodies in her shop that I love!
For an age and a half, I’ve been wanting to learn to knit socks so that I can make a pair for Chris in this Mind the Gap London Underground inspired yarn. (It can be purchased here).
I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is February’s monthly review. You can see others here. At the end of each month, I write a monthly review all about what I’ve been up to each month.
What Went Well This Month
Starting and finishing Jaxon’s jumper.
Starting two secret projects (although not finished so far).
Starting a jumper for myself which includes learning/teaching myself to cable knit.
I gave blood. This was my 22nd donation which means 3 more to my next award. However, due to only being able to give blood every 16 weeks, the award will be next year sometime. As I was adding the finishing touches to this post, I received a text telling me that my blood had been sent to Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire.
January and February felt a bit quite workwise. Then in the last week of February, it all went a bit nuts.
Using TMetric and Rescuetime to try and keep a better record of what I’m doing and where I’m using my work time.
Other Highlights or Not so Highlights
I had a cold this month. But also I’ve had more headaches. I think I need to try and keep a better record of what might be triggering the headaches or if there’s a specific event or cause like lack of sleep or lack of caffeine that’s setting it off.
I finally saw The Greatest Showman and oh my goodness! My friend was totally right I did love it and it was right up my street! (Come Alive, The Greatest Show and This is Me have been on constant repeat!)
I’ve finished my Purple Moleskine notebook so have moved onto a new one but also having purchased a second hand/partially used Hobonichi Techo Cousin. I have a new plan for my Current Planner Setup.
I finished my Find Your Fade Shawl (Pattern by Drea Renee Knits) and got started on the next project. Back in December when I went to a workshop at Tudor Rose Patchwork taught by Kathleen Laurel Sage, I saw this pattern for a jumper for Jaxon. I wanted to make it for him but at that point, I just snapped a picture and decided I’d get the pattern at a later date. I kept meaning to get the pattern but without having a car in the week it was a challenge to get over to Tydor Rose Patchwork and I was trying to get other projects finished too. In the end, I didn’t need to worry – my Mum gave me the pattern for Christmas. When we went to the student exhibition in January, I bought the wool while we were there. So I once I found the right sized needles.
It was relatively easy although I did have a challenge to pick up the right number of stitches to add the edging to the pockets but I got there in the end.
Books Read
In February – there were the odd bits of different books read but I was so busy knitting and doing other bits that there hasn’t been much reading happening. I have been reading more of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I seem to be struggling with reading when I am picking up books. I don’t know if it’s just that I’ve not found one that catches my attention or if I just need to focus more!
Series Watched
Travellers (Season 2)
Ugly Delicious (Season 1)
Grey’s Anatomy
Salvation (Season 1)
Designated Survivor (Season 2)
Helix (Seasons 1 and 2)
Greenhouse Academy (Season 2)
Once Upon A Time (Season 7)
Grace and Frankie (Season 4)
Queer Eye (Season 1)
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman
Dinotrux (thanks to Jaxon)
Dinotrux Supercharged (also because of Jaxon!)
Films watched
The BFG
My Old Lady
Moana
Frozen
When We First Met
Irreplaceable You
Goals for March
Finished my 2018 Goals List – it’s not complicated just needs to be focused on!
March is here and February came and went with a whole variety of emotions.
There was anxiousness around some relationships, excitement around the forecast of snow followed by irritation that it was *still* here. Although it fell all over that transition between months where you’re not sure which one you’re in. Is it February? Is it March? Erm…well… and then I have to reach for my phone or iPad and check.
So what’s this bit all about?
Some posts take lots of thinking about whereas others are little thoughts that don’t really make up a whole post but I’d still like to document them. Hopefully rather than appearing in the main feed they will hide in a new link called Thoughts or Journal. I haven’t figured that one out. I guess Thoughts might be better because I write about bullet journaling and my paper journals. I think Thoughts is the winning title for now anyway.
Time to get some sleep before I turn into a pumpkin. Night night.
Back at Christmas 2016, I discovered the Find Your Fade pattern by Andrea Mowry (Drea Renee Knits). I was determined to use wool I already had with that attempt so I was using 4mm needles and DK wool even though the pattern was written for 3.5mm needles and 4 ply wool. I would start over and over again but would never quite get it right. In the end, I put it away and got on with other projects (mainly lots of baby blankets with assistance from Mum!)
Having finished the project I took away with me on holiday in November, I was then twiddling my thumbs. What was I going to do the rest of the week? We had limited to no internet connection and once Jaxon was in bed we needed to keep the noise down and the lights dimmed.
Well, I decided while I wasn’t working and had time to concentrate I’d try this pattern again. It genuinely couldn’t be that hard given the number of pictures I’d seen on Instagram and photos on Ravelry.
LET’S DO THIS THING!
The first flaw in the plan was that I didn’t have the right size knitting needles. The ones I had with me for my other project were far too big. We were planning on going to Norwich/Norfolk so I looked up knitting shops there. Various popped up around the county but Norfolk Yarn was the one that I thought we’d stop by. It’s right near the
When we started a pattern I had found on Ravelry. Did it work? No. Off the needles, it came and the pattern collected virtual dust in my Ravelry.
I decided that minus the first two balls that I had bought while we were away. The rest of the shawl would be knitted from stash. This meant that some of the wool would be 4Ply and some would be DK. I’m not entirely sure this method worked exactly but in the grand scheme, I’m not sure you can entirely tell the difference.
Project Specs
Pattern: Find Your Fade by Drea Renee Knits Pattern Source: Ravelry here: Yarn: the lilac and white are by Yarn Stories. There’s two Noro in the middle too. The rest are from stash so I’m not 100% sure. Date Started: November 2017 Date Finished: January 2018 Modifications: I say None but actually a lot of the wool choices don’t match the pattern! Final Measurements: big! Longer than my wing span for sure!
And now for the final product…
Now I’m sure when it was designed it was supposed to be more of a graduated fade or something a bit more complimentary. However, I was working on using what I had in stash along with learning the skills for the pattern. This is why it looks like a painting set threw up!
On a couple of occasions, I ended up putting the shawl away and going back to other projects. I was fine on the stocking stitch sections but the lace needed much more concentration than I could necessarily give it while at knitting group for instance.
The Find Your Fade shawl I would wrap around lots of times in the cold weather. For now, I’m still wearing my lovely chunky red scarf (it was a shop purchase rather than a self-knitted job though)
Back in September (ish!), I asked Chris to look at accommodation overnight when we were in Norfolk for Becca‘s Wedding. Chris came up with the idea that we’d go glamping in Norfolk. This time it would be in a yurt unlike when we went in the bell tent back in May. Yes. Glamping in November. This is Day Six:
Day Seven (Thursday)
If you’re a regular camper (or glamper), showering reduces while you’re away. Certainly at a few Christian festivals, where you’ve got lots and lots of people to one shower, to take to caking on the deodorant and dry shampoo, then shower when you get home. Similarly, it was far too cold to shower more than needed! One shower was going to last until I got home. It was cold enough that hopefully, deodrant would do its job! Haha!
In the morning, I headed to the loo to brush my hair and deal with it. When I took it out of my messy bun, I had these lovely curls where my hair had been damp from swimming and had dried like this.
Today we went to Norwich, we parked the car at the train station as we have done in the past. We know for sure that there is a charger there. In one of the arcades, their Christmas decorations were letters to Santa and to other people. So pretty! I loved it! Wish Bedford did something like this inside the Victorian Arcade – it would look so good!
While exploring Norwich, I found a knitting shop called Norfolk Yarn, it was a lovely little shop. I bought two balls of Yarn Stories wool and a pair of KnitPro Symfonie Fixed Circular needles so that I could start the Find Your Fade shawl once I finished my slippers (which would happen later in the day).
In the evening, when we got back, I got my phone set up to attempt to join in with the FB Live that Elizabeth at Rosalilium was running. I managed to join in for a chunk of it but it wasn’t always streaming quick enough. Following the chat, I got my slippers finished which was really exciting. I then had to attempt to take a picture while they were ready to wear.
Day Eight (Friday)
Today it was time to head home, as you can see Jaxon was extra desperate to get home. I think he had just had enough like me. After packing up, we headed to The Great Britain Centre at Swaffham to use the charger there. The charger wasn’t working properly so Chris attempted to call the Ecotricity people but both times the call got cut off when Jaxon pressed the wrong buttons on the car!
In the end, I took Jaxon inside to get him a drink and a snack to keep him out of trouble. I had vegan-friendly lemon drizzle cake along with a Whole Earth Diet Cola again. The cake was yummy! Although I think I would miss the taste of normal Diet Cola. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be (better than the Karma one I think).
After cake, we got back in the car and drove from Swaffham to King’s Lynn. Chris had found that there was a charger there that we could plug the car in. Between us, we didn’t have enough change to pay for the parking. While Jaxon and I stayed with the car, Chris went to a local shop and bought some chocolate so that he could break a note into change.
We explored King’s Lynn a little bit which was nice although I didn’t really want to be all around the shops on Black Friday. As tempting as it is to get Christmas sorted and take advantage of the deals but the morals and ethics behind it all had me questioning it. What are your views? No harm or big deal over nothing?
I posted on social media about Mrs. Brimbles‘s Black Friday deals but didn’t take advantage of them. The Jane Davenport markers are tempting but even with the discount, they were still a bit of money. (I added them to my wishlist with a link back to Anna’s Website just in case they should appear at Christmas!)
It happened that the next charge stop was going to take us near my In-Laws so Chris rang to see if they were free for a coffee. My Father in Law was working but Mother in Law stopped what she was doing to come out with us.
We went to the Holiday Inn at Huntingdon Racecourse as there is a Starbucks and a charging point. I sat doing some knitting while the boy chatted to my Mother in Law about all sorts. I felt all manky and could have done with a post-glamping shower before really seeing anyone properly!
Once we got home, I dashed out to run a couple of errands that had been booked in while I was away. Then came home, got the washing machine running and flopped in a heap!
If you liked this post you can read more about the rest of our glamping trip here.
Back in September (ish!), I asked Chris to look at accommodation overnight when we were in Norfolk for Becca‘s Wedding. Chris came up with the idea that we’d go glamping in Norfolk. This time it would be in a yurt unlike when we went in the bell tent back in May. Yes. Glamping in November. This is Day Six:
Day Six (Wednesday)
With Mum and I changing between Slimming World groups depending on what’s on each week, I hadn’t been able to book my holiday for this week. I found a Slimming World group in Dereham and decided to go and weigh in. While I was there, the boys parked the car and went in search of armbands for swimming. They also went looking for a packet of swimming nappies because I’d forgotten to pack them. The plan was that we’d go swimming around lunchtime when the general session was open.
I caught up with the boys and we went to Costa for a coffee while we waited for the toddler swim session to start at Dereham Leisure Centre. At one point the boys went for a wander, so I got my phone out to watch the Adventure Journalling course videos from Mrs. Brimbles. I’ve been signed up to it since the summer but not got round to it. Jaxon and Chris reappeared and I started to pack up my phone and headphones. Jaxon had other ideas and decided that he and Daddy needed to watch the video too. He abducted my headphones and phone and took it to show Chris. I ended up snapping this picture on Chris’s phone. Watching it now seemed like a great idea as we’re having our own glamping adventure.
Around lunchtime, we went swimming. Jaxon and Chris had a lovely time but I was a bit bored after a little while. I would have happily got out the pool and knitted in the coffee shop while they played in the pool. I might do it that way next time. We had to leave at 1:30 pm because the school lessons were about to start again. Jaxon really didn’t want to leave. I think he reacted more because we needed to get some lunch by that point!
Once we were dressed and organised, we went back to the campsite to have lunch in the Cafe and Bistro at Yaxham Waters (the onsite cafe at the site we were staying at). The food was lovely and the service was really good too. I had an all-day breakfast – I had asked for no mushrooms but ended up with them anyway. I pointed this out to the waitress and said not to worry then gave them to Chris to eat. Jaxon had chicken goujons (once we’d convince him they were just big nuggets!)
After lunch, Jaxon and I went back to the yurt to hang out while Chris went to the charger. It was a good idea rather than making Jaxon sit in the car again while the car charged. To add to our glamping adventure, there was a weather warning out by this time.
The wind started getting up and the roof flap/window but started flapping and Jaxon was getting worked up. Jaxon and I worked our way through the episodes of cartoons on the iPad, all snuggled up on the double bed. He kept getting distracted by the roof and so I was trying to comfort him too.
By bedtime, it was getting worse and I was genuinely a bit worried. The wind was getting up to the point that the roof flapped and was enough that the door flew open and it banged around against the outside wall of the yurt. I got up to close the door and was trying to figure out how to keep the door closed overnight as the normal latch wasn’t going to be enough.
Thankfully Chris woke up too and came to help. We used some spare wool that I had with me to tie the door closed and parked my scissors right next to the door just in case we needed to get out in an emergency.
Once we both got back into bed, I slept really terribly. Between the noise of the wind and the worries that were running through my head, I woke up in the morning exhausted! Thankfully it must have calmed down at some point in the night because I had got some sleep even if it wasn’t enough.
If you liked this post you can read more about the rest of our glamping trip here.
Back in September (ish!), I asked Chris to look at accommodation overnight when we were in Norfolk for Becca‘s Wedding. Chris came up with the idea that we’d go glamping in Norfolk. This time it would be in a yurt unlike when we went in the bell tent back in May. Yes. Glamping in November. This is Day Five:
Day Five (Tuesday)
Today we went to Sheringham Park as there’s a charger there,. We went for a walk around the woods and found a tower to climb. I waited at the bottom while the boys climbed it. Chris decided I should have climbed too but I really really didn’t want to. Jaxon loved climbing the tower and all that he could see from up there.
Following charging the car, we went into Sheringham. We had our packed lunch sat at the sea front and ate our lunch. Jaxon was exxcited to see the sea. Unfortunately we had to cut it short and find a toilet. We must have been on one of the furthest points from the toilet. I left Chris with all the picnic bits and Jaxon and I headed along the seafront to follow the signs to the toilet. Jaxon and I were still on our way and Chris caught up with us. We got all the way and he decided he didn’t need to go, then once we got out again he had an accident. Oh dear!
When Chris took Jaxon to sort out the accident and I found a step to sit on. While I was waiting I got out my journal and start4ed doing some writing to catch up with what we had been upto so far. I didn’t have a way of printing the pictures so attemtped to draw squares/rectangles to add the pictures in later when I got home.
After lunch, we went for a walk around Sheringham, I stopped to look at the postcards outside one of the shops. I thought “Oh that looks like a Tabitha Mary print”. I picked it up and flipped it over and it was a Tabitha Mary print!
Following lunch we headed back to the car and then onto Cromer. Jaxon managed enough words in the right order to ask Chris to pull over so that they could watch a container ship that was passing. I parked the car so that the boys could get out and take a look. Jaxon was so excited.
In Cromer, at the shore end of the pier, there’s this installation all about the lives lost and saved at sea by the Cromer Lifeboat. We wandered around Cromer and along the pier then headed back into the town to get chips for tea. Chris really wanted whelks or something along those lines but we ended up with our usual. He had a saveloy and I had a battered sausage. We all sat on a bench overlooking the seafront and ate our chips. They were yummy! Why is it that chips at the seaside just taste so much better than chips at home?
Although the pictures make it look like it’s 7/8pm it’s actually like 4/5pm and we were all ready for bed! When we got back to the yurt, we got Jaxon ready for bed, I searched on my iPad to see what films and TV episodes I had on there. Turns out I had The American President on there so I watched that while working on my knitting project.
Back in September (ish!), I asked Chris to look at accommodation overnight when we were in Norfolk for Becca‘s Wedding. Chris came up with the idea that we’d go glamping in Norfolk. This time it would be in a yurt unlike when we went in the bell tent back in May. Yes. Glamping in November. (And according to the car as I start this post, it’s currently 4C – brr!)
Day Four (Monday)
This morning we started the day at The Green Britain Centre at Swaffham. Chris had discovered that there was a lovely powerful charger there that we could charge the car on really quick. The coffee shop there was Vegan/ Vegetarian-friendly. We didn’t have any good but it was good fun, especially when it came to picking Chris’s coffee. There was four or five different choices of non-cow milk to have in your coffee as well as the usual choices for coffee. I had a Karma Cola which was okay but not as nice as I thought it might be. Chris had a latte with oat milk or something like that.
Before we had our drinks we had been outside to take a look at hte wind turbine. The receptionist had told us that they were expecting a school group and we might want to see the turbine first before they took over! Jaxon was so excited that he could see a wind turbine up close and personal. This was a good fun kind of view – although it was a little nervy standing right under the rotating wind turbine blades! Eek!
There is an option to climb the wind turbine and Jaxon would love it. However he’s too little, maybe we’ll have to go back when he’s a bit older once he’s 7. I will also need to make sure I take my inhalers (if I’m still on them then!) otherwise I won’t be allowed to climb the turbine. Also I think I might have to train for it before I actually do it!
Above one of the shelves there was this lovely crochet bunting. I snapped a picture in the hope that I might be able to give it a bit of a go once I had finished the project I was working on while we were away.
Each sofa in the coffee shop had a lovely crochet blanket of some sort over the top of it. I think I love the one that was over the sofa rather than the chairs but they were all my cup of tea anyway.
As Jaxon had done what could be classed as “adult” activities for most of the weekend. We decided that we would try and find a playground or something similar for him. In the end, we went to Farmer Fred’s Adventure Play Barn at Norfolk Lavender. Jaxon played for about an hour then we decided really we needed to get some food. The limited menu (and lack of gluten free options) meant that we decided to head somewhere else for lunch.
If you liked this post you can read more about the rest of our glamping trip here.
I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is January’s monthly review. You can see others here. At the end of each month, I write a monthly review all about what I’ve been up to each month.
What Went Well This Month
Getting back to work after Christmas.
Finish Find Your Fade – seemed to take so long at the end even though the number of stitches doesn’t change for the last few sections, just the marker moves across.
Working on Family Trees.
Other Highlights
Thank you Netflix for adding Friends. When I was a teen, Friends often clashed with Youth Group on a Friday or with Church on a Sunday when it was repeated. It’s also been interesting reading the articles that have been popping up about it. One of the first ones I saw was this one from Hannah at Budding Smiles. There were also other websites that joined in like this one by Sarah Gosling at The Guardian.
I had to seek medical assistance earlier in the month – that’s not so much of a highlight but so grateful that we have the Drop In Centre here in Bedford. Unfortunately, there is a possibility that it’s either closing or relocating. At least if it relocates it might still be available but if it closes, it will mean that more people could be queueing in A&E for injuries or minor illnesses that don’t need emergency treatment.
My friend’s Baby Shower. I’m so excited that my friend will be welcoming her baby into the world this month. Being invited to her baby shower was really exciting. Jess and I did our part assisting with opening presents. I was in charge of passing presents and then collecting the rubbish. Jess was writing down who each gift came from so that our friend could then write her thank you cards when she got home (Jess and our friend are so similar to me! It’s exactly what I would be doing. It’s one of the things I asked Nanny to do on Jaxon’s birthday when I was suffering with food poisoning).
The highlight is the care received along the way, the negative is that Jaxon had an accident and hit his head. The “egg” that came up was like a ping pong ball and had us all worried. The staff at his preschool were amazing and so lovely. My Dad was a superhero and dropped everything to collect me from the town and take me back to preschool, then to take us to A&E and then the Walk In Centre. When we got to the Walk In, again we got amazing service from the team there and the Minor Illness Nurse (that was the same one I’d seen earlier in the month.
I got to talk Bullet Journals and being organised with a friend. When I saw her a few days later, she waved her bullet journal at me. She was so proud of the pages that she’d been filling in. Also, she told me how she less anxious she was feeling because of having her to do lists there on paper. Rather than, running round her head like bouncy balls pinging off every surface.
Mum and I went to see Out of The Blue perform at the Quarry Theatre in Bedford. They were really good but we did feel like it was shorter than expected. (Having written that it does say duration 60 minutes on the theatre website).
Rather excitingly, I found that my blog had been listed here and here on Travellers Notebook Times. One of the links was back in December but I’m still excited that I’ve appeared on there three times in the last six-ish months.
I’ve been working on my Find Your Fade Shawl (Pattern by Drea Renee Knits). I started this back in November when were Glamping in Norfolk. It took 3 or 4 attempts to get that first section right. I then bounced between this and a couple of other projects until I settled on finishing this. It’s now February 1st and I’m so close to the end! I thought I had finished all the repeats but I either had extra stitches or miscounted My repeats so need to add a couple more rows before casting off (hopefully today!)
Books Read
My plan has been to try and read the books that are sat on my Currently Reading list. I have the tendancy to start a book and not finish. At the moment I’m trying to work on The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Perlman seeing how it’s not Christmas now. Part of my goals for this year is to clear this list and hopefully get back down to 1 or 2 books instead of lots like it currently is! Our community group have started reading None Like Him by Jen Wilkin. So far so good – we’re about three chapters in. I’ve read the first chapter but missed the meeting for the second chapter so ended up falling behind. That’s a goal in February to make sure I’m up to date with the rest of the group.
I’m also reading A Good Wife’s Guide to Happiness by Jen Weaver. It’s been on my bookcase for a little while but this time I’m determined to finish it!
Series Watched
Friends
Britannia
Madam Secretary
Silent Witness (I hadn’t seen it for a while so missed all that happened to Nikki in the previous season)
Back in September (ish!), I asked Chris to look at accommodation overnight when we were in Norfolk for Becca‘s Wedding. Chris came up with the idea that we’d go glamping in Norfolk. This time it would be in a yurt unlike when we went in the bell tent back in May. Yes. Glamping in November. (And according to the car as I start this post, it’s currently 4C – brr!)
Day Three (Sunday)
This morning started with recharging the car at McDonald’s. Chris took Jaxon for a walk while I sat in the car and knitted. It was just what I needed. Friday was a bit stressful. Then it was followed by the stress of the car etc yesterday meant I needed time on my own to relax a bit. Jaxon is on the go all the time at the moment and it can be exhausting sometimes. We went to Roy’s in Wroxham for lunch. I had a panini but would have preferred McDonald’s which was just around the corner in the same building.
Following lunch, we popped into the toy department (which was actually a whole separate shop to the food hall). We got Jaxon a little toy for him to play with while we’re glamping this week. We hadn’t really packed enough toys to keep him occupied so by getting a new toy there was also that novelty of having a new toy.
Before heading back to the yurt, we stopped at the Bure Valley Railway. Jaxon loved seeing the trains. I love this picture of hte boys walking back to the car. They were both beting so cute. Jaxon was chatting away about one thing or another and Chris was asking him questions too. As the sun was setting we decided to head home and get all shut in the for the evening. Chris cooked dinner at the yurt and we ate dinner in the dining/living room area of the yurt. I guess if we had been glamping in the summer, we could have sat outside and eaten dinner but by the time we were eating it was in single figures and dark outside!
Once the boys were asleep and I wanted to read, I ended up using my iPad as a sort of torch to read my book by. It kind of worked but was really hard to keep reading. I’ve been reading The Rosie Project by Graeme Simison. It reminded me a lot of the film Adam starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne. I’d adopted the book from a Book Swap Shelf in a cafe that we visited. Reading on my iPad without wifi was proving a bit of a challenge so resorted to adopting a book with the idea that if I could finish it while I was away I wouldn’t have another book to take home and find space for.
If you liked this post you can read more about the rest of our glamping trip here.
Back in September (ish!), I asked Chris to look at accommodation overnight when we were in Norfolk for Becca‘s Wedding. Chris came up with the idea that we’d go glamping in Norfolk. This time it would be in a yurt unlike when we went in the bell tent back in May. Yes. Glamping in November. This is Day Two.
Day Two (Saturday)
We woke up and it was so cold in the yurt! I made Chris get the log burner going before I even thought about getting out of bed! On top of that, I’m so used to our bed now that all my back was really sore and achy. Also, I had a headache creeping in, I think that was because of my back being all different to normal. (I jokingly said to Chris at the end of the week that I was now a mattress snob!)
Once we’d defrosted a bit we had breakfast and sorted out a plan which included stopping at the local university campus to charge the car as that’s the nearest charging point to the campsite. (It was about 13 miles away and we had 10 miles on the car…not good!). On our way to the car, we stopped to play in the onsite playground for a little bit. While the boys played, I did some knitting.
We set off from the campsite to drive the 13ish miles to UEA campus at Earlham Hall. As Chris drove the route, the warning alerts got more and more frequent along with the functionality gradually switching itself off.
As we went to exit the A47 onto a smaller road towards the campus, we ended up having to pull over onto the shoulder. We have breakdown cover through the Renault dealer but they were quoting 2 hours recovery time (even with a 3yo on the “hard shoulder” – we were the other side of the crash barrier and up a hill from the road). We then tried the breakdown assist that comes with our bank account. At first, we were quoted half an hour which was great but then after about 10-15 minutes this was adjusted to midday having broken down at 10:30 am. It was a little frustrating however the lady that we had spoken to had put us on the waitlist as a priority case given the fact that Jaxon was with us.
Jaxon was really well behaved but did start to get a bit tetchy leading up to the recovery vehicle arriving as he was getting bored. It crossed my mind to try and walk him up the road and try and find somewhere to sit that was inside or a playground where he could burn off some energy. With me not knowing the area I was reluctant to do that although it did turn out that we were like 10 minutes walk from a McDonalds!
The recovery vehicle arrived about 45 minutes after we made the phone call which was really good. It was a curtain-sided lorry that arrived and genuinely looked like it wasn’t the right vehicle for the job at all! But actually it was perfect and the way it lifted up like a dumper truck and then rolled down onto the road. Jaxon got all excited watching the breakdown lorry. Once the car was loaded onto the back of the truck, we got into the back of the cab and got all belted in ready for our onward journey to the charger. Jaxon loved it!
After a bit of a detour around the campus, we found the charging point and got the car unloaded. It was a bit more of a challenge unloading but having strapped Jaxon into his car seat. Chris, the recovery guy and I were able to push the car into the bay. At first, we abandoned it across two bays long enough to get some more charge into it. Once it was low battery rather than completely dead, we wriggled the car into once space.
It was interesting to discover how easy it is to push the Zoe in comparison to our Fiat Seicento or Daihatsu Sirion that we used to have. Having got the car on charge we needed to get Jaxon changed as he’d had an accident while we had waited. We saw a sign in the park near the campus and went to find the toilets. The sign seemed to point to one of the university buildings rather than into the park. The first building we tried was the wrong one. We found a set of public toilets in the park that was enough to change Jaxon but they were really manky so I’m glad he was able to stand and be changed rather than lying him down on the floor like a younger child might have needed.
We then headed around to the park cafe to get lunch. It had vibes of a greasy spoon but was warm and somewhere we could get food while the car charged. I had an all-day breakfast and Jaxon had a bowl of chips. At this point Chris would have asked about Gluten Free choices but he decided that he would just guess and hope that he was on an okay meal.
While we were at lunch, the car charged so that we could get to our next stop. While we ate our lunch, I was organising with Chris’s cousin for us to meet for a coffee. She came to meet us at a local supermarket while we did our shopping. As it happened there was a coffee shop right next door so we went for a proper coffee instead.
I had a mint hot chocolate that had green sprinkles on it – it was so good! I still prefer the white mint hot chocolate that I used to be able to get at The Fountain though! After catching up with Chris’s cousin, we headed back to the yurt to get ready for the wedding reception. I had a shower and really didn’t want to get out of the hot water. It was so nice to be warm and not partially frozen! We all got ready and Jaxon had a snack to keep him going until dinner time at the reception. I didn’t want us to be late so we headed to the venue. However, I completely misjudged it and we were a bit early. On top of which, I think everything was running a little behind when we arrived.
We sat in the bar for a little while and watched Strictly which was playing on the TV. Becca‘s husband’s band played for part of the reception and they were good (but so loud!). Around 9:30/10pm, Jaxon asked for a drink, so I went to the bar to get him a glass of water. In the time it took me to get to the bar and get back, he had crashed out in Chris’s arms. He was absolutely shattered! Chris and I had some food then I went to apologise to Becca. I felt so bad that we’d almost “ate and ran”. Thankfully she was really understanding and grateful that we’d made the effort to be there even for a little bit.
Once we got back to the yurt, we got the log burner going and got into bed. Between the log burner and the new duvets we were toasty! Perfect for a winter’s nap!
If you liked this post you can read more about the rest of our glamping trip here.
Having got back into monthly reviews during the second half of 2017, I decided to get on with a Year in Review.
I’ve started the same post 3 or 4 times so determined that it will be finished before the end of January and ready to go.
Things I/We Did in 2017
We took Jaxon on his first international trip and his first trip on a plane. We went to Rome for a weekend back in January. I’ve been wanting to go to Italy for most of my life. The weather wasn’t always great but it was a great time all the same. (More here)
In January, we attended the Student Exhibition at Tudor Rose Patchwork that our friend Kathleen was organising. Little did I know that in December, I would attend one of her workshops and then in January 2018 my work would be exhibited at the Student Exhibition.
I attempted yoga classes. I really did enjoy them. I always thought that my brain is a bit noisy and that yoga would be too slow for me but actually I really got it. I’d be so focused on “Is my hand in the right place? Is my leg in the right place? Am I breathing right?” that I was too busy focusing on that to worry about the chores that needed doing or the to do list that needed clearing.
I attended a film premiere (or sorts!). My friend Suzy needed some willing volunteers for her A Level Film Studies coursework. So having been part of her willing volunteers during filming, we were invited for lunch and a movie showing. It was so strange seeing myself part of the film (just about as strange as looking back at my cousin’s uni coursework that I helped with!)
I completed a self esteem workshop at church – it was interesting to think over bits that I probably don’t think about everyday. I realised that rather than embracing my nerdiness, I would often apologise for it.
In April I attended Planner Con organised by Anna aka Mrs Brimbles and in June I attended the Elliebeth Planner Day too which were both seriously good fun.
In May, we were due to go to to Amsterdam to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was only when Chris was packing about three days before we were due to travel did we realise that my passport would expire while we were away. We attempted to get an emergency appointment but the nearest one was Durham I think and even then they couldn’t guarantee that my passport would be ready in time for our flight. In the end we had to cancel it and went glamping in a bell tent in Wye Valley. In September I got my passport renewed and that’s all ready for this year’s adventures.
Jaxon started talking (and didn’t stop!). Prior to the boys heading off on their crazy adventure. Jaxon and I had been off to many referral appointments for one thing and another. One of these was his possible speech delay. Having been away with Chris, Our Sidekick and my Mother in Law, Jaxon has come back with an insane vocabulary which I swear grows daily! I now get full sentences and we have actual conversations!
Our Sidekick finished college and passed his course – yeah!
For Chris’s birthday we went to Salcey Forest and MK Museum. Some bits went down better than others but all in all we had a good time and it beat doing the “normal” birthday stuff.
Our Sidekick got a job. It’s his first non-paper round job which is really great.
We applied for Jaxon’s Primary School place. We won’t hear until Easter – and now I’m a little nervous whether I’ve made the right choice but we’ll see I guess. Hopefully, if our first choice doesn’t work out we can transfer him to our second choice.
What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most by Elizabeth Benedict
The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
On the Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher
Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn
The Hygge Holiday by Rosie Blake
How to Stuff Up Christmas by Rosie Blake
The Cake Shop in The Garden by Carole Matthews
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Four Days at Christmas by Emma St Clair
Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
While writing this I realised that I read 29 books in 2012 (the most) and then 2011 was the only year close to matching 2017. Hopefully I can at least beat 2017 this year (I think beating 2012 would involve reading lots of short books or something like that!)
Back in September (ish!), I asked Chris to look at accommodation overnight when we were in Norfolk for Becca‘s Wedding. Chris came up with the idea that we’d go glamping in Norfolk. This time it would be in a yurt unlike when we went in the bell tent back in May. Yes. Glamping in November. (And according to the car as I start this post, it’s currently 4C – brr!)
I started this post on Day 2 of our glamping adventure. We were sat up the embankment/verge of the A47 southbound slip road onto the B1108. Yes, poor Zoe has run out of charge about two miles from the charging point. I have then been trying to get this trip written up since we got back but between Christmas, New Year and then January dashing past so fast that I’ve still not finished it.
Day One (Friday)
Following collecting Jaxon from Preschool, Jaxon and I walked home. By the time I got home my nerves were a bit frayed. Chris was getting closer and closer home from work and had wanted to leave as soon as he got home. We got home and while Chris sorted Jaxon I got the car loaded.
We got on the road and headed towards the rapid charger at Cambridge Belfry Hotel. While the car was in charge we popped into the local supermarket and got some tea as well as wooly hats for both boys and a scarf for Chris. In the crazy of getting out of the car, I left my phone in there. It probably wouldn’t have been a problem, but when Chris and I lost one another in the shop we couldn’t get hold of one another. He got a bit worked up but I stuck to the “not leaving the shop without each other” rule and waited for him. I guess if the delay had been too much longer one of us could have got the supermarket staff to tannoy the other or something like that.
We got back on the road and headed for the camp site at Yaxham Waters near Dereham. Thanks to the phone call from the site contact, we were able to find our way to the yurt without too many issues. Our biggest issue was going to be the lack of charge in the car. We arrived on site with about 10 miles of charge left in the car. It was going to be a close one getting to the charger but we were at the site which was the main thing for now.
We went inside and figured out where Jaxon was sleeping. We decided that we would put him on the bed closest to the log burner and radiator. This would hopefully keep him that bit warmer throughout the night. As he had fallen asleep in the car, we put him straight to bed fully clothed. Due to a miscommunication about bedding, we all slept in our clothes with a combination of towels and blankets to create some kind of bedding. Chris and I formulated a plan to make sure there was a solution on the bedding front. Next thing was to get the kettle on and warm us both up with hot drinks.
Minus changing out of my jeans into my jogging bottoms, I pretty much slept fully dressed. It was far too cold to even think about changing clothes by that point! Right now, our glamping adventure isn’t great but bring on tomorrow!
If you liked this post you can read more about the rest of our glamping trip here.
Three and a half years ago, you decided to enter the world. You were late and kept messing about but eventually with some encouragement you arrived (birth story). When you turned two, the birthday celebrations didn’t entirely go to plan. We came back from part one of your celebrations and I had got food poisoning so I spent most of your actual birthday in bed as I was poorly. Once you were better I tried to make it up to you. I’m not sure you really entirely got what was happening at the time but I felt so bad that I’d been poorly. Thankfully, with food poisoning not being contagious, Nanny and Grandad were amazing. They came over for tea, you all sat in the garden and had a picnic and I hid away upstairs. Nanny came to chat to me for a few minutes and she asked if I needed anything then came back to the party.
Since turning two, you have been on adventures all over the place. We are pretty sure that in the time you’ve been alived you’ve visited more countries than me. Clearly, I need some more adventures to even up the score. Last January when you’d turned 2.5, we went to Rome for the weekend. In the summer, you went on adventure with Daddy, Our Sidekick and Nanny. I took you on the train to Heathrow which you loved (Mummy not so much after nearly losing you!)
You started preschool shortly after your second birthday and have now been there a year. As you moved from one classroom to another your key worker has changed. I think this has confused you a little bit but you’re getting the hang of things now and it’s making more sense to you. You love the equipment in the preschool garden/playground. Nearly every time I come to collect you, you’re out there having fun. Jaxon, You’ll be focused on your task and one of the preschool teachers will tell you I’m there. You’ll look up at me and your face will light up. You’ll dash across to me, grab me by the hand and drag me to show me something. It’s usually the slide or the see-saw but you’re always so excited about it.
When you went back to Preschool after Christmas the first couple of days you’d run up to me at the end and cuddle me and say “I missed you Mummy”. Oh I missed you too baby!
Travels
Back in January, we all went to Rome. You were so excited about going on the plane and while we were on the plane you were so well behaved. You loved exploring the city but especially loved the random soft play area we found in the food hall near The Vatican. I think you could have spent hours in there if you’d had the choice! In the Summer, you went to Malawi and Kenya with Daddy, Nanny and Our Sidekick. You got to spend a week at the Home of Hope Orphanage in Mchinji and then for the second week you went to Nairobia and Kakamega to spend time with Our Sidekick’s family. You got to ride on more aeroplanes and from what Daddy tells me you were really well behaved again.
Hospital Visits
Following concerns about your speech delay and your walking we’ve been off to see lots of lovely doctors and other health professionals. Your walking has been fixed (Temporarily?) with special in soles that help your walking. Since coming back fron your trip with Daddy in the summer you haven’t stopped talking and go from strength to strength. Every day there are more words or new phrases. You cook up amazing combinations and yet they still work.
Good Boy
We go to knitting group and nearly every week you sit so well behaved. The ladies in the group who are grandmas often comment at how well behaved you are. One week, there was a little hiccup and you ended up sat the other end of the table from me. I was a little worried that you’d kick off or you’d be really naughty. But one again you were so well behaved. The ladies around you looked after you. One of the ladies commented that one day you might think that you have lots of Grandmas because of all these ladies looking after you. (When you relate that to how you were told to refer to Our Sidekick’s Grandma and Auntie means that I think you have 15 Grandmas! Haha!).
This last weekend, Daddy took you for a haircut and apparently you sat very still and followed every instruction you were given which was really good. Daddy came home and told me how proud of you he was.
Clever Boy
You love to learn. For your 3rd birthday you were given a number chart that is up in the hallway. Some days you’ll stand there and all other play stops until you get as far as you can. With help from Daddy you’ve made it all the way to 100. You can spell your name although writing is still a bit more of a challenge. You can line up your wooden blocks to spell your name too. You love rollercoasters and somehow manage to track videos of down in the YouTube Kids app. Recently you’ve also been wanting to watch videos of level crossings. You love stopping and watching the trains at the crossing on the way to Nanny and Grandad’s house. You love to watch Paw Patrol and Dinotrux at the moment. Home is one of your favourite films although over Christmas we watched Arthur Christmas quite a lot.
Jaxon We Love You
You’ve such a character. You can be really cheeky but you’re also very caring. In the evenings, we say that we have to be quiet because the baby next door might be asleep. Sometimes in the morning while we’re having breakfast you’ll tell me we still need to be quiet in case baby is asleep. Also when Daddy or I have been poorly, you’ve brought us blankets or cuddles to make us feel better.
You have a thing about babies at the moment, either we have to carry you like a baby (so cradle hold like you would a newborn) or we have to carry toys around like babies. This is kind of funny but some days you’re so squirmy that it doesn’t work!
Happy half birthday sweet boy. We love you so very much.
I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is December’s monthly review. You can see others here. At the end of each month, I write a monthly review all about what I’ve been up to each month.
What went well this month
Get everything sorted out for Christmas. Well I got there in the end. There were some bits that were sort of postponed or were completed pretty much r
Get planner ready for 2018 – Just about sorted – you can read about it here.
Get blog posts written or planned for December. Well it sort of got there but trying to make it happen more frequent this year.
Other Highlights
We had a snow day! Well of sorts as it fell on a Sunday. It had been on the weather/news that it was coming but Bedford seems to be a bit of an anomaly. However this time it wasn’t. We had snow – and we had heaps of it!
Having shared how I use my Bullet Journal and how that’s going to fit in my planning system for 2018, I decided I needed to include updates as we go along. So I’ll be able to share what’s worked and what hasn’t worked. Also what has changed along the way out of preference or necessity.
So far we’re just a few days into January 2018 and there is already an update going on.
I finished my Sunshine Yellow Leuchhturm just between Christmas and New Year so while chilling on the sofa while the boys played. I got set up in the Purple Moleskine. This Purple Moleskine is a lined notebook (here). Now lined isn’t my personal favourite to use for bullet journaling. I definitely prefer having a grid for drawing tables and charts as needed. It kind of works on the lines but not so well.
So buy a new one right?
Nope! Wrong! This year’s word is Simplify (read here about it more). So I’m attempting to work through the notebooks and journals that I already have before buying more. So this is going to be a challenge because there’s a lot of notebooks that I’ve bought in the shop thinking “I’ll use that for…” only to get home and change my mind or get blank page-itus!
When I complete the purple lined one I have either a red lined Moleskine or a Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal Edition. I guess depending on how I get on with the Purple Moleskine then determines which once I go into next. I might need to go back to the dot grid of the Leuchtturm1917 before braving the lines again! It did cross my mind to see if I could trade in one of the planner groups but then I have to try and get to the Post Office and things like that, and that’s just a faff!
Do you have a setup for this year? Are you going back to basics or sticking with something a bit more complicated? Do you use stickers and washi to decorate or keep it plain?
Back in 2016, I wrote a post about How I Use My Bullet Journal. I got distracted by Traveler’s Notebooks and various other bits so never got back to writing a part 2. So here is part 2.
How I Use My Bullet Journal NOW
Having had a red and orange bullet journal back in 2016, I decided that I would start the year with a yellow insert so I went with the Leuchtturm1917 in Lemon. (You can find it on Amazon here).
This became my first bullet journal for 2017 before I got distracted. I’ve tried a variety of TN inserts but apart from my day to day journalling I don’t seem to be able to settle on an insert that works for me. I did have one but the company discontinued that particular one. When it comes to my bullet journal, I definitely go for a bit of a “catch all” method. So there’s sometimes no entire rhyme or reason to it. Also I still go with the “if it doesn’t work, tweak it” method.
At the back, I have Christmas gift lists written to write thank you cards once Christmas was over. In January, it traveled with me to Italy. While there I used it to document what we did then journaled about it when we got home.
Next up there were notes from different preaches at church. In the end, I moved my sermon notes to a separate journal to keep them all together. However somewhere along the line that got muddled as well. Therefore, part of 2018’s plan will be getting out that journal again and carrying on with separate sermon notes. I’ve used it for to-do lists and work notes too. I guess there are risks with having this all in one journal. However at the same time, by having a catch-all bullet journal. I can find what I need and know that chances are that one thing I need is scribbled in there somewhere.
But what about future planning?
I often come up with tasks I need to do in the future but can’t always fit them into the bullet journal Future Log kind of method. So this year along side my bullet journal which will catch day to day tasks. I’ll then use the set days in the diary to record future tasks. Like I already have one written in around the 6th January to check for an invoice payment for work and as I issue my December invoices I will be recording those payment dates as I go along so that I can try to keep on top of my business admin that bit better.
I guess some die-hards would be shouting “THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!” but I’ve tried forward planning in one journal and it just doesn’t work for me. Also rather than this being some over complex thing, I’ve stripped it back to a day a page which shows me the whole year. For this one I’m using a Moleskine 2018 Large Daily Diary 12 Months (this one has a soft cover and is on Amazon here). I think I am going to attempt to decorate it because although plain black looks professional, it’s really not me now is it?
What are you using for your Bullet Journal?
I’m currently finishing up these final pages in this yellow journal – I have about 10 pages to go and I’m pretty sure my “things to do by Christmas” list will fill a page easily! I’ve got a couple of Moleskine and Leuchtturm1917 notebooks ready to go which I’ve gained over a little while. I was given a gorgeous purple one for my 30th birthday. I started using it one day but didn’t really have a purpose for it so I think that is going to be my first one for 2018 so that I can use up the unused pages before going to a new/almost new journal.
With this new system, I would like to get some kind of cover for them both. However, when they are in the same cover it’s going to be very bulky. I think for the time being I will be going back to one of my fabric iPad cases which worked quite well before. I just need to get it out from under the bed when Chris isn’t asleep in the bed!
Do you use a bullet journal or do you have a different method? Is it something you’ve wanted to try but not got round to? Are you starting a new journaling or planning system in 2018?
When it comes to starting a business, business identity and brand is very important. Think about big businesses, they have identifiable logos and fonts that you automatically recognise. From where I sit there’s a Diet Coke bottle, my Kikki K Planner and an Amazon package. They all have those identifiable logos.
When Mum and I decided that we were going to have a stall at the Woodside Christmas Fayre, we got our crochet hooks and knitting needles out to get creative. But something we were also going to need would be a logo to identify ourselves. I started on Canva as I often use that for a lot of graphic design bits but when Logojoywas introduced to me, I thought I’d give it a go.
Logojoy is a logo maker that uses artificial intelligence, so it feels like you’re working with a real designer and the results are amazing. Our free, easy-to-use online logo maker helps you create an amazing logo in seconds. No design experience necessasary.
I heard about Logojoy and decided to give it a go instead of using Canva this time. It was excited to give it a go. As well as see if I could create something a little more professional looking than my Canva attempts.
I had a quick play from my iPhone and although it did work I decided that I really needed to work through the designing process at the computer rather than from my phone.
To start with you enter your company name. When the next screen loads you’re asked to look at a selection of logos that you like. THis can be from something really simple or something more complex.
On the next screen you choose a colour scheme, I choose Teal for C & H Designs. For this blog I would pick something green, yellow or blue based. You can then edit your company name and add a slogan if you’d like to. In both of my examples, I didn’t have a slogan to add – it’s great that this is optional.
Following this you are given the option to pick up to 5 symbols that represent your brand. For C & H Designs, I selected knitting and crochet related ones.
After this screen, the Logojoy system joins all these steps together to create some suggestions for you to take a look at.
At this point you can then adapt the name and slogan, colour scheme and icons. After you’ve made your edits and your happy with your final product you can choose download package. At one end you have the basic package that covers a low-resolution logo all the way up to the Enterprise version which has all the bells and whistles. You can find out all about it here.
As part of this review, I was given a premium package. This gave me the high resolution logo and Vector EPS and SVG files amongst other things. Within this bundle, I received the light and dark versions of the logo. Along with this package there is also a brand guide to show you which fonts and colours are used in your logo. That way you can extend the brand identity as you need to.
In our case, once I’d downloaded the logo files, I got creative with my Silhouette Portrait. I made them into stickers to use on our price labels. As you can see once you have the files they are flexible for your needs which is great.
Overall, it’s really quick and easy to use Logojoy to create a logo for your business, blog or something else. With the flexibility of the files times in the Premium package you would be able to use them on your website or social media accounts or if you needed to have your logo printed onto a t-shirt for instance.
Disclosure: I was invited to review the Logojoy website but all opinions are my own. For additional information about Logojoy you can visit their website here.
My Son Jaxon, like a lot of other children increasingly have screens as part of their day to day life. He’s been playing a number game on my phone recently. He loves playing Homescapes and 2 for 2. Homescapes is definitely more about matching shapes whereas 2 for 2 has the additional side of matching numbers so he has to read them too.
With Christmas coming, I wanted to try and get away from toys that involved him looking at screens, whether that be something like the iPad or the television. Ideally I was looking for things that didn’t require batteries as Jaxon already has heaps of toys that need batteries and will probably gain some more at Christmas anyway. He’s definitley like his Great Grandad and loves to do things with his hands, whether that’s drawing or painting or constructing like with MegaBloks and Duplo. I love toys for him, that use logic or problem-solving skills I think that’s probably because they are both the kind of puzzles that Chris and I like. I also like ones that make him use his imagination. (I keep meaning to teach him “The floor is lava” but we don’t really have enough climbing on furniture – maybe that’s one for the summer at the park! Yes I love the imagination bit in Inside Out)
One of these toys is the Cat Buildin’ Crew Take-A-Part Buddies playset from Toy State. We received one of Jaxon and for a little while kept it as a treat to give him when his potty training progressed (This sort of worked and then he seems to have regressed but we’ll figure it out I’m sure!)
Since he was given it, he’s loved this toy. He loves taking all the pieces apart then putting them together again. Not only that he methodically lines them up in order before counting them or telling us what each part is. Occasionally he makes us all have a go including Our Sidekick who is a complete sweetheart and will take the time to play with Jaxon, when Jaxon asks him to play.
These trucks, digger and bulldozer are perfect for developing co-ordination skills. The drill is battery operated with a button that rotates both ways to undo and do up the bolts as needed.
The one that Jaxon has retails around £19.99 and is available from Morrisons, Toymaster and Debenhams. The others below retails at around £11.99 and are available from Hamley’s, Morrisons, The Range, Toymaster and Smyths.
Jaxon is also a fan of wooden toys and jigsaw puzzles. As I’ve mentioned before he’s a big fan of the Alphabet Puzzle and Sorting and Teaching Clock that we received from Baby and Play back in the Summer*. He’s been attempting to spell out his name but sometimes he gets distracted and decides to build towers in the letters! The great thing about the alphabet puzzle is that it is perfect for teaching him letters of the alphabet while it being fun. Each piece fits into the board and there’s a picture underneath that corresponds to that letter which is great. Similarly the clock helps with learning numbers and he gets a bit older will help him with learning to tell the time.
The Cat Buildin’ Crew Take-A-Part Buddy toy was received from Toy State in exchange for inclusion in this post. .
While writing this post I was unable to find the original item on Baby and Play but I have linked to John Crane who supply ABC Board, if you contact the team at Baby and Play, I am sure they will assist with further information as needed.
When I mention products, I haven’t been sponsored or paid for these links. They are products that I love and would use myself.
Check those international postage dates. As a rule of thumb, the further your packages are traveling from the UK. The earlier they will need to be posted. For example, Africa and the Middle East needs to be posted by the 2nd December and Australia by the 9th. Take them to the Post Office sooner rather than later because the last date can be crazy. Also, some Post Offices limit the number of packages you can post in one go when it’s busy. (I think our local is 5 packages)(Download a printable here for your planner).
Make/Buy your Christmas Cake. The great thing about Christmas cake is that it lasts!
Start gift shopping – stay within your budget from September. Whether you slot a couple in each lunch break or just go for one big shopping trip. Start now so that you’re not panic buying towards the end.
Wrap your gifts as they are purchased. That way you’re not rushing around at the last minute and trying to get to the shop for extra paper at the last minute. Label them too so you know who they are for! Make sure you take a note of which presents you’ve bought as you go along. Remember a planner like this one from Mrs Brimbles can be really handy. Also if you take a look at Pinterest you can also find a lot of different ones.
Book your food delivery. If you get you food delivered via a service like Ocado for instance. Make sure you have your delivery slot booked now. In a lot of cases you can, add and amend your shopping as much as you need to until you place the final order and close your basket. You will need to check with the individual site to see the restrictions as to how close to your slot you have. Also, don’t leave it too close to Christmas in case you have any substitutions that don’t work for you.
Each month leading up to Christmas there will be another list of tasks to get on with. Some will be little and some will be bigger but they are totally manageable in bite-sized chunks so that you’re not stressed out by the end! You can find all the posts here.
It’s now November and heading towards Christmas and New Year at a rate of knots. Before getting my planner organised and setup for 2018, I thought I would share my current planner setup.
This post is focusing on what I have in my Chic Sparrow Pemberley. This particular one is now retired, although the Pemberley is still available in lots of other colours. This covers family appointments, journalling and Christmas planning amongst other things.
For a long time, I had wondered about getting a Chic Sparrow. However, given things like the cost and the cost of customs to import one, I kept being put off. I fell in love with the Meadowgate journals and for a while was in my standard size Meadowgate which you can read about here.
Pockets
In the front pockets, I have all sorts of bits. In the top little pocket, I have a sticker that has a bible verse on it. The verse is Romans 8:1-2 and says “I have been set free” along with the verse in full underneath. In the bottom small pocket, I currently have a book of Second Class stamps. I usually have a book of First Class stamps in there too but they are currently in my purse (which is a Chic Sparrow Pemberley in the Nano size which has also been retired I believe).
In the big pocket, I have all sorts including stickers from EllieBeth Designs, Chocho and Mimi and Beautiful Planning. There are also general stickers from some high street stores. In the pocket at the back, I have a penpal letter from the very lovely Shelby. I think I need to reply but she’d about to move from California to Colorado. Replying was on hold until I received her new address (which arrived this week in my inbox) so now I’m off to reply once I finish this post I think.
Inserts
The first insert in my current setup is an August to December insert by AnthologyNotes. This was a new discovery on Etsy and so far I am loving the insert. With it being a quarterly one I have ended up not using the first half of the insert. However, I can use it for to-do lists and notes. I have the week on one page with grid on the opposite page.
This definitely works quite well for me because I can write my to-do list that might come up across the week like buying milk or washing Jaxon’s Preschool uniform for instance. I still end up writing a separate to-do list for work bits as one page often isn’t enough but it does mean that I can scribble lists on the go. One lady on the bus even commented on the fact that I was writing a to-do list!
When I snapped these pictures, I also had a printable from A Girl and Her Journal to try out. It was a weekly spread that has Erin Condren sized boxes. The challenge I found that at that point, the boxes weren’t quite the right size for the EC stickers that I had. I had a brief conversation with Emma (From A Girl and Her Journal) about measurements etc and we think we came up with a solution). I will definitely be trying it again because of the last 2-3 years I’ve gained a lot of EC sized stickers and don’t have anywhere to necessarily use them.
Next is an insert from AnniePlansPrintables. It’s a 2017-2018 (18 months) Monthly View. The idea for this was that things that happens every week or were being planned in advance now could be added to the diary so that I could then move them to the monthly inserts when I started a new insert. So far this seems to be working but I have a bit of a action plan for 2018 brewing so I think I might need a new idea come next year but we’ll see.
With Christmas round the corner my next insert is from MrsBrimbles. Although it isn’t technically a Traveller’s Notebook. I had originally purchased the ring bound version of her Christmas Planner inserts. With permission from her, I was able to copy and paste each page into a document and create my own insert for my TN. With some careful measuring once it had printed I was able to cut this down to size for my B6 Chic Sparrow. It’s definitely easier to take with me then the A5 print outs I had a few years ago! You can find Anna’s Mega Christmas Planner Bundle here, if you’re still trying to get yourself organised for Christmas.
Other Inserts
Within this Chic Sparrow, I have a plastic pocket that gives me two pockets. This carries various stickers – at the moment I have a sheet of the Boho Style Stickers from Mrs. Brimbles. There are also stickers from EllieBeth Designs and Chocho and Mimi. I think I also have some others in there too!
So this is my current planner setup, what do you use to keep yourself organsied? Are you a pen and paper kind of person or do you prefer an app on your phone?
I saw the Happy List on You Baby Me Mummy so I’ve adopted it. (So go read her post too and show her some love!).
Another week has gone by and another is about to start. Time for some reflection and think about what I’m grateful for and what has made me happy this week.
This Week Things that Have Made Me Happy
From Friday to Friday, we had a family holiday in Norfolk. We were glamping at Norfolk Glamping (which is on the same site as Yaxham Waters Holiday Park). It was lovely to have time away with the boys but some days I couldn’t keep my brain off the things I needed to do.
Got to see Becca get married!!! Mine and Becca’s friendship just completely embodies serendipity I think. Her dad lives round the corner from Chris’s parents so we could have crossed paths without even knowing it but actually our friendship all starts because of a song about an onion and the serendipity of social media.
See Jaxon’s excited face when he saw a “windmill” close up. He actually means a Wind Turbine but they are windmills at the moment because they are like the little ones you get at the seaside etc. Also when he saw the steam trains at Bure Valley.
Jaxon was also excited by the breakdown truck but that’s not such a happy one!
There was a section of railway at the edge of the campsite so if he timed it right we could stand outside on the decking around the yurt and watch the trains.
Sheep – there was just one sheep in the field next door but Jaxon got so excited to see the sheep. We went to say goodbye to the sheep on Friday morning but he wasn’t in the field. It was colder than it had been for a lot of the week so we wondered if the sheep had been moved inside.
Be home. I loved the trip but around Wednesday evening I was at that “want to go home” stage. Jaxon kept asking to go home rather than stay and it was rubbing off on me too.
L&G – looking forward to seeing the ladies. I can always tell when I haven’t been to knitting group because I’m always a tad more grouchy and in general my mood seems to suffer.
Thanksgiving is a US thing. Even when I worked for an American company we were asked what we were doing for Thanksgiving. Well, we’d be at work while they’d have the day off! (Then again a similar discussion would be had around Boxing Day).
Being thankful for what we have is something we should focus on daily not just on special occasions. However, because of the world we live in life can get busy and we forget to “stop and smell the daisies”.
So Things I am Thankful For…
I am thankful that I got this week with my boys. Yes they have driven me crazy, I thought I might freeze to death and I have to share my chocolate. But it was important and lovely to spend time with them both.
I am thankful that I got to attend part of Becca and Dave’s wedding. I would have liked to have been there for the “official” bit but celebrating at the reception was just as lovely.
I am thankful that we have breakdown cover for our car. We have an electric car and normally charge most evenings or every other night depending on what’s going on. However, with us being away the nearest charging point is about 8-10 miles away. On Saturday, poor Zoe surrendered and gave up. We had to call out breakdown assist and they came to our rescue (more to come in my “download” about this week!).
I am thankful for a roof over our heads, heat in the radiator and food in our bellies. Yes, I spent the beginning of the week complaining how cold I was but we had the option to crank up the radiator or throw another log on the fire so I am so grateful for that. I’ve been seeing more and more people sleeping rough and it’s breaking my heart. I am never entirely sure what I can do about it just as me but I love that there are projects out there to help people. Jaxon and I will be heading along to Soupfest in Bedford to support the event that is raising funds for a multi-agency project in Bedford. You can read more here on the Bedford Clanger website and here on Soupfest’s FB page.
I’m sure there are other things to add at some point for now, this is my list.
I saw the Happy List on You Baby Me Mummy so I’ve adopted it. (So go read her post too and show her some love!).
Another week has gone by and another is about to start. Time for some reflection and think about what I’m grateful for and what has made me happy this week.
This Week Things that Have Made Me Happy
Jaxon was being a bit of a munchkin when I tried to get us ready to go out to Lemon and Ginger on Monday. We missed the bus so had to wait for the next one, which then meant we were running late. We eventually arrived at L&G and found some seats. Another one of the ladies arrived and we moved a spare table over to join the rest of the group which made me happy.
One of the ladies at knitting group is currently over here for the year from Australia. Her partner and she have been exploring lots. One of their exploration trips was to see the Flying Scotsman at the weekend. She’d taken video of the train on her phone and took the time to show Jaxon which was really sweet of her. Jaxon got very excited because the Flying Scotsman appears in the The Great Race which is loves watching.
On Wednesday, I went along to Knit and Natter at Albero Lounge Bedford. A couple of us from Lemon and Ginger on a Monday also go to this group on Wednesday. We regularly end up talking about our stashes and current projects. This is nearly always accompanied by the fact that even when you think “I’ll use *that* from my stash” and it’s not quite the right shade of the colour your looking for. You end up buying more yarn and the bit that doesn’t get used ends up in your stash. Well, one of the ladies, arrived at the group on Wednesday with a bag of yumminess yarn-ness and said to me and my Wednesday Sidekick about sharing it out between us and we could adopt it. Well, one of my love languages is thoughtful gifts so as you can imagine I was feeling very cared for. Now what to make with the yarn?
When we were kids, our school used to get a tea towel printed. All the kids had to draw a little self-portrait and it was then printed with their names. I could never remember drawing my own picture but apparently I did as I was always there on the tea towel. This year, Preschool have done one too. I’ve got one for us but I think it might have to be kept special rather than using it but that seems like a waste. Maybe I’ll be creative and figure something out in the end.
This weekend Mum and I went to Nottingham Yarm Expo. It was nice to have a trip that was just us, yes it’s lovely hanging out with Jaxon but sometimes I need a mummy/daughter date lol. There’s more to come in another post. But for now, we had a great time and there are pictures and video on my Instagram here.
Jaxon and I were at my Mum and Dad’s this afternoon and we had a funny moment. Okay, it wasn’t exactly funny but it was at the same time. Jaxon is still toilet training. This is easier some days than others. He had used all his changes of clothes and I needed to get him home. So I took off my t-shirt and put my jumper back on. He then came home in my t-shirt. Well bearing in mind that it’s a 20/22 to give plenty of breathing room on me. it completely drowned him and looked like a dress. When we got home, he wouldn’t take it off until bedtime and wouldn’t put trousers on underneath! He did look funny but it made me happy how cute and snuggled he was up in my shirt while we watched cartoons between dinner and bedtime.
Chris is away doing the Tube Challenge with our friend Mike. At the last update, they were over half way maybe nearly three-quarters of the way but they are running about 20 minutes behind schedule due to some delays. They are hoping to make it still within the time I think.
I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is November’s review. You can see others here.
What went well this month
Get Christmas shopping finished – well this is still in progress. Some of the ideas haven’t followed through and I need to figure out what to sort out.
Get planner ready for 2018 – In true planner addict style, I thought I had a plan but as we go into December – I still don’t have a clue. I think I will just bounce around and see what sticks and resist the temptation to buy in the mean time!
Get blog posts written or planned for November. I managed to get a couple of bits done early in the month but as the month went on things didn’t go so well.
Try to reach 10k steps at least 4 days a week. I forgot to take my charger with me when we were away in November so I missed being able to count on those days.
Donate Blood. Gave my 20th Blood Donation. Five to go to my Silver Award. I can just about fit 3 donations into one year as long as I’m not ill or have more than 16 weeks between donations. So I will get my award in the middle of 2019 if I manage to donate every time. While giving blood the lady on tea table (called Maz) was chatting about her mobile phone to one of the other people waiting. She asked how she checks how much space is on her phone. I was able to help her and funnily enough she was my Donor Carer person when I started that days donation so it was like a skills swap or something!
Other Highlights
#FreeTeaDay: I was actually in the right place at the right time to be able to get a free cup of tea. Ground Floor Coffee at King’s House were taking part so I adopted a cup of tea on my way out after giving blood. I tried the Spiced something tea but was kind of disappointed. I’m sure it’s lovely enough but didn’t taste of what it was supposed to taste of. (Rooibos base with Cinnamon and Cloves or something like that).
Attended a meeting with a new client, was really good to sit down and discuss properly rather than email threads backwards and forwards.
Had a little adventure getting the train back from Woburn Sands. The train was made up of one carriage and I had to buy my ticket on board. The conductor had a little tablet and a travel ticket printer.
Mum and I went up to Nottingham for the Yarn Expo and had a great time. I bought some new wool which was nice but now I need to figure out what to do with it.
Chris attempted the Tube Challenge again. There were a couple of hiccups that slowed the guys down and they didn’t manage to complete. I think they are tempted to attempt it again in the New Year.
Jaxon and I went swimming at the local pool, then when we were on holiday we went swimming for a second time. The second time with Chris with us he got a bit more confident in the water which was good. I would love to take him more frequently so he can get used to the water. Maybe that’s something for the New Year.
We spent a week in Norfolk at Norfolk Glamping. The start of our time away included Becca‘s Wedding which was really exciting. It was so lovely to be included in their wedding celebrations even just for the little bit we were there for.
Mum and I ran our stall at the Woodside Christmas Fayre which was fun. I think we were both a bit nervous whether anything would actually sell and then we made a handful of sales which was good.
Jaxon, Mum and I went to Milton Keynes to see the Christmas Lights at Middleton Hall. At one point we sat outside Caffe Nero discussing how the lights have shrunk since when I was a kid. Jaxon wanted Grandma to go on the carousel with him and on the train too so I was on buggy duty.
I finished The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I loved the character of Don, he really reminded me of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. This is actually the first book in a series so I’m going to add Book Two (The Rosie Effect) to my wishlist. I need to add this one’s review to Goodreads and Amazon at some point soon.
In the last couple of months, Our Sidekick has got a job. Now, this is great but because it’s retail his shifts can be different each week. Now, this week he’d been put on a late on Thursday so wasn’t able to babysit.
Rather than surrender, Chris was not deterred. He had a plan. We were down to Herd and Harvester as they both do takeaway and start with H. Jaxon has been coughing a lot recently too so actually staying home instead was good because we could check on him and be right there if he needed us. While Chris was feeding Jaxon and doing bedtime, I nipped to the supermarket and then to get the food. I spoke to the pharmacist about cough medicine for Jaxon’s cough – it’s been sounding chesty but they only had the dry mixture. (Actually following a conversation with the nurse at the Drop-In on Friday morning – Cough medicine is sort of all sugar and no kick. There are plenty of less sugary alternatives and so far so good). I’d also grabbed a bottle of Cloudy Lemonade to have with our dinner.
Anyway, after solving the cough medicine conundrum I headed into town for the food. First challenge was to find somewhere to park. I ended up parking round the corner and then putting my head down and walking as fast as I could in the dark to the restaurant. I felt like I’d parked reasonably close but then when I got out to walk back, it felt like ages!
Waiting in Herd, Pull the Udder One!
When I arrived at Herd, it was a little bit busy but not too busy. I thought someone would have acknowledged that I was there even if it was just to say “Sorry, we’ll be with you shortly”. Well after 10 minutes and another guy coming in and semi-queue jumping, I was debating going elsewhere. It was nearly 8 pm and I was hungry. I was prepared that there would be a wait for the food while it cooked but if I knew I was going to be ignored I’d have gone elsewhere or phoned my order in maybe.
While I was stood there Chris was sending me herd and burger jokes. When I commented by text to Chris about the guy half queue jumping he texted “Perhaps he was just too cow-ardly to follow it through”. The thread went on for quite a few messages. When Chris said I need to catch one of the servers. I replied with “Pass me my Lasso!” and a silly gif.
Now here’s where a question rose…I was offered a drink while I waited for the food. If it was you, would you have expected to pay for the drink? I’ve been elsewhere for takeaway and have been offered a free drink, while I wait for my food but this time I was charged. Now maybe that’s normal and it was only £1.50 something so not a major deal but I just wondered what the consensus was out there.
The food arrived and I repeated the head down charge back to the car. Set Waze to send an ETA to Chris and headed home.
Home, Sweet, Home
While I’d been out, Chris had got glasses and plates out on the coffee table in the living room. The candles were lit and the lights were set to “Relax” or something like that. He apologised that one of my candles wouldn’t light so he’d started a new one. I explained that was fine, I knew that one was dying and it wasn’t a problem.
We munched through our burger and chips while catching up on The Apprentice. It’s definitely more Chris’s cup of tea than mine but I generally sit there heckling or just laughing at the level of stupidity that strikes some weeks. We also watched Travel Man, I kept shouting “Been there” when we spotted places that we’ve been to in the past. Amsterdam was very exciting as we’ve been there. The Iceland one – I couldn’t respond to but I want to go one day! Yes added to the Wanderlust list.
Our Community Group has started back now following the Summer Break but date night is still happening. With continuing help from Our Sidekick’s babysitting services. We have been able to make sure we have a proper date night. I jokingly said that we needed to try and do an A to Z of Date Nights. Of course, with Chris being the kind of guy who doesn’t want to turn down a challenge. He accepted my slightly crazy idea.
Christmas prep for me starts with little jobs in September, leading up to bigger jobs as needed through October, November and December. Part of that preparation is making sure that gifts, presents and other happy mail makes its way to the correct homes on time. Here’s a handy printable with the last post dates.
I love happy mail at any time of the year but I love Christmas cards. I love how they will gradually arrive over a couple of days. We hang them in our living room across the chimney breast so we can add a bit more Christmas decoration as each card arrives. Most of our gifts are hand delivered rather than posted so we don’t need to worry about that. However, I make sure I always check the last post dates anyway to make sure my Christmas cards are sent in time.
At knitting group, we’ve been discussing the cost of postage and how expensive it can be to mail international post. If your sending something internationally make sure you check the last post dates as well as the cost of the postage – be sure to include that in your budget!
I created this little printable in a variety of sizes for you to add to your planner, calendar or to stick to the wall near your computer, I hope it comes in handy.
It’s A4 size but if you print at 50% it should be A5 and if you do at 25% it should work for A6.
I saw the Happy List on You Baby Me Mummy so I’ve adopted it. (So go read her post too and show her some love!).
There’s been crazy going on around these parts, both locally and nationally (along with internationally). This weekend we’ve seen a couple of answers to prayer which is very exciting so I thought I’d create a list of things I’m grateful for this week.
This Week I have Loved
Lemon and Ginger on Monday. I love the knitting group. I love that even if I’ve dragged myself out of bed and not even looked at the hairbrush the ladies are happy to see Jaxon and I.
It’s now November. I can actually have Christmas songs and films on now without feeling a little silly. I’ve had Amy Grant’s Home For Christmas album playing a lot already. (How it going to be our sixth Christmas with Our Sidekick this year and our fourth with Jaxon!)
Preschool’s back! Well, preschool went back the week before but my brain has caught up and things feel calmer this week. I had work stuff to do while Jaxon was off Preschool and I ran out of time, it gradully seemed to push further and further. When I actually sat down to work being motivated was a real challenge, so this week when he was back it was crammed in!
Friday – meeting with new client. Excitingly they’d already accepted my original plan of action so mostly it was putting a name to a face and figuring out where we’re at and what’s next. So bring on the next stage!
Caught the train back from Woburn. So I’m used to the Bedford to London route and where to get on and get off etc but this time was totally different. The station at Woburn is so tiny that there isn’t actually a ticket office. You have to buy your ticket once you’re on the train.
This morning, I sang during the service as part of the band for the first time. It was a little scary especially when we had hiccups. However, I got so many positive comments. I’ve written them down so I remember them in the future.
How about you? What’s made you happy this week? What are you grateful for?
Gourmet Burget Kitchen like Wagamama, recently arrived in Bedford when Riverside North opened a few weeks ago. I’ve been a handful of times to the GBK in Milton Keynes but it’s not usually somewhere that I would pick to eat.
We parked the car over at the electric charging point at Bedford College. That definitely seems to be our go-to parking space and it’s walking distance to Riverside North for the restaurant. This branch of GBK is right next door to the Vue cinema so would be a great stop for dinner before going to see a film.
On our arrival, we were seated pretty promptly and were given a choice of where to sit. We picked a table that was actually probably too big for just the two of us but it was nicer than being squished around a smaller table.
Chris asked for a gluten free menu and the waitress was on it. She took away the normal menu and reappeared very quickly with a gluten-free menu which was great.
Once we had chosen what we were having, Chris went to order. He noticed while he was at the counter that there was a selfie competition. We took this one first, then he decided that it wasn’t fun enough and we needed another – hence the second one a bit later in the post.
Drinks
I would nearly always go for a diet cola or lemonade while we’re out for dinner but this time I picked Strawberry and Elderflower and Chris had Rhubarb and Vanilla (which tasted like Rhubard and Custard sweets – YUM!)
Food
When our dinner arrived we both were surprised at quite how many chips I had – in the end, I shared them with Chris as there were just too many! I had the Bacon Pesterella Chicken Burger which is bacon, mozzarella, basil pesto and basil mayo. It was pretty much cheese and bacon with a dollop of pesto on top for good measure.
I thought I’d made a note of what Chris had but now I can’t remember. I think he was having a beef burger with cheese and bacon but I’m not sure of the actual one on the menu.
This was the new selfie when the food arrived. This was our “Oh my goodness roll me back to the car” face!
We had a lovely time and the staff at GBK are super lovely and friendly. The food was yummy and I would definitely go back again.
Our Community Group has started back now following the Summer Break but date night is still happening. With continuing help from Our Sidekick’s babysitting services. We have been able to make sure we have a proper date night. I jokingly said that we needed to try and do an A to Z of Date Nights. Of course, with Chris being the kind of guy who doesn’t want to turn down a challenge. He accepted my slightly crazy idea.
I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is October’s review. You can see others here.
What went well this month
Complete portfolio for job interview. I got there in the end.
Continue to exercise, eat better and lose weight. This was a mixed one. With Chris doing his challenge and then being away at a Hackathon I think my tea consisted of whatever Jaxon was eating because it was easier than cooking something separate for me.
Get Christmas prep sorted. I managed to buy two of Jaxon’s presents but that was it. Really need to get myself sorted on the other bits.
Sort birthdays that come up this month. I managed to sort my Mother in Law’s birthday but had to get that sent direct to her because plans didn’t entirely work out. I did manage to sort a birthday card for Chris’s Auntie – it arrived late but it had left me in plenty of time so I class that as a win of sorts!
Other Highlights
Chris completed his crazy birthday challenge (there is a blog post coming from him!)
He also attended a hackathon.
I signed up for Planathon 2018 and really trying to get some of it done.
Although we don’t celebrate Halloween, we opened our door to two special trick or treaters, I made stickers for my friend’s little boy and then had little bags of sweets for him and his little friend. We decided that it would be a sort of “We don’t celebrate but it’s lovely to see you and thank you for coming to see us, here’s a gift”.
Earlier in October, my first Christmas present arrived. It was a copy of Origin by Dan Brown, that my brother and his wife bought for me. He even gave me permission to read it when it arrived rather than wait for Christmas. I’m still attempting to finish The Little Book of Hygge. I say attempting because I got sucked into other books too. You can see all the books I’m reading on Goodreads. I have also been reading A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles for our book club. So far I’m not entirely into it but hopefully it will grow on me. Our meetup got postponed so I have a bit more time to try and read it.
Normally I share my projects once they are completed. However, this one I’m sharing is still in progress – given the size of it and how it’s still not finished. This is a giant granny square blanket. It’s fairly easy in design but as it gets bigger and bigger it’s taking more time to complete one round.
Back in December 2016, my friend was sorting out and getting ready for the arrival of her second baby. She decided to put up for adoption a partially completed blanket along with a bundle of wool both to finish it and some extra bits. I said yes please if she had no other takers.
Having had it in the wardrobe or under my desk for the best part of a year I decided that it was time to get on with it. Having cleared the decks with a bunch of projects recently. I would drag this one out and make something of it. It’s now getting big (56ish groups of trebles to a side) so trying to figure out what to do with it next.
I’ve got a plan now and I’m working on it but it’s taking a little while as you can imagine! At the moment, it’s gone back on hold while I work on some bits for the Craft Fair, Mum and I are having a stall at in a few weeks. But I want to try and get it completed by Christmas – or at least in the direction of being finished! New Year, New Projects maybe?
If you follow me on Instagram I’ll be posting more updates there as it’s in progress then will be back with a finished post when it’s completed.
Project Specs
Pattern: Giant Granny Square Blanket Pattern Source: Basic Granny Square Pattern Yarn: Sirdar Country Style Wool Blend DK in Cream, Naturelle, Merlot, Suede and Meadow. (Colour numbers are 411, 409, 475, 474 and 614) Date Started: (adopted) December 2016 Date Finished: In Progress Modifications: None Final Measurements: I will measure it up when I’m finished – it’s still growing!
If you’re an avid reader, you will notice that E got skipped (and delayed). It turns out that there are very few restaurants that begin with E. Also the one or two that we did find in Bedford were a bit out of our price bracket.
The delay was due to Chris being on his crazy birthday adventure. I guess in a way we did have a date night. It was walking from the Paddington Basin to Big Ben but that doesn’t fit with our A to Z so kind of doesn’t count (although it does from another angle).
Chris came up with an E, which was to go to Eat n Bowl at St Neot’s however when we got there the earliest slot available for a lane to do bowling was 9:30 pm. With Chris, Jaxon and I getting up REALLY early to get Chris to Climathon, staying out that late wasn’t a good idea. We decided that Plan A (Date Night E) would be postponed. Knowing Chris he wouldn’t be able to leave the alphabet incomplete so we’d set a date and save up a budget for the night out. (Although if one of those local restaurants starting with E wanted to “donate” a meal out to the cause we would appreciate it gratefully!)
We came up with a Plan B and I suggested Frankie and Benny’s at Huntingdon as I don’t really know St. Neots but Chris found that there is a Frankie and Benny’s at St. Neots – and not that far from where we were.
Now, normally Frankie and Benny’s would be avoided. Between the service and price, they aren’t always worth the effort. We used to do go on a Monday night for date night because they had a 50% off offer nearly every week which made it affordable. However, if you were in a rush or needed to get back for a babysitter for instance then it was a hassle.
Anyway, with the muddle that October has been between one thing and another, it was time for a date night. We were minutes away and we had a babysitter – let’s do this thing.
We arrived and were sat fairly quickly. The usual dish that I order has been removed from the menu so I needed to pick something else. Chris was impressed that he had a lot of choice on the Gluten Free menu. However, once his pizza arrived, I’m not sure he was so convinced about it.
It was pretty much BBQ sauce, cheese and chicken on a gluten free square base. I think he would have liked some onions or even some extra seasoning to create some interest.
On the other hand, my dinner was lovely – there was a lot there but given my other choice I’m glad I picked this.
Once we ate our dinner and told the waitress that we weren’t having dessert, we felt like we were forgotten. She must have walked past us about 5-6 times and didn’t stop to check on us. It was only when we both had our coats on, almost heading towards the door did she actually pay attention.
Once again Frankie and Benny’s just proved why they aren’t such a great place to eat out. I think we will be avoiding both Bedford and St Neots branches from now on.
However, the objective of the evening was to have a date night. To sit down together and have time with one another and that was achieved.
Now onto G…
Our Community Group has started back now following the Summer Break but date night is still happening. With continuing help from Our Sidekick’s babysitting services, we were able to make sure we were having a proper date night. I jokingly said that we needed to try and do an A to Z of Date Nights. Of course, with Chris being the kind of guy who doesn’t want to turn down a challenge. He accepted my slightly crazy idea.
This week I wore some holes in my favourite pair of trousers. While lying in bed, it got me thinking about my very favourite trousers which were pink corduroy. With a combination of a long top or something they might still be wearable but really they need to head to the bin. Current favourite trousers RIP.
I was lying in bed thinking about what I needed to do the next day a few nights ago and got thinking about favourite items of clothes. I love flares. Proper comfy wide flares are my favourites even now.
Then the pink corduroy trousers came to mind. I was about 16/17 and my friend was clearing out her wardrobe. She offered me this pink cords and although they were definitely a size too big, I accepted and soon with the help of a belt they were worn a lot of the time. I think in the end I did fit them properly but when that came round they’d started to fray around the bottoms and other holes started to appear.
I think they were replaced by another pair of jeans that were worn to their death.
When I was at university, I was given a gift voucher for a specific shop that was normally kind of out of my price range but on this occasion I found a pair of trousers that were in my budget and again they were worn to death. (Clearly they were a good style because another friend in my class also had the same trousers.
So now I’m thinking about trousers and wear to buy new ones. I bought smart black trousers from a supermarket recently and they are so snug that I have to keep breathing in while I wear them. That makes sitting down in an interview kind of uncomfortable! But where do I find trousers that are comfortable? Currently, I have a pair of jeans from a well known high street brand and they are “relaxed skinny” – they just about work but are still too snug for my preference.
Why is it so hard to buy comfy trousers now? It’s a topic I’ve often talked about – here’s another post about jeans here.
Do you have a favourite item of clothing? Do you struggle to buy jeans that fit well or comfortably?
And now it’s time for October’s Christmas Prep post. Did you complete your September tasks?
When I mention products, I haven’t been sponsored or paid for these links. They are products that I love and would use myself.
Make family plans. Are there specific relatives you visit over the Christmas season? Make sure you include contacting them in your Christmas prep. Get those visits in the diary before other things get in the way. Also make sure you include booking travel in your Christmas prep.
Shop for cards and wrapping paper. As lovely as the glitter looks when it’s on the roll and in the packaging. Remeber it can malt everywhere! (I have a roll of paper next to my desk that is covered in glitter and I know the second I open it, it will be going everywhere!)
Update your card list. You may have done it when you checked your addresses last month but if not make sure you do it. I also find it’s handy to either write down who we receive cards from as they arrive or when I take them down so I know who to sent to next Christmas.
Bake cakes and other goodies that can be frozen. Rather than running round like a crazy person, before your guests arrive. Bake items in advance that can then be defrosted in the morning or the night before.
Get using that Christmas Planner. Are you using it or have you printed it off and forgotten about it? I suggest these ones from Mrs Brimbles. Check out her Christmas YouTube videos too as there are bonus printables. Another to take a look at is AnniePlansPrintables.
Each month leading up to Christmas there will be another list of tasks to get on with. Some will be little and some will be bigger but they are totally manageable in bite-sized chunks so that you’re not stressed out by the end! You can find all the posts here.
Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year to travel however, during the winter months, it’s not uncommon for flights to be delayed due to bad weather conditions.
For example, last winter, more than 3000 flights in different parts of the UK were delayed for three hours or more due to bad weather, causing travel chaos for thousands of passengers trying to make it home in time for the festive season.
In fact, more than one in 10 Brits travelling abroad for the festive period are often left to endure long waits in the departure lounge, with Manchester and Gatwick airport making the top of the list for the worst flight delays.
Last year, 20% of flights scheduled to leave from Manchester airport were delayed for more than half and hour and 17% of flights leaving from Gatwick airport were also delayed.
And this year, the Met Office has also warned travellers to brace themselves for more travel disruption as a cold snap is predicted to cause more travel problems.
Winter weather can cause a whole host of issues for airlines however, many passengers are not aware that they claim compensation if their flight is disrupted due to bad weather conditions.
This is because many airlines state that poor weather conditions are out of their control and therefore, they are not liable for any delays to their planned departures.
However, passengers are still able to claim compensation for bad weather that is not “freakish” or “wholly exceptional.” Passengers can also claim for lightening striking a plane, technical issues preventing an aircraft from departing and issues with de-icing equipment.
Recent statistics have revealed that as much as 95% of passengers are not claiming the money owed to them for adverse weather conditions affecting their flights. This is according to research conducted by FlightStats research.
So if you are planning on jetting off to sunnier shores this Christmas or you’re planning on visiting family abroad, make sure you check your flight times before heading off to the airport. If your flight is delayed due to bad weather conditions, you may be entitled to compensation.
And remember, it’s not just bad weather than can cause ongoing issues for the world’s busiest airports, air traffic congestion, technical issues and delayed arrivals are amongst some of the reasons why passengers experience delays during the festive period!
I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is September’s review. You can see others here.
What went well this month
Continue to work on the weight loss – this has continued. It’s slow going but it’s a marathon not a sprint.
Exercise at least half an hour on the majority of the week – this hasn’t always happened but some days have had a lot of exercise followed by a lazy day where not a lot of exercise has happened. I think I will take this one into October too and see if I can improve on it.
Get work back on track – definitely working a lot better now that Jaxon is back at Preschool. There’s a bit of crazy this week but with assistance from Chris and my parents I’ve been able to tag team childcare this week.
Get Christmas prep sorted – I got as far as sorting out my Christmas planner but not a lot further than that. That’s definitely October’s job.
Get posts about Christmas and Autumn posts – I got some of these done but need to work on getting rest sorted out.
Chris has been doing a lot of training walks ready for this birthday challenge.
I’ve been working on completing various started projects including crochet projects and reading books.
Other Highlights
Between a couple of emails and a couple of phone calls there are some crazy weeks coming ahead. Let’s see how October goes.
Adventures with Jaxon – Chris, Jaxon and I went to Gulliver’s Land for the day. I think after all these years I’ve actually found theme park rides that are at my level of scary.
This month I read The Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn and The Hygge Holiday by Rosie Blake. I loved The Hygge Holiday. Oh I loved it!! Clara is such a sweetie and so many times I wanted to reach into the book and give her a big cuddle. Lovely romantic comedy. Easy read that doesn’t take too much concentration so you can chill and have a hyggelig good time! Now where are my candles and snuggly blanket? I also started How to Screw Up Christmas by Rosie but I haven’t finished that one. I did attempt The Red Tent by Anita Diamant for our new book club but I really couldn’t get into it and had to surrender in the end. It actually coincided accidentally quite well after my babysitting plans fell through at the very last minute. Our Book Group is going to read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.
Blogtober is like vlogtober with the idea being to attempt to blog/vlog every day in October.
Are you taking part? Be sure to share your Blogtober links.
Having commented on Instagram about attempting to do Vlogtober, I decided that blogging every day in October might be more likely in some way.
So it’s October 1st and we are within 90 days to Christmas. I’ve been attempting to be more organised about getting Christmas ready rather than charging around like a crazy lady. I’ve even been blogging suggestions that you can find here.
Family
This month starts with a level of crazy, not only do I have a job interview this week. That also needed things prepped for it (before I even think about fitting in washing my hair!) Chris is doing his birthday challenge over the weekend so this week almost turns into a crazy fortnight. He starts his challenge on Saturday morning from Birmingham Bullring. (More information can be found here and here).
Jaxon has picture day at preschool so I need to make sure he’s all clean and presentable for that one. Hopefully, it’s as cute as last year and he looks at the camera – unlike when I try to take his picture and he gets distracted.
I have more goals and bits to come on my September Review post which will hopefully be up this week.
Work
Back in the Spring I attended a Growth Hacking group based here in Bedford. I talked about how I wanted to develop my business so that once Jaxon was in preschool, I was making good use of that time to group my business. This was a great idea, to a certain degree. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the opportunities but this week I need to learn to say no and figure out what the plans are (actually no that should be trust God for what the plans are. He’s got the plan even when I can only see the next piece of the puzzle).
So how is your October looking? Is it busy or quiet? Are you getting ready for Christmas or does Halloween come first in your house?
With our Community Group stopping for the Summer Holidays, we had a free evening. With help from Our Sidekick to be our babysitter, we were able to make sure we were having a proper date night. I jokingly said that we needed to try and do an A to Z of Date Nights. Of course, with Chris being the kind of guy who doesn’t want to turn down a challenge. He accepted my slightly crazy idea.
D is for Dominos, Deadman’s Cross and Dessert Island
This week’s date night came in parts. But prior to leaving the house I didn’t know the parts of the plan. Chris had it all in hand.
I was still trying to get an urgent piece of work finished when my phone dinged. Chris had finished putting Jaxon to bed and wanted to know if I was ready to go out. He’d warned me that I would probably need my coat.
We got in the car and headed away from our house when Chris realised he had forgot part of what was needed.
We dashed back to the house and he ran inside. He reappeared a few minutes late with a shopping bag. I joked along the lines “seriously what are we doing that means you need a kit bag??”
D is for Dominos
This time we set off for destination number one. This was the Dominos takeaway in Bedford town centre where we were picking up our dinner. Chris had preordered the takeaway for collection so that it was ready when we got to the shop. I switched to the driver’s seat so that Chris could go in and collect the pizzas then when he came back we swapped again and I looked after the pizzas so Chris could drive to destination number two. Gluten free something pizza for Chris and Hawaiian pizza for me. Chris had even ordered it on the extra thin crust with half the cheese to reduce the fact that this evening was really not an “on plan” date night!
D is for Deadman’s Cross
We headed out towards New Cardington and I commented that we must be going to Duck’s Cross. I’d got muddled. Duck’s Cross is a tiny village/hamlet north of Bedford near Colmworth. We were off to Deadman’s Cross which is south of Bedford near Haynes and Chicksands.
In Chris’s Mystery Kit Bag, there was a big glass storage jar with two sets of battery operated fairy lights. One set was blue and one was pinky red but together they have off this purple glow! After eating our pizza it was time for part two (well technically part 3).
D is for Dessert Island
Having parked the car (coincidentally in De Parys Avenue!) we headed to Dessert Island. It’s a relatively new shop that’s opened in town. It does what it says on the tin. It serves desserts. I’ve been before with my friend and nearly had to roll back to the car. This was the first time I’d been with Chris. I had the Banana Bunch Waffles and Chris had the After Eight Sundae.
We spent a lot of the evening talking about my job interview next week and how I was going to answer the questions and things like that. We also talked about Chris’s birthday challenge which starts officially next weekend.
With Chris being away on his adventure next week’s date night will either be us walking round London to the finish line or will be made up at another point!
Tea is a staple in our house. It has always been as some days Chris would chain-drink his tea. Normally, Chris loves normal tea – although has been drinking more non-caffeinated tea. I’ve got a bit addicted to Green Tea with different flavours in it. My favourite has to the Strawberry and Vanilla by Taylors of Harrogate. Across the summer, we seem to get through whole icebergs of ice cubes so when a review of the Vremi Ice Cube Trays came up it was a great idea for us.
Pinkies Up Whistling Tea Kettle
It was great to receive the Vremi Whistling Kettle to review. I’m pretty sure we had a whistling kettle in the caravan when we would go away on holiday. It was great – you could put the kettle on in the caravan then sit in the awning or just outside the caravan and get one with other things.
As a household kettle though, we’ve never needed a kettle that goes on the hob as we’ve always had an electric kettle. There’s someting very kitsch about a whistling hob kettle. So I got out the kettle and put enough water in it to make a cup of tea and had a play. Maybe I’m just used to the electric kettle but it seemed to take AGES to boil. However, the benefit of having the whistle was that I actually heard the kettle boil rather than missing the kettle switching off and having to go back and reboil it again before making a drink.
I think for us it would be most handy as a kettle to take with us camping. The current one we have is fine for the odd cuppa but if we need more water than two mugs worth then it has to be boiled again whereas this one would work a lot better.
Straight Chillin’ Ice Cube Trays
These are straightforward genius! The Vremi Straight Chillin’ Ice Cube Trays are crafted from premium food-grade silicone and come with lids for stackable convenience. Each set comes with two trays which means you’re not limited to just freezing water. You can try all sorts of things. I think when Jaxon was first trying solids they would have been handy for freezing baby-sized portions. Might have to try freezing juice or something like that and making flavoured ice cubes. (If we were the kind of people to celebrate Halloween it might be worth trying to freeze toy spiders in jelly or something like that! Then again that might be funny anyway to see Jaxon’s reaction!)
Jaxon assisted me with filling the first tray. When it came to taking the cubes out, He got very excited that he could pop them himself. The problem we then had was the storage of the cubes I made.
All in all, they were are much easier to use that the plastic tray we currently use. With some reshuffling in our freezer, I’ll be using both trays. Possibly one with flavoured ice cubes instead of just water.
You can enter to win a Whistling Kettle and a set of two ice cubes trays by using the widget below.
Growing up, while we were at school there were two washing days. Our shirts had to be changed on a Tuesday. Then on a Friday, all our uniform would go in the wash. I think Mum would possibly to an extra load if it was needed. But as we got older if we needed specific things, we either had to ask or do it ourselves. My Mum went on a trip a few years ago and knowing the boys might not know what to do. She left a sticky label on the washing machine with instructions.
What’s the System in Our House?
Prior to Jaxon being at preschool, I would do the washing as it was needed. This could often mean that I’d end up with multiple loads needing to be done in one go. Now that Jaxon is at preschool more of the week, I try to keep on top of the washing. This often means I do extra loads in the week to make sure he has his preschool uniform ready. We have 4 or 5 preschool shirts because he inherited a couple. But do you think I can find them all now? I think they must be hidden somewhere! I try to dress him in his uniform on preschool days. That way there’s a clear distinction between preschool days and normal days. Currently Jaxon is being potty trained, so we need a detergent which is gentle on his skin but deals with the accidents!
I then fit in the family washing around that. With it just being Chris and my washing, I can generally get it down to 2 or 3 washes. While Our Sidekick was still at school I would do his washing for him. However since he turned about 17/18 he has been encouraged to do his own washing. Admittedly when the boys were away in the summer I did do about 5 loads of his washing. Well it had been abandoned round his bedroom floor and I decided his room needed a deep clean. When I was trying to wash uniform that couldn’t be tumble dried or wouldn’t appear until Sunday Lunchtime, I absolutely hated washing clothes!
Using a Tiny House Mentality on the Washing Front
With our current attempts to apply the tiny house mentality in a big house, I’ve been trying to get the washing done and away quicker than it possibly had been in the past. In my Morning Routine, I open the curtains, make the beds then scoop up any washing I can spot. If there’s time while Jaxon eats his breakfast, I’ll put on a load. With this new method I don’t mind washing the clothes, where possible I will run the tumble dryer overnight or while we’re out. With the weather being so changeable, I’ve been having to dry the non-tumble dry items inside which isn’t always good because the drying rack can get in the way.
It’s a Family Affair (or Toddler Affair!)
Jaxon loves assisting me with putting the washing on. He’s watched Chris and I throw the washing downstairs. So I can put the washing at the top of the stairs and he’ll throw it down for me. Also if I sort it into piles, I can move one pile close to the washing machine and he’ll put it all in for me. I then have to make sure I walk him through which dials to turn and which buttons to press so that he can help me set the washing machine running. (He loves buttons and I get in trouble if he thinks I did it without him!)
At my parents house, my Mum always went for the same detergent every time. When I was doing most of the shopping, I would pick whichever was on offer to looked or smelt appealing – this meant that every time we got a new bottle or box it could be a different smell or colour.
Since Jaxon was born, I took to washing all the clothes in non-bio powder or liquid. I had tried to alternate between non-bio and bio but I’d often get muddled. Also we ended up having to buy two lots of detergent. Generally we go with the supermarket own brand non-bio because it’s what’s there, however, I am loving the smell of the lavender and sandalwood Ecover non-bio and because it’s a concentrated formula, there are more washes per bottle and things like that. The Ecover detergent is safe for sensitive skin and is also approved by Cruelty-Free International which makes it even better too!
We’ve now been using the Ecover detergnt for about two weeks. The smell is definitely more noticeable when compared with our supermarket own brand that we normally use. Price wise it’s considerably more than our normal detergent but as it is environmentally friendlier it might be good to move over if we can spare the pennies. It’s definitely working just as well – especially on mucky toddler caused stains! The first time I didn’t use the cap but then realised that I could use that to make sure I wasn’t over-detergent-ing the washing.
And of course, it does get recorded in my planner or on a to do list to make sure I keep up with the laundry. These are my current favourite stickers for recording it in my planner – they are from Chocho and Mimi.
This post is an entry for BritMums #EcoverLaundry Challenge, sponsored by Ecover.
Image of the Chocho and Mimi stickers is from the Chocho and Mimi shop and belongs to the lovely Dani who runs the shop.
With our Community Group stopping for the Summer Holidays, we had a free evening. With help from Our Sidekick to be our babysitter, we were able to make sure we were having a proper date night. I jokingly said that we needed to try and do an A to Z of Date Nights. Of course, with Chris being the kind of guy who doesn’t want to turn down a challenge. He accepted my slightly crazy idea.
C is for Cineworld
This was actually the date night that started the crazy idea. Three weeks ago I’d seen the trailer for Kingsmen: The Golden Circle and that somehow spun off the idea about the date nights. I booked the tickets and made sure Our Sidekick could babysit. Now that Bedford has both Vue and Cineworld, I started with research about the ticket price and showing times. Chris found that Vue do Super Mondays and we looked at going on Monday instead. But then Chris decided that it then had to be Cineworld so that it would fit in as C in the A to Z of Date Nights.
What did we think?
We both enjoyed it. Some of the fight scenes were heavily CGI-ed and looked really faked in places. Having said that the opening fight scene in the taxi did have some epic movies. The bit that I thought was very clever appears at 0:18 in the trailer above. According to IMDB a lot of the car chase was filmed in Birmingham – I did think that it looked less London and more Birmingham but thought I was mad. The writer seemed to have an obsession with the F-word as it appeared quite a lot in the dialogue. Elton’s cameo was funny and his part in the final scenes was epic. Overall it was good and I would watch it again.
Between the two knitting groups, I attend across a month. I tend to find that I have a number of projects on my hook. Over the last few months, with some help from my Mum, we’ve been working on getting some baby blankets crocheted and ready for the new arrivals.
This seemed like a good place to start with blogging more about my completed crochet projects.
Project Specs
Pattern: Granny Square Baby Blanket (Baby E, Baby Boy and Baby R) Pattern Source: Yarn: From stash so it was a whole mix! Mostly a DK with a 3.5mm or 4mm hook Date Started: August 2017 Date Finished: September 2017 Modifications: None Final Measurements: There are around a metre square but this varies between the blankets.
Baby E’s Blanket
Baby E arrived at the beginning of September which was really exciting. I felt like I hadn’t seen her mummy very often recently so wanted to create her something lovely that her Mummy and Baby E could use lots. When starting new project now, I try to record which brand of wool I’ve bought. But this time I can’t remember! I either got it from Hobbycraft or Tudor Rose Patchwork as they are my usual go-to shops for wool (when I have a lift or our car!) so I’ll have to make sure I have a look for it next time I’m in those two and see if I can identify it.
Baby R’s Blanket
Next up we have the one made for Baby R. This was a bit of a mix and match from wool I had in my stash but again it’s all DK. I started with pinks and purples then decided to add the blue. The green sort of fell in by accident then ut works really well.
Baby Boy’s Blanket
And last, this time, we have this one for Baby Boy. He’s still cooking so all I know is he’s a lovely little boy who’s going to be blessed by a couple of older siblings. This was a mix from my stash but in this case was all around blues and a bit of green. One of the variegated yarns had a lot of white in it, so some of the squares on this one look a little funny but yet it still works.
What do you currently have on your needles or your hook?
When I mention products, I haven’t been sponsored or paid for these links. They are products that I love and would use myself.
Growing up, my Mum would start Christmas shopping in the summer. This was so that she was ready when the festive season properly arrived. Chris’s Aunt has beaten this and shop in the January sales for the following Christmas. While getting into the festive spirit and starting my planning for Christmas, I thought I would share some suggestions. I know Christmas in September is a bit crazy but I like to be organised and make sure I have things planned and ready to go. The idea of having to go shopping on Christmas Eve just stresses me out a little bit!
1. Check addresses. Do you need to send cards or presents in the mail? Make sure your address book is up to date. Check the last post dates. Remember – although First Class and Second Class can be sent in the last week before Christmas, International post needs to go out earlier than that. Do you need to get international packages in the mail before December starts?
3. Write a list of gift recipients. While writing your list of recipients, in the next column add gift ideas. If you’re creative and making gifts, start a shopping list of materials – even if it’s just a “shop your stash” list in the first instance. If you can support a small or local business then do it! Take a look at Folksy or Etsy for ideas if needed (Don’t worry you can click one of the filters on the left to show sellers in your own country rather than ship internationally). If you’re buying clothes or things that are size dependent – do you have the right sizes? I’ve been known to tell my Dad that if he’s buying clothes for Mum, check with me first for what size is needed!
4. If you’re buying clothes or things that are size dependent – do you have the right sizes? I’ve been known to tell my Dad that if he’s buying clothes for Mum, check with me first for what size is needed!
5. Write a budget for your gifts. Do you need to save up for ones? Can you spread the purchasing across the next four months rather than a crazy rush at the end.
6. Are you wanting to complete December Daily or another form of memory keeping? Maybe consider purchasing a memory keeping kit like this one from MrsBrimbles now rather than trying to at the last minute.
Each month leading up to Christmas there will be another list of tasks to get on with. Some will be little and some will be bigger but they are totally manageable in bite-sized chunks so that you’re not stressed out by the end! You can find all the posts here.
A few weeks ago, a particular newsletter that arrives in my inbox on an almost weekly basis appeared there. I flicked through it on my phone as I do most weeks and spotted that this organisation, is currently advertising a new job for a Communications Assistant. I printed off the job description and specification to at first see if I had the right skillset. At that point, I wasn’t sure I would apply it was more out of nosiness than anything else! Cue a couple of random crazy conversations and my application went in at the weekend (Eek!). Now to make sure I have an interview outfit and figure out if I need a haircut!
Anyway, what’s this got to do with Bidvine? Well here’s the thing, two of the skills on the specification filled with nerves – could I do them? Could I learn enough now and then as I go along to complete the job? Maybe I need training from another person rather than just a “teach myself” kind of job. This is where Bidvine could come in.
What do Bidvine offer?
Bidvine is an online platform that is designed to help you find the right service provider to suit your specific needs. Maybe you need a cleaner to help with those household chores that never get done or maybe it’s learning that musical instrument you’ve wanted to try. You enter a couple of details to make your requirements clear and Bidvine then matches you with trusted, local professionals who can help you out. The professionals will then come back to you and you can figure out a plan from there.
The website is really easy to follow. Just enter the service that you need in the first search box followed by your postcode. You answer a couple more questions to narrow down the information. For example the time of the lesson or your skill level. Send off your information and await the responses.
Think of it as a little black book for those services you need…
This post was written in collaboration with bidvine.com
With our Community Group stopping for the Summer Holidays, we had a free evening we were able to make sure we were having a proper date night. I jokingly said that we needed to try and do an A to Z of Date Nights so our first date night in September started with an A. Of course, with Chris being the kind of guy who doesn’t want to turn down a challenge. He accepted my slightly crazy idea.
Throughout our marriage, we’ve gone through stages of trying to have date nights. Sometimes they were trips out in the evening. Sometimes it was a speedy sandwich in a supermarket cafe in his or my lunch break. When Chris worked at The Fountain, we used to go for breakfast when his day off coincided with my late shift or day off. When I was on maternity leave, our date “night” was going out for lunch on Chris’s day off (this resulted in one of my unplanned hospital trips). On other occasions, this ended up as a drink and dessert at the local pub. The main thing was that we are spending time together. This can be a meal or can be an activity, for example going to the cinema.
B is for Bella Italia (Milton Keynes)
Today’s date night at Bella Italia took a bit more logistics because of the extra time that was going to be in the car. While at dinner last week, we’d sat coming up with a rough idea of places to visit, during the week, Chris had found another offer so Bella Italia was added to the list for B – although out nearest is actually in Milton Keynes rather than Bedford.
Part One: The Main Event
So the deal that Chris found was a deal that Bella Italia are running so you have a smaller menu to pick from and it was two courses for a set price (again through GroupOn).
Although it was a smaller menu, there was still a nice range to pick from.
We both went for the Bruschetta for our starter. Chris’s was on gluten free bread (he commented that it was like pizza base). I could have probably have done with some more tomato on my bruschetta but it was still really yummy!
For our main course, I had Spaghetti Bolognese and Chris had a gluten free pizza. I’m not entirely sure what his topping was but I can see mushrooms and some kind of meat. Either way, he enjoyed it and was grateful that it was a “made from scratch” kind of base instead of the frozen bases that you get elsewhere.
We decided we weren’t staying for dessert. When the waiter came to clear the plates, they asked did we want a dessert menu and we said no. They then cleared the plates and vanished. It then took what seemed like ages to be able to ask for the bill.
Part Two: Dessert!
I had suggested that we got some kind of pudding but elsewhere. We went for a wander and discovered that one of the concessions inside the Odeon cinema is a Snog!! YEAH! Chris discovered Snog on a trip to London and it became a bit of a joke. So Snog is a shop that sells frozen yoghurt – think of an ice cream parlour but for frozen yoghurt! I had salted caramel frozen yoghurt with Oreo cookies and caramel sauce. Chris had raspberries with strawberry sauce on plain frozen yoghurt. We sat in the foyer of the cinema while eating our yoghurt. We chatted about how much nicer the cinema was compared to others that we’ve been to.
With the intention that we’ll be more organised about date nights, I jokingly set the challenge that we should do an A to Z of date nights. This post is about our opinions and experiences while dining at the above restaurant, we haven’t received any compensation for this post.
Back in May, Chris and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Throughout the years we’ve done various marriage courses. Don’t panic! There weren’t issues. Think of it like a car. You take the car for a service every year or so to make sure that it runs smoothly. Rather than just taking it when it’s falling to pieces and breaking down. So rather than waiting for the issues to come to light. We try and do a marriage course of some description to keep our marriage running smoothly. Throughout our marriage we’ve gone through stages of trying to have date nights. Sometimes this ends up working nad other times it completely fails and we just end up discussing how we should have more date nights.
With Chris being the kind of guy who doesn’t want to turn down a challenge. He accepted my slightly crazy idea. I had been watching videos on YouTube and one ad that came up was the trailer for the new Kingsmen film that comes out in a few weeks. So I looked up ticket prices and times and suggested to Chris that we go to see it. I realised that the date I picked is 3 weeks ish away. When the topic of this week’s date night came up. I jokingly said that this week’s date needed to involve a place that starts with an A. Chris obliged my idea and found Athena Taverna in Bedford. I’m pretty sure we must have driven past it hundreds if not thousands of times but have never been there.
Throughout our marriage we’ve gone through stages of trying to have date nights. Sometimes they were trips out in the evening. Sometimes it was a speedy sandwich in a supermarket cafe in his or my lunch break. When Chris worked at The Fountain, we used to go for breakfast when his day off coincided with my late shift or day off. When I was on maternity leave, our date “night” was going out for lunch on Chris’s day off (this resulted in one of my unplanned hospital trips). On other occasions, this ended up as a drink and dessert at the local pub.
Since July, when our Community Group stopped for the Summer, Our Sidekick has been an amazing at offereing to babysit one evening a week so that we can go for a date night. There have been a couple of weeks where it hasn’t work for one reason or another (like when I was sick) but we’ve tried to do “at home” date nights on those weeks if needed.
A is for Athena’s Palace
With some searching on Google, Chris found a restaurant in Bedford that began with an A (and wasn’t the pub round the corner!)
We had a little discussion about where the restaurant was as we had both got confused with another Greek restaurant in the town and then both got confused because Athena’s Palace is on the first floor rather than the ground floor (which is a furniture shop at the moment).
For a Thursday evening I had expected it to be busier and actually it was really quiet.
This was our lovely starter. In the middle is pitta bread and then there’s bowls of various bits to go with it. There’s beetroot, seafood (which looked like spiralized crab sticks), humous and potato salad dish.
I had intended to take so many more pictures but I kept getting distracted by how yummy it all was!
So it’s 3 courses that you receive, there’s a starter and then two sort of main courses.
It was a lovely date night and I’d love to go back again.
With the intention that we’ll be more organised about date nights I jokingly set the challenge that we should do an A to Z of date nights.
I’m back with a review of August. I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is August’s review. You can see others here.
What went well this month
Well I managed to write the thank you cards for Jaxon’s presents.. (Normally I would have already have done this but July seems to have flown by).
Continue to work on the weight loss – this didn’t really happen, it bobbed up and down around the same sort of mark and didn’t get much further. Really need to try harder in September
Exercise at least half an hour on the majority of the week (so 5 days at half an hour a day). Another one that didn’t entirely work. Some days I did more than others – I’ve tried to get to ParkRun or do some alternative exercise which has resulted in a longer workout. On one Saturday we walked from home to Danish Camp at Willington and back – while Chris carried on one of his training walks for his Bullring to Big Ben Birthday Challenge.
Other Highlights
I attempted to cut down on the amount of caffeine/Diet Cola I was drinking. I’ve tried to give up Diet Cola completely but have found that giving up the caffeine side really hard. I ended up drinking Green Tea (I discovered that the Salted Caramel Green Tea and Caramelised Apple Green Tea by Twinings is good. I still have to have sweetener in it but in the grand scheme it’s a lot less than Diet Cola from what I understand).
We explored Salcey Forest and MK Museum for Chris’s birthday. The tree top walk was great fun but I couldn’t climb to the tallest bit.
Some girls are obsessed by bags and some are obsessed by shoes. For most of my life up for this point, I have definitely been about bags.
Shoes are a different matter. And okay whereas the titles says boots, I’m actually talking about my very well loved and worn trainers. When I was a teen I had school shoes, trainers, flip flops and maybe one or two other pairs but the school shoes or trainers were the pair that really got the most love.
Now I still have a small collection of shoes but the ones in use is down to one pair. I live in my pink trainers.
My last pair had got to the point that they were rubbing blisters into the backs of my heels because I’d worn a hole into the inner of my shoe. So back in November, I asked my Dad nicely to take me to the retail park and while I looked at shoes, he occupied Jaxon.
I settled on a bright pink pair. And that was before Christmas last year.
Since then I’ve decorated scenery at church and I’ve been to Italy. They would have taken me to Amsterdam too had the plans not fallen through. They’ve taken me on planes and trains, usually in the car too.
They’ve seen puddles and sand (at the play park, not the beach!).
They have taken Jaxon to see the Christmas display at Middleton Hall and explored new areas by myself like Walthamstow in June.
The frequently get carried through the house and presented to me by Jaxon because he wants to go to the park or out in the garden.
They have taken me to yoga and aerobics classes. They have kept me going round Bedford Park for ParkRun. They’ve helped me to try and achieve some goals. They’ve taken me through Race for Life and helped me run across the finish line.
It’s definite that not all my steps were taken while wearing these pink shoes but since November when I bought the shoes I’ve walked nearly 950 miles. It really might be time to consider new shoes. I’ve been window shopping and I quite like these ones as they are really colourful. However I would definitely try before I buy as I’ve had some branded ones in the past that have been so uncomfortable that I’ve ended up with blisters.
Any recommendations? I wonder where the new shoes will take me.
Do you have a favourite pair of shoes or do you have a favourite pair depending on the season, weather or event?
Like many other parents who have children around Jaxon‘s age, my son loves Paw Patrol. Having read something that popped up on my Facebook timeline, I asked Jaxon who his favourite character was. On this occasion, he told me Rubble. However, on another occasion, he told me, Skye. As part of the discussion, I told him that Everest was my favourite. (To me Skye seems a bit girlie whereas Everest is a bit more of a tomboy).
While watching Paw Patrol (Again!), earlier this week, it crossed my mind about boys vs girls clothes and how the pups in Paw Patrol were included.
If you don’t follow Paw Patrol, there are five pups and a 10-year-old boy. The boy is called Ryder and he’s in charge of everyone. Then there are five pups in the main Paw Patrol team. There’s Chase, Marshall, Zuma, Rubble and Skye. When it comes to Mountain/Cold Weather rescues there’s also Everest who joins the gang. Each dog has a specific role based on a real-life profession. There’s Marshall is a firefighter, Chase is a police officer, Rubble is a builder or construction worker. Skye then drives the helicopter and completes the air rescues. Each dog has their own equal part to play in the team to help save the day and rescue the residents of Adventure Bay.
I guess in a way there is a bit of an unbalanced aspect when it comes to the split between girls vs boys in the team but with the addition of Everest part way through Season 1. This did counteract that a little bit (2 girl pups to 4 boy pups).
Now maybe I could be overthinking it. However when I look at boys clothes that are Paw Patrol themed. Skye (and/or Everest) are missing from the boys clothing and on the girl’s clothing the boy pups are missing. I had a look at Asda specifically and having searched for Paw Patrol, I picked four items – two for girls and two for boys.
From left to right: Girls waterproof coat – Skye and Everest – no boy pups included. Girl’s pyjamas – Skye on the front pair, Marshall, Skye and Everest on the back pair. But that raises the question of “Why just one of the boy pups?”. Boy’s dressing gown – Chase, Marshall and Rubble (Where’s Zuma?). Boys pyjamas – all the boy pups no girls. So minus the girl’s pyjamas (Second from the left), why are the clothes so gender-specific? Can girls not like the boy pups and vice versa?
Admittedly this is just one supermarket and it’s always possible that there are products out there that are less gender-specific so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
If I took Jaxon shopping and he had the choice between the two sets of pyjamas and chose the girls pair (second from left) over the boy’s pair (far right) would that bother me? Nope probably not. I think I might make the conscious decision to mainly dress him in the stripy set but I’m sure we’d still use the Skye set anyway.
When I purchase some more pants for Jaxon (as we attempt our way through potty training) I selected on pack of supermarket own brand pants (more pairs for the money etc) they were plain bold colours. I also picked a pair of Paw Patrol ones with the hope that Jaxon would want to wear them. The boys pants that I purchased for him all featured the boy pups and none of the girl pups.
Am I just being silly? Is this a nothing rather than a something? What do you think?
With a lot of shows finishing for the summer, I’ve had less and less to be watching. Somehow I ended up watching tiny house videos and after a few, I was a bit hooked. Combined with the attempt to simplify things this year (it had been my one little word last year too), I got thinking.
What if you could take that tiny house thinking and use the methods in a big house?
Could we apply some of the clever ideas used in tiny houses, in our “big” house?
As I wrote this post, it crossed my mind that some of the thinking was already in seedling form when the boys were away. I spent a chunk of the two-ish weeks, redecorating the bathroom, then restoring order to the airing cupboard and to the bedrooms. Did we really need all those towels? Did we really need x amounts of bedding? At some point, I read a tidying/cleaning hack somewhere about bedding. You take one pillow case and fold down the rest of the bedding (and any other pillow cases to make a set) so it fits into that pillow case. The idea being that next time you change the bed – just grab a bundle of bedding and go. This worked for us for a while but it starts to get untidy again so maybe it’s something I need to do regularly.
Fast forward through the 3-4 weeks until I discovered the tiny house videos. I found the videos and got inspired. Next up, I got started with sorting out Jaxon’s clothes and my clothes. I’d find that I’d catch up with the washing and realised that we both had too many clothes. To the point, that there wasn’t enough storage space. I started by clearing out all the too small clothes and the ones that have holes etc. I washed some of the very little baby clothes that were still in storage so they are ready to go to someone else who can use them. Then with my clothes, it was things like getting rid of those clothes that I don’t wear. It was also getting rid of those clothes that I keep “for the day when I am skinny enough”. There weren’t a lot of items like that but there were
In The Bedrooms
Next up I worked on my clothes. Tt was things like getting rid of those clothes that I don’t wear. It was also getting rid of those clothes that I keep “for the day when I am skinny enough”. There weren’t a lot of items like that but there were some where I was like “Why am I keeping this?”. This was then combined with the “Does this Spark Joy?” question that Marie Kondo talks about in her book. (How cool is this new Manga adapation?) I had loaded up a couple of bin bags between rubbish and charity shop. Putting Chris’s washing away too meant that I could see the space we had in our room rather than working my way round the washing.
Some bits were easier to part with than others. Some of the baby bits that I’ve been clearing out from the loft was hard. Part of me hoped they would have more use in them but with our current family set up in our sized house, fitting another tiny human in just wouldn’t work.
In The Bathroom
In the bathroom, I had been working on downsizing the shampoo/conditioner/shower gel collection. My current shampoo consists of about four different products each with it’s own smell. So I get a right mix! This is a bit of a challenge as some products are needed lots and others aren’t needed as often. (for instance, shampoo is a daily/weekly product but After Sun is seasonal and now may not be needed until this time next year.
In The Kitchen
In the kitchen, We have a fold down table (similar to the Ikea one that appears in lots of tiny homes). Our one is a whole lot heavier and older than the Ikea one! Chris came up with an idea which also works well for stopping junk congregating on the kitchen table. We moved the table round so that the centre bit is against the wall. We open one flap at meal times then close it down again. At present we still have solid chairs but the plan is to swap these out for fold down chairs. This should then reduce the space needed for the table further. The plan is to have a big hook on the wall for the chairs so it reduces floor space needed. This will open up the kitchen even more.
What Have I Learnt?
Sometimes the “rainy day” mentality can be a problem. Sometimes the hanging onto things “just in case” means we have things in the house that we really don’t need. This week I filled a B6 journal of various bits and pieces that I’d collected and always meant to journal but never got round to. The idea being that they are collected in one book in theory means that they aren’t spread around taking up space elsewhere. While sorting through the collections I filled a big blue Ikea bag twice with scraps of paper and other bits of recycling that I had been keeping but didn’t need.
What’s Next?
With adopting and tweaking further ideas from what I’ve learnt through the tiny house videos. I hoping we’ll be able to keep the house tidier and in turn cleaner going forward. I keep working my way through my craft boxes and also trying to crochet through my stash of wool. Where possible I’m trying not to buy new balls for projects, rather tweak the patterns with what I have in the house until I create something that works. There certainly wouldn’t be room in a tiny house for my journaling bits and all my wool as it currently is!
Do you have tips and methods for keeping your house or apartment tidy? What do you think of tiny houses?
Each year for as long as I’ve known Chris there has been a birthday challenge. There have been a number of challenges, some in one place and some covering more distance. In 2011, it was Land’s End to John O’Groats (or LE2JOG for short). This was actually the second time that Chris had completed Land’s End to John O’Groats as he had done it for one of his first birthday challenges when he was 17.
We’ve had the Tube Challenge (visit every station on the network either arriving or leaving the station by train) and then there was space hopping round Grafham Water.
Having celebrated Chris’s birthday at the beginning of August it was time to bring a plan together for this year’s challenge.
Here’s over to Chris to tell you about his challenge:
Each year I try to do something unusual for my birthday. I’ve done the tube challenge, space hopped 10 miles and cycled from Land’s End to John O-Groats amongst other things.
This year I want to raise money for an organisation I have a growing relationship with. Home of Hope orphanage in Malawi support over 650 children with food, education and where necessary accommodation. It has grown to become the largest orphanage in Malawi in 20 years, and is recognised as making an invaluable difference by both the national and international governments and charities.
That said, there is far more need than they can fulfil, so they frequently want to do much more than finances will allow. They already run a primary and secondary school on site, and plan to open a technical college very shortly. They operate a large farm in an attempt to become self-sufficient for food, but without much agricultural equipment, the labour is hard – watering many acres by hand is not easy!
I have visited the home twice last year and this, and have been blown away by their commitment and dedication. Please watch the YouTube video below for more information on the home and their story.
Chris collected sponsorship during his adventure. You can follow for Chris for updates during his challenge here on Instagram or here on Twitter. If you have questions or would like more information please leave a comment below or email.
Have you done any crazy adventures or birthday challenges? Would you consider doing any?
I’m back with a review of July. I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is July’s review. You can see others here.
What went well this month
I set out in July with the intention that I would try and lose weight across the month. It went well at least to start with and I had lost 4.5lbs across two weeks, then it got a bit muddled and I ended up putting on 2.5lbs back on again. So by the scales, not a lot happened but I did measure with a tape too as sometimes you can change shape but this doesn’t show on the scales. I lost an inch around my waist and 3 around my hips so clearly something is going on. This was always going to be a continuing goal rather than just a one-month thing. It didn’t help that I went out for a couple of date nights with Chris and then out for brunch and dinner with other friends.
I did try to Complete the Refit 28-day Online Challenge but it didn’t always work every day. Some days I was too busy or too tired and at least one of the days, I was so full from dinner I couldn’t face jumping up and down to exercise!
As I write this post I haven’t completed the #BrimblesSummerLovin photo challenge. I have managed to complete around half of it. There was an extension in the deadline so hopefully, I can complete the photo challenge by then. (The remainder will be on Instagram)
Make sure I Hydrate more. This seemed to come in ebbs and flows (oh dear water pun oops!). Some days I did well and other days I did rubbish. To try and make sure I was drinking enough as soon as I drained the cup or the bottle I was using that particular day I was refilling it again (she says, except today’s bottle is currently standing empty in front of me).
One of my goals was to sort Jaxon’s birthday and I did. On the Saturday before his birthday, we went out for pizza which is one of his very favourite foods. We had a lovely time but something was wrong with the food and by bedtime, I was throwing up. On Jaxon’s actual birthday, Chris took Jaxon to church while I stayed in bed. When they got home, I got up for Jaxon to open some of his presents and by the time he’d got through those few presents, I had to get back into bed. Although we were sort of in quarantine, my in-laws arrived around tea time and there was a hive of activity downstairs. I looked out the window and they were having tea outside. My Mother in Law came up to check on me and see how I was doing. §1
Watch less TV! Well, I think I watched less but with the rubbish weather along with a lot of seasons finishing for the summer, it’s possible that I watched less because in turn there was less to watch. Both The Night Shift and Orphan Black still have new episodes although Orphan Black finishes in July completely.
Catching up with friends – This wasn’t exactly on my “list” but it did go well this month. Three friends, I caught up with are often busy with their own lives so catching up isn’t always so easy. One was brunch at The Pavilion, while Jaxon was at preschool. We had brunch and it was so filling I definitely didn’t need lunch! Second was a pudding date at Dessert Island with my “Little Sister” again it was lovely and filling so didn’t need to eat anything else for dinner that night! With all the new restaurants opening in Bedford, my friend and I ended up at Zizzi for dinner. I only managed half of the pizza while I was at dinner and ended up having the other half for lunch the next day.
Other Highlights
I received my Brimbles Sticker Club package and my first Lucky Dip Club package. The enamel pin from Lucky Dip has been pinned to my bag since it arrived and it tempted me to buy another enamel pine when I was at Fibre East at the weekend. I got my second one from Komodo Krafts.
Let’s do this! So it’s July and that means it’s One Book July time. I know I know, it’s now the end of July and I am just mentioning this. Not good right? I’ve come across this through the planner community across the last few years. However I’ve never been settled enough in one planner to go for it.
Now I’ve come across this over the last couple of years through the planner community but never been settled enough in one planner to go for it.
So what is One Book July?
One Book July is a chance to strip down your system to just the nuts and bolts and explore what works for you, what doesn’t work for you, what you truly need, and what needs to go.
I’ve been a fan of the Traveler’s Notebook setup of planning for a number of years now and had a variety of different ones including Midori, Meadowgate Leather and Lyra and Co. I’ve been drooling from a distance over the Chic Sparrow and Foxy Fix Traveler’s Notebooks but the shipping and custom charges have often put me off. When a Chic Sparrow Deluxe Pemberley came up for sale in one of the groups on FB. I debated whether to purchase or not but postage would be normal first class and there would be no customs – so a win right. Yep definitely. Especially as inserts were included to get my started with the B6 size.
I started using it for to do lists and planner spreads but I hadn’t really properly got into using it. At the beginning of July, the boys had just returned from their adventure so I hadn’t had the chance to sit down and write about my setup. I had wanted to do a video but again with Jaxon trying to assist me I was limited time wise to when I could record videos.
My chosen set up is the Chic Sparrow Deluxe Pemberley in the B6 Size. It’s in Aubergine – I’m not entirely sure it would have been my first choice colour wise but I do love it now and it works for me. It’s got enough space to write it but doesn’t dominate my handbag like my A5 or even Leuchtturm bullet journal can do sometimes.
Insert One: Diary/Planner – July to September
At present, my first insert is my July to September one by AnniePlansPrintables. These are printables rather than pre-printed inserts. I print them on 120gsm paper (cheap copier paper is around 80gsm). This gives the pages a more durable feel and means they don’t crumple so easy if you’re taking your insert in and out a lot. As I’ve been taking part in the Refit on Demand Challenge as well I’ve had lots of extra stickers in my planner this month.
Insert Two: Camp Reset
And another thing in July has been Camp Reset by Cori aka The Reset Girl. Now, this was a bit of a fail. I joined the group and I was active in the group but things weren’t always happening once I stepped away from the computer. With August starting tomorrow, I think I’m going to restart and try and complete the challenges across August rather than just surrendering.
Insert Three: To Do Lists
I am a list maker. Always have and always will be. Occasionally this rubs off on Chris and he’ll ask me to help him with a list or three. For his birthday challenge, this year he actually has his own insert in my Chic Sparrow. I figure that way I can keep the notes all together and then journal about it too. Currently, the first goal is to finalise a route and then get some maps purchased or printed. Normally my lists are just written out and then I work my way through the list. I started July and wanted to figure out what I was spending my time on, and following this video by Anna aka Mrs. Brimbles, I decided I would colour code the tasks and see if something on my list was taking up more time than other things. This list in the picture shows that, that day I had lots of household things to do (orange) and that I had two tasks for Jaxon (he’s yellow because he’s my sunshine!). Red denotes family, dark green is personal, I think work stuff is then pale blue. It definitely made for interesting reading although towards the end of the month I got a bit slack on it and need to focus again.
Those Random Bits!
From spare inserts to lots of stickers (oh and a post card from JuliaVDesign), there is a whole mix of bits tucked in the back of my planner. In this picture alone there is a postcard from Spotlight Stationery, stickers from Mrs. Brimbles and Elliebeth Designs. There is also a sheet of stickers from Chocho and Mimi (that’s the sun stickers in the middle).
You can find more posts that I have written about Planners here.
Well, welcome to my post for Slimming Sunday. As described on MrsShilts‘ blog, it’s a “weight loss, fitness, and healthy lifestyle linky” with Emma from Life According to Mrs Shilts and Michelle from Mummy From The Heart.
So where have I been since I last joined in with this one back in March. Well around then.
I’ve continued to go to my SW group even though I’ve not really seen many losses and have wanted to quit. When the boys went way in the middle of June, I’d finally decided to get things sorted out. I’d been creeping further and further back to where I was when I started in 2013.
On the 2nd July the first challenge was posted as part of the REFIT On Demand Challenge. Rather than just relying on the scales to tell me what was happening I dug out a tape measure and measured myself. Round my middle, round my hips, around my bust/chest and around my arms. Now some of those haven’t changed but some have. So even if the scales aren’t showing much of a change I do have changes happening all over.
All in all, I’ve been trying to make little changes so that everything makes a bit of a difference.
Some days it’s easier than others but we’ll get there in the end. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Especially on those days where I’m doing giant paces backwards instead of forwards.
The REFIT challenge finishes this weekend but I think I will repeat the exercises through August too and continue to see changes in my body. I will still be using the videos on their YouTube Channel which you can find here if you want to try it out.
What changes are you making to create a healthier you?
You can read other posts about my Slimming World journey here.
I am a big fan of supporting local and small businesses when I can. Sometimes it’s not possible but when it is I do what I can.
Baby and Play is an independent baby and children’s store based in Castle Quay, Bedford near Spaghetti John. The business was set up to offer customers a better deal than they currently get in the high streets. Also that the toys are affordable and practical. They are also working on eco-friendly, ethically made and organic to safeguard the future of our children’s planet.
It’s owned and run by Adam and his partner Kirstie. They have five kids so they know their stuff when it comes to toys! At the moment, it’s a small unit. But following some renovation work, the floor space of the shop will grow and there will be more to see and to do. Watch this space, come the autumn there will be lots more to see.
Generally, I avoid toy shops with Jaxon. I know that’s he inquisitive and I will spend the whole time telling him to “look with your eyes, don’t touch with your fingers”. I would just end up getting stressed and worked up at him and he’d get moody at me (I swear some days he is a three-nager!) I’ve actually despatched the boys (Chris and Jaxon) off to the toy story at the retail park while I run errands in the other shops so that I can avoid going!
When we visited Baby and Play a few weeks back, I made the error of going on our way to get some lunch. I then had to tear Jaxon away from the fun he was having. We were made to feel so welcome and Jaxon had a lovely time playing with the toys. I think during this visit he was cautious about touching the toys as he thought I might tell him off.
When we visited again last week, he wasn’t cautious at all. We got through the door and he was off playing with the toys like he might do at home. We had gone with the intention that we would spend some of his birthday money so I was looking out for toys that Jaxon would like to play with at home too. This time I made sure that we were both fed and watered so that we had time to spend in the shop.
At knitting group, we got talking about how we liked to buy wool when we could see it in front of us because you can stroke it and squeeze it. I love that at Baby and Play, there are toys out to play with and have a feel of. Well this is obviously the Jaxon-friendly version of the wool shopping for me! There’s also a kid size table where there’s often a stack of paper and crayons so if the kids feel like doing colouring rather than playing with the toys the option is there too.
Recently Jaxon has been obsessed with numbers and counting. He reads the numbers on the buses and bus stops. He identifies numbers on books and other things, often shouting them out loud! His new one is to count people on the bus and cars that pass us when we’re walking. Either way, you know it’s a good toy when it spends more time out than in the box. If he does put it away, it’s often so that he can get his wooden railway or the ABC board out. Chris noticed that Jaxon has even started recognising the different shapes relate to different numbers and things like that.
Jaxon has also been playing with the ABC Board quite a lot too. That’s more about the shapes at the moment. But he can identify the letters in his name with a little assistance. I love wooden toys and how they get him thinking and learning without it even explicitly being learning.
While the boys were away, my friend posted a link to get tickets for the preview nights at Wagamama Bedford. It's always one of those restaurants that I want to visit however, I usually chicken out and go for somewhere I've been before. I went ahead and booked the tickets while I had the opportunity even though the boys were away. I added it to the calendar and waited for the day to roll around.
Having seen some pictures and stories appear on Instagram yesterday, I was excited for our slot in the evening.
We parked the car at the electric vehicle point at the College across the river from the restaurant and walked back to the restaurant. It was strange approaching the whole new Riverside North development from that side of the river. It's all new and shiny and almost feels like it shouldn't be in Bedford. It feels like it should be in a city or somewhere other than Bedford
We had to wait outside for a little bit while our table was being got ready but it was a short wait and we were able to look at the menu while waiting.
Drinks
My normal go to drink when I'm out to eat is a Diet Cola or similar but Chris and I both went for fruit juice instead. I had a Tropical Juice (mango, apple and orange) and he had a Blueberry Spice (blueberry, apple and carrot with a taste of ginger). We both tried each others drinks but I definitely preferred my choice over his. The spice kind of reminded me of mulled wine and also the head on his juice tasted funny so maybe avoid that bit too. Jaxon was on a Kids Apple Juice which was the most amazing green colour (the top picture of the three doesn't do justice!). He practically drained his first glass in one go so it was good he had the second drink (or we would have got him water instead).
Main Courses and Sides
Each of us had the choice of a main and side or main and dessert along with two drinks each. With some careful planning, we had two sides to share between us and then two desserts also to share. Chris was able to choose from the gluten free menu so he chose the duck wraps (they come with lettuce instead of wraps. He offered to share it with us but we decided that he could have all the duck and we'd share the "glutened" starter that Our Sidekick and I had ordered. I did try a little bit and was surprised how nice it was. The only duck I've had in the pass has been from the Chinese Takeaway and I haven't liked it. Our Sidekick and I had chicken steamed gyoza. They are chicken dumplings – and very yummy! I offered one of mine to Jaxon but he didn't want to try it.
When I booked it, I was a bit nervous about whether Jaxon would like the choices at Wagamama given how picky he can be sometimes. However following his two weeks away he seems to have found a whole new range of foods he likes. He had the mini chicken katsu with amai sauce. I think he liked the chicken because it was like a giant chicken nugget! With help from Chris he even have chopsticks a go. He had these special "easy" chopsticks which were like a giant pair of tweezers. I guess it's one way to work on fine motor skills! He wasnt' really a fan of the sticky rice but he loved the chicken and tried everything on his plate which was great.
Chris had gluten free Seafood Ramen. Our Sidekick had Pad Thai and I had Chicken Ramen. I did struggle with chasing my noodles round the bowl through all the chicken broth but it was fine and I got plenty of the noodles in the end.
Desserts
Jaxon had seen the dessert on his paper place mat and had decided that was what he was having. He'd picked the White Chocolate and Ginger Cheesecake. I was so busy trying to get some before he ate it all that I didn't get a picture of the whole slice. It was a yummy dessert
My second drink was green tea, I known usual for me to drink tea but I didn't really feel like I had room for more fruit juice. The little cup it came in was strange as I normally have hot drinks in mugs but it worked and was a nice drink.
All in all it was a lovely meal and the staff are friendly. Some of the organisation as far as getting the meal out in the right order or together could have been done better. However this was the first preview night and so things were a little round around the edges so all is forgiven. We filled in a feedback card explaining this and hopefully the staff will sort it out for tonight's preview and then the official opening tomorrow. There seemed to be inconsistent information when it came to the gluten free menu and who needed to process it but in the end it was sorted and we had a plan. Chris's food was just as yummy I believe.
This is not a sponsored post. We were able to apply for preview tickets and attend that way. All images and opinions are my own barring the Wagamama logo which is theirs.
A while back I used to write a monthly review on a regular basis but like a lot of my blog posts – it stopped happening. I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts (as my reminder post it falls off my screen into the recycling bin under my desk). In August, I’m hoping July’s review will come closer to the beginning of the month, not nearly half way through like today.
What went well this month
While I was the only person in the house, I decided that I would make our joking about painting the bathroom a reality. Four of us trying to use one bathroom while it would be semi out of action being decorated kept putting me off trying to get it done so while the boys were away I got on with it. Dad helped me with getting the radiator off the wall (more like he did it and I watched from the landing). I successfully managed to get the paint on the ceiling and the walls in the right order and didn’t entirely paint myself or bits that I wasn’t supposed to paint. In review, I should have done the gloss first before painting the walls but I am not exactly trained in decorating so the fact that there is paint on the walls and ceiling is an achievement.
On the first night of being home alone, Our Sidekick sent a message via Chris, not to vacuum his bedroom floor because he wasn’t sure where his SIM card was for his phone. Alongside this, I’d been around the upstairs to open the windows as the house had been shut up on one of the hottest days of the year so far. I got to Our Sidekick’s room and it was so stinky I had to do something about it. First up clear out all the dirty washing. Only after starting on his room did I find it downstairs under my desk. I ended up carrying his SIM card around in the back of my phone case so that I didn’t lose it. I thought I was doing okay then on about Day 5 of the boys being away, I had a phone call from Our Sidekick’s friend about missing college work, so then I had to go mental on the rest of the room that I had hoped would be at a leisurely pace across the fortnight. This included clearing under Our Sidekick’s Bed. Let’s hope it stays relatively clear now that the boys are back!
I also did boring home stuff like catching up on all the washing well someone’s got to do it and in our house that’s me.
Having stood on the scales at Slimming World and realised that I was less than half a stone away from where I originally started back in 2013. It was time to kick myself in the butt and lose some weight. Now although I will still be weighing in at Slimming World I’m going to measure with a tape too, to see where I’m losing/gaining the weight. I measured today and even after my rather large breakfast I have lost 3 inches round my waist since I attempted a restart back in May. Now to get it sorted properly and stop faffing about! Also as well as following the Slimming World food plan wise, I’ll be tracking what I can in my FitBit app to try and make sure that my intake is balancing my outgoing when it comes to calories (okay this sounds a bit of obsessive in a way but I think it’s going to work so I can make sure I’m not stuffing myself silly!)
June’s goals
Make sure Jaxon takes all his pre-travel medication.
Make sure Jaxon gets to Heathrow to meet Chris.
Return paperwork to Preschool for next academic year.
Focus habit
Restoring order to the house while the boys are away
Another week has almost part of it’s time for another Currently post.
Currently… Watching
Given the heat this week and the fact the boys have been away, I’ve been working my way through White Collar while I can. I have episodes of Pretty Little Liars and iZombie to catch up with over the next couple of days. I haven’t made it to Wonder Woman yet but there is still time in this week to get there. Another that I’d like to go and see is Hampstead – it looks like a good laugh.
Pitch Battle started this week and I watched with my Mum (while Dad was in the garden avoiding us!). I have mixed opinions about it. With it being compared to Pitch Perfect, I thought it was an A Capella competition. However a lot of the groups sung with a backing track or a band which then defeated the whole A Capella thing. My friend and I are going to watch it this week. It’ll be comical to have a running commentary in the same room rather than via WhatsApp.
Currently… Reading
Like a lot of things, focusing on a book in this heat has been a bit of a challenge. I’d like to get some more reading done while the boys are away so will try and get some more reading soon.
Currently… Listening
I started the week listening to my May Playlist (Still!) but then moved to my Pitch Perfect one after Saturday.
Currently… Making
I took my crochet with me to Lemon and Ginger on Monday. However, with it being so warm, my hands just kept getting sweaty and I couldn’t crochet.
Currently… Doing
With the boys being away, I’ve been trying to get bits done around the house. I put up my solar powered fairy lights up in the garden. I’ve been working my way around the garden watering Chris’s plants each night. I had a couple of other plans to work on bits around the house. Some of which I’ve managed to get done but other bits I haven’t been able to do because of the heat.
Currently… Writing
I’ve been catching up on journal entries though while I have the chance. Just need to get some pictures printed to fit in around the text. I’ve also been busy writing blog posts. I’ve been trying to get some posts done while the boys are away and it’s a bit easier to focus in theory. I wrote about Jaxon’s adventure to get to the airport and then my first adventure without the boys here.
Currently…Feeling
Fed up of the heat. I’m grateful for the sunshine don’t get me wrong but just a few degrees cooler would make all the difference. I keep getting motivated to go for a run or do some exercise then I step outside and get hit by a cloud of humidity.
The weather today is much cooler and I am so grateful! We even had a few rumbles of thunder.
Currently…Planning
Wig the boys away I’m trying to get lots of “one day” tasks done. Painting the bathroom is still on the to do list. I just need to get my head round getting the radiator off the wall without dropping it on my foot or wrecking the house in the process.
Currently…Loving
Loving the freedom that comes with not being on mum duty but missing my boys like crazy!
I wrote the post about Jaxon taking on the Piccadilly Line and I think the confusion was that I was going with him on the second part of his adventure but actually I’m not. I had my own adventures to experience.
Friday
Having dropped Jaxon with Chris, Our Sidekick and Nanny at the airport, it was time for my adventure to begin. I headed back to the underground via a newsagents. My water was running low and I needed some painkillers as my head was starting to hurt. When I unpacked my bag, I realised that I had got some with me all along!
I got onto the first Piccadilly Line train out of Terminal 4 Once the train got on a move I was heading towards my host’s house for the night. At Holborn I changed for the Central Line and onto the next part of the journey. When I got to my stop, I was so grateful. Thankfully the Central Line had been cooler than the Piccadilly Line but it was still hot and it was still crowded as people headed home from work.
My host Mel and her daughter came to collect me from the station which was really lovely. She had a couple of errands to run on the way home but I really didn’t mind – I had expected to have to walk from the station to the house, not get a lift.
Mel is part of a group who had a women’s conference on Saturday. I I was recruited to assist with various tasks that needed to be done in preparation – again I didn’t mind. I was so grateful that I didn’t have to stay in a B&B or a hostel by myself that I was more than happy to help with what I could.
Between Mel’s husband and their lodger who were on dinner duty we were set for a good meal. Mel’s husband was on BBQ duty out in the garden. Their lodger was working on some yummy bits in the kitchen. Following dinner we worked our way through Mel’s to do list for the conference. We had worship music playing all evening and chatted about all sorts of different things while we worked. It was great to get to know Mel better as I’ve only seen her at Planner Con and the EllieBeth Designs Day.
Around 11 I headed to bed. The whole day was catching up with me and the tiredness was catching up with me.
Saturday
Between the light coming through the bedroom window and the fact that I think my body clock is semi-used to be woken up at 7 am by Jaxon, I was bolt awake at 6:45 am. I got dressed and repacked my rucksack. I’d brought a jumper in case it got cold in the evening and an umbrella in case it turned wet. Both of which I didn’t need in the end and probably could have left at home.
I headed downstairs and Mel and her daughters were already up and getting ready to go to the conference. I was instructed where breakfast was and told to help myself. I had crunchy nut cornflakes for the first time in a while.
I caught a lift with Mel to their church and helped to set up a little bit before walking up the road towards the station.
I checked Google which was telling me that taking the bus was also an option. So rather than having to walk to the tube station, catch the tube and then change for the bus anyway, when I realised the bus would take me straight to Walthamstow Central anyway. It did mean that I got to see more of London that I would have missed had I been on the tube.
When I got off the bus I went to a local shop to get a top up for my water bottle. I then went to find a bench in the shade while I waited for my friend/client Jo to arrive – we were actually going to meet one another in person for the first time!
I headed along to Jo’s display as part of the E17 Art Trail. Jo’s display was really interesting, it was photography of flowers and plants. I was looking in the book and at the display as Jo arrived. We had a bit of a chat and then I was about to make a comment about sunflowers and the Fibonacci sequence. It was only when I properly read the description bit accompanying the work and realise that was part of the idea behind the work. The short description from the trail guide is as follows:
A surprising number of planys grow in whirling spiral patterns. Remarkable for their complexity and beauty, they also show consistent mathematical patterns. A photographic study.
We stood chatting about the work and Jo’s thinking behind it. My favorite was ones that looked like daisies.
I then set off to follow the Village Trail. I set out on my little route and I got to a junction in the road and when I went to cross the road I spotted this little wildflower bed. This wouldn’t be the only one I would see today but each one made me happy. You think of London being a concrete jungle and yet around Walthamstow, there were these flower beds popping up.
Along from the flower bed, I found these pieces of art painted on the wall and then the fence around a building site. I had to stop and take a picture of the fence. “Not all those who wander are lost” is one of my favourite quotes. Today was definitely true of that. I wasn’t lost in Walthamstow I was wandering and exploring.
I love looking at buildings too. Right in a row of terraces houses I spotted this one with this lovely big window overlooking their front garden.
Something that struck me as I wandered round was how quiet it was. When I got to Vestry House Museum for the exhibition there, I sat in the garden and was surprised how quiet it was. I could hear bird song, someone singing and the odd train going from Walthamstow Central station but other than that it was really quiet. The exhibition there was called Treasuring our Twittens, this was a project curated by Abigail Woodman and Paul Tucker.
The footpaths of Waltham Forest fascinate and intrigue, but they are under threat. This exhibition combines the results of volunteers’ explorations to map the footpaths of our borough with photographs by Paul Tucker.
While in the Vestry House Museum shop I was looking at the E17 Designers display. I very very nearly bought a purse from Mika Bon Bon but I decided that I didn’t really *need* it so I walked away (but I’ve spotted that the lady is on Etsy so might order another day).
After the Vestry House Museum, I headed round along Orford Road where there were a number of small businesses who were hosting little exhibitions. I popped into Froth & Rind for the Site of Scientific Interest exhibition by Chloe Beale.
Photographs of a load of old rubbish, by Chloe Beale, taken in the post-apocalyptic landscape of Dungeness.
The challenge I did find on this particular route was that a lot of the exhibitions didn’ t open until midday or 2pm. I decided to head up towards Hoe Street and the trail there as a lot of the displays and exhibitions were in shops and other businesses that would be open all day.
From Froth & Rind, I walked along Orford Road through the churchyard at St Mary’s Church to Church Hill. I then did a bit of a wiggly route to cut through to Hoe Street but it did mean that I could see the “knitted celebration” at Howard House.
A knitted celebration of science and space, for all ages to enjoy!
You can find more information about their knitted adventures on Facebook and Twitter.
On the next bit I passed two of these Little Free Library boxes. I nearly picked up a book from the second one but realised that I have a copy of that specific book at home anyway. (And that I wanted to start writing this blog post on the way home or write penpal letters rather than read a book!)
Before I reached the next places, I popped into the E17 Art House in Hoe Street. Again lots of lovely handmade, local goodies.
After making a couple of other stops I headed back to the station to catch the Victoria Line to King’s Cross St Pancras. I did have a minor wobble when my ticket said that it was “Bedford via West Hampstead”. I thought this meant that I had to be on a Bedford service that actually stopped at West Hampstead. I got myself back St Pancras and debated which train I needed to be on. Having figured out that I probabbly needed to go on a Thameslink service rather than an East Midlands service I would need to go on a slower service from one of the downstairs platforms. I decided I’d go get a writing set from Paperchase and then I could write penpal letters on my way home. Actually I ended up in Kikki K having been given a voucher by a member of staff who was manning a display further along the train station. I love the pianos in St Pancras. I ended up playing piano with a little girl there once. I’m not actually sure I can play anything else off heart other than Für Elise. One day I might remember to take a piece of sheet music to play when I get to the piano.
I headed to the barrier to go downstairs to the platforms and because the barrier wouldn’t take my card I had to go and see a staff member. I then realised that although there were trains going to Bedford none were via West Hampstead. I went back to the barrier and asked if I could take an East Midlands train or if it had to be a Thameslink one. The guy on the barrier confirmed that I could get on any service stopping in Bedford – well there we go then. Get on an East Midlands service – quicker service and as long as I get a window seat, I can put my phone on charge too.
After a bit of confusion with my Mum, we found each other in the end and she dropped me home. Once I’d had a bath and relaxed a bit I headed back to her house for tea. We spent some time in the garden working on some crafty bits. Then following dinner we watched the first episode of Pitch Battle.
On Friday, I dropped Jaxon off with Chris at Heathrow Airport. Them two plus Our Sidekick and my Mother in Law could go on their Crazy Adventure. Due to the amount of luggage and space in the car, it was decided they I would bring Jaxon from Bedford to Heathrow on the train and meet everyone at the airport. This also meant that I could be an extra set of hands at Check In. Eight suitcases to check in plus hand luggage while juggling Jaxon. But first Jaxon and I had the train part of the trip to complete.
My first trip to London with Jaxon was November 2014 when he was about four months old. Mum and Dad were going to the Tower of London to see the Poppy display as part of the commemorations of the Centenary of the outbreak of WW1. (You can see more here) I had written off going at first because of the challenge the trains and underground would be by myself while juggling the buggy and Jaxon. In the end, with help from my Mum and Dad, we were able to go and between us managed to get Jaxon through the underground.
We’ve had other trips since then but they’ve nearly always involved traveling with other people or not needing to use the underground (or had stations that have step-free access).
This was going to be our first trip just Jaxon and I, without the buggy and in the end without the carrier too.
I was anxious about the trip because I kept having feelings I was going to lose Jaxon in the crowds at St Pancras or something like that. I dressed him in his brightest sunniest yellow shirt so I could spot him easier. Maybe it sounds silly but it sort of set my mind at ease a little bit.
At Bedford station, we got on the train and it was really packed. I tried to find two seats together as I knew Jaxon wouldn’t be too happy about sitting on my lap all the way if he could sit on his own (grown up) chair. We made it near enough to the end of the train and there weren’t any seats so we started heading back along the train. Something was going to be better than nothing.
As we walked along the train, a gentleman got up out of his seat and offered it to me. It was one by itself but it was something. As I thanked him, his friend got out of the window seat and gave up his seat too. Thank you, chaps!
Jaxon loved being able to watch out the window and see the world go by for a few minutes. I let him play puzzles for a bit of the journey. It was so busy I was conscious that he might be making too much noise by shouting what he could see out of the window.
We got to St Pancras and had a brief stop in the new Kikki K shop there. Once again the staff excelled themselves with their friendly and welcoming attitudes. The lovely lady who served me even chatted to Jaxon – on this occasion he was lovely in return and said hello and goodbye. (Rather than just No!).
With Step 1 complete it was time for Step 2, through the station, through the ticket barrier, and down the escalators. I’ve done it hundreds of times by myself. No problem. Just follow the signs and we’re there.
I’ve got this, I can do it.
Time for the Piccadilly Line
We follow the signs through the station to the Piccadilly Line. I kind of know where it is but I think we were directed a slightly different way this time. We got to the Northern Ticket Hall which I always come through on my way off the underground there. Jaxon was in front of me going through the barrier and the gate had obviously recognised him going through then closed. I tried my ticket again but it wouldn’t let me through.
(Okay, Mamma. Do not panic! You’ve got this!)
First I shouted at Jaxon. Now, this wasn’t a mean or angry shout but an “I need you to listen to me on the first time of asking right now” kind of shout. He stopped, turned round and saw that I was still the other side of the barrier and walked back to me. While I’m thinking how am I going to get through to him in the crazy or how am I going to get him back to me. I lean over the barrier to try and pick him up but he’s fractionally too small for me to reach under his arms. I thought about trying to pick him up by his arms/wrists but I was worried I might injury one of us, so that became the last resort idea.
Thankfully a lovely gentleman who’d been through the barrier next to us spotted what was happening. He turned round and asked could he do anything to help. I said could he pick Jaxon up and pass him over the barrier to me. The gentleman bent down to speak to Jaxon and said “Mate, I’m just going to pick you up and pass you to Mummy” then he did it. I’m so grateful he stopped to help but I’m also grateful that he said to Jaxon what he was doing before he did it. It meant Jaxon knew that he was safe in that moment and that he didn’t need to freak out. Thank you, friendly stranger!
My ticket wouldn’t then let us through so we went to find a London Underground person. I explained what had happened and he made a comment about Jaxon walking too fast and let us through the barrier. Thank you, London Underground man.
I was feeling a bit frazzled now, not just by the heat! We made it the rest of the way down to the Piccadilly Line. We got on the train and thankfully there were seats available. While there was space Jaxon was sat next to me but I was prepared to move him if needed.
There were an older couple who got on the train, the gentleman in the couple sat down opposite to us in a spare seat but his wife was having to stand. He offered her his seat instead and she said no it was okay he could have it. So I scooped Jaxon out for the chair next to me so that she could sit down. This was a good idea at first but as the temperature climbed throughout the carriage we were playing hot water bottles next to the other and Jaxon was getting more and more sweaty.
The lady chatted to Jaxon and I as we went and Jaxon was chatty for a bit of the trip but as he got hotter he got quieter – poor sweetheart was feeling it by the time we finally got to the above ground bit.
As we carried along the line more people got on and off and some of the seats freed up, so the lady moved to the other side next to her husband and Jaxon got his seat back. He ended up kneeling on the chair looking out of the window. There was a little girl a few seats along who then joined in and turned round in her seat too. As we got closer to the airport, the lady wandered towards the door to stretch her legs.
When we arrived at the Terminal 4 stop, Jaxon and I got off through one door. As we walked past the next door, I said “Jaxon say goodbye”. He looked up, waved at the lady and she waved back while shouting goodbye and have a great trip. She was so lovely!
While above ground, Chris and I had been having a text conversation about where they were waiting. Finding out way from the underground station to that point was really easy. Chris was exactly where his texts said he would be. I managed to spot him long before Jaxon did.
We’re part way through June now and it’s time to start counting down to the Boys Crazy Adventure and then Jaxon’s Birthday on the other side of that. Our house was a crazy hive of activity and my living room was beginning to look like an airport’s departure lounge!
Currently…Watching
I tend to watch more American television shows than British television shows, so a lot of the television shows I watch are coming to the end of their current seasons. On Alibi there’s Rosewood then on Netflix there’s White Collar, Pretty Little Liars and iZombie. Pretty Little Liars was getting a bit annoying and I was about ready to give up. However, we’re getting close to the end now so I’m just wating out the last few episodes.
I finished Switched at Birth. I would have like to have seen Daphne graduate college but it ended on a good note anyway as a lot of storylines were tied end nicely and finished off.
Doctor Who is still on BBC One. Chris and I have been watching it once Jaxon is in bed but one time we ended up watching two episodes back to back because we had missed one.
I am hoping to go and see Wonder Woman at some point. I think I might go on a solo cinema trip while I can – I haven’t been in a while.
At the weekend, I got to see both Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth by Oddsocks Productions in Bedford Park. Last year, I had wanted to see the performance so somewhere along the line I offered to help. I’d litter pick at the end if it meant I could see a Shakespeare play. When it was announced that Oddsocks would be back again this year, I emailed the lovely Emma at the Pavilion and signed up to help again. This year I got to see both the plays – so now I’ve seen Macbeth twice. But because it’s tweaked in places to make it relevant to current affairs it had changed in places. Some bits were so funny but when I tried to explain when I got home the boys didn’t always get why it was that funny!
Currently…Reading
I’ve stopped reading Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni at the moment and started Two Nights by Kathy Reichs. This is her new one which is being released in a few weeks time (EDIT: 29th June in fact – You can preorder here – this is an affiliate link BTW)
Currently…Listening
It varies. This week I’ve been working my way through a random shuffled list – I actually ended up with a few Christmas songs in the mix which was interesting given the sunshine that we’ve had this weekend.
Currently…Making
I’m continuing to work on Jaxon’s blanket. There’s been a hiccup as one of the colours doesn’t match but I think once it’s finished you won’t be able to see it. I’m going to try and get it finished by the time he comes back from the Boys Crazy Adventure.
Currently…Feeling
A bit of a mix. Tthis last week we went to the polls to vote for a new Prime Minister and Government. There was a bit of mud-slinging going backwards and forwards about who we should vote for as a country. I had pretty much made up my mind who I was going to vote for. Chris had been listening to the local hustings and kept debating with himself who to vote for. We got there in the end and Our Sidekick, Chris and myself went to do our thing at different points during Thursday and cast our votes.
We spent the evening watching the results come in. Bedford finally declared sometime around 3am, I was asleep but stirred enough for Chris to tell me that Bedford was now a Labour seat not Conservative. I’ve had multiple politics lessons in the last few weeks including that Bedford is a swing seat, there’s less than 5% between the two lead parties and Jeremy Corbyn came to visit the town at least once leading up to the election.
Britain is remaining a Conservative government. In a way that could probably be followed by “for now” but who knows.
I’m excited that Jaxon will get to go on an aeroplane and have an adventure. However, part of me is nervous that I won’t be there. (Don’t worry! Nanny, Daddy and Our Sidekick will be with him!)
Currently…Planning
We’re finishing getting all the bits together for the boys crazy adventure. I’m working on planning what to do while they are away!
Currently…Loving
Loving the gorgeous weather again. It’s getting a bit hot again around lunchtime. However the rest of the day is cooler and means we can hang out in the garden.
This last week has been half term so there’s been no preschool and no church groups. There’s also been a Bank Holiday in the mix too. Here’s Currently for this week…
Currently… Watching
This week I watched the Grey’s Anatomy season finale. I had read a spoiler so I knew that one of the characters was going to get the sack and I’m kind of glad to see the back of her. Like Nonnatus House in Call The Midwife, you have to get it, yes it doesn’t always work within the rules but you look after your own and you help your patients. The one who got the sack in Grey’s didn’t get it, she was too busy trying to stick to the rules and procedure.
I also discovered that Switched at Birth has finally made it onto, On Demand, so I can watch Season 5 – the challenge is remembering what happened at the end of Season 4 given how long ago I watch it! I also found a couple of interesting documentaries to work my way through in between!
Currently… Reading
This week I’ve been reading more of Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni. I ended up reading a whole article on Wikipedia about the Black Sea because part of the story didn’t entirely make sense, following that I carried on reading. I also had Google Maps open for part of it because although the streets were named and are actual places the geography wasn’t so clear so it mentioned about being in Paris and near the River but not entirely clear.
Currently… Listening
This weekend, I had my audition to be part of the church worship band. I’ve been listening to the audition pieces lots. Although I know them, adding harmonies over the top can be really hard.
Currently… Making
I finished the baby blanket and it went in the post on Friday. Baby had beaten me and arrived at the beginning of the week but I hope it will arrive with the new Mummy in the next couple of days.
I’ve gone back to working on Jaxon’s blanket for 2/3 weeks then I’ll get back on the baby blankets again.
I also created this layout in my journalling bible. I got as far as gesso-ing a second page but haven’t managed to do any painting on that one yet.
Currently… Feeling
Disappointed where did the lovely sunshine go! It’s been raining on and off today and tomorrow is set to be really wet!
Currently… Planning
Getting everything ready for Chris’s Crazy Adventure next week – it’s going to get a bit crazy around here before it gets better!
Currently… Loving
Jaxon being more and more verbal – I swear he’s gone from not enough words to learning a new word every day!
A while back an event invite popped up on my FB notifications. Rachel (from EllieBeth Designs UK) and her team were going to be running a planner meet up in Lancashire.
Okay a bit bananas but not impossible. So at first I responded as a “maybe“. Zoe (our Renault EV) is lovely for a lot of things but long distances is definitely not her forté. Maybe one day but not today.
I put an appeal out, hopefully someone might be going from Bedford sort of direction and would be able to give me a lift. I would supply fuel money and/or road trip snacks! Well Jade lives about half an hour from me. So we figured out that if I could get to her then we could share a car as she would be driving up anyway. SORTED, book the ticket and sort out childcare.
The Journey to Lancashire
My brain doesn’t function too well early in the morning. But getting to and from Lancashire in one day was going to take sacrifices (of sorts!)
While I was in the bathroom, Chris got dressed then while I got dressed he got Jaxon up and organised. Jaxon was a little confused at first because he comes and wakes me/us in the monring but today we woke him.
I did typical Mum type things before leaving the house including topping up the dishwasher and loading the washing machine while Jaxon ate his toast. He got a little upset when Chris had a rice car bar for breakfast and Jaxon wasn’t allowed “treats” for breakfast but Daddy shared a little bit and that made the world all better again.
We got on the road and headed to Jade’s reaching there just before 7am. Jade and I then got on the road. Chatting about all sorts from hospital adventures to new cars.
We arrived at the venue just before 10am and fortunately there was a supermarket just across the road so we both grabbed some breakfast before heading to the venue.
When I arrived I bumped into Liselotte from theLizzuPapers (she’s also part of the EBD Design Team), I had a present for her that we’d discussed a week or so ago and she had these for me! I knew about the envelope as it was a TN insert that I had ordered. The red and white bag were some extra goodies for me.
The Morning Session…
The morning session was about bible journalling. Although I’ve had a bible for journalling for a few months now I still hadn’t really got on with it and painted in it. I think the whole “do not draw in your bible” kept coming back and part of me really couldn’t get over that.
Rachel (from EllieBeth Designs and “hostess with the mostess”) led the workshop and started with this slide from Illustrated Faith. (Clearer version here)
I love it – breaks it down simply rather than a “just do it” kind of method.
Each table had different mediums to work with and we were on the watercolours table. There were also gelatos and acrylics amongst other bits. Before using the watercolours on the bible pages it’s reccomended to use gesso first. It’s a type of white acrylic paint but it’s thinner. It’s a bit like you’d use paint primer on walls or woodwork before painting your emulsion or gloss over the top. When using it on paper it helps to stop the paper soaking up all the water from the paint. On the bible pages, the watercolours would bleed through the page.
We were also given a little bag of goodies to help prompt where to start with our journalling. (Now I’m home I really want to get on with another page but of course I don’t have gesso! Boo! Might try as get some tomorrow or Monday maybe).
I chose Zephaniah 3:17 as my bible verse to work with. It’s about God rejoicing over you with singing. One of my favourites,
I kept looking at this page. It’s definitely missing something – but what is it missing? That is the question. I used the rest of the time to get my journal out and worked on writing about the day so far. At the end of this session if was time for lunch.
The Afternoon Session…
Following lunch, Rachel spoke about using using planning as part of self care and emotional wellbeing. (The funds from the raffle later in the afternoon went to MIND which is great).
After Rachel’s talk there was time to decorate our planners, do some journalling or just chat with the people there.
After this session it was time for the Planner Stack! I can just about spot 2 of my 3 in the picture but my Erin Condren Hourly definitely merges into the pile of other Erin Condren planners!
Both the prizes I won during the day we gifted to me by other people. In the morning session, Jade had won a journalling bible but decided to give it to me which was so very lovely of her. Also means that I need to get a wiggle on because I’ve so far completed one single page in my original journaling bible and now I have a second! In the afternoon, when the raffle was drawn, Loretta got her tickets drawn three times! She gave her second one to Louise who was on our table and gave her third to Jeni who I was sat next to except Jeni had donated the prize so I was allowed to adopt it. There was lots of planner-y sharing love around our table.
It was a long day and by the time I got through the door, I was ready for my bed. I am so grateful for Rachel and the lovely EBD team putting everything together for today.
How lovely has the weather been this week. It’s been great – although I walked home one day last week and thought I was going to melt it was that hot!
Currently… Watching
A lot of the TV shows I watch are coming to their season ends. I missed a large chunk of this season of The Big Bang Theory but caught the season finale and I’m SO glad I did! I won’t post spoilers here but I loved the ending. I’ve been making my way through a couple of series including Criminal Minds, Madam Secretary, Grey’s Anatomy and Scorpion. I’ve also found Touch and Riverdale on Netflix amongst others. I ended up watching Legally Blonde this last week as well as God’s Not Dead 2.
Currently… Reading
When we were away, a couple of weekends ago I read the whole of The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. Since getting back I’ve been continuing reading Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni. I’m still working on it and it seem a bit slow going but I’m getting there in the end.
I’ve started a couple of new playlists on Spotify. One of them is all worship songs whereas the other is a mixture. With my audition for the church band coming up in a few weeks, I’ve been listening to more worship music and been trying to practice harmonies and things like that.
Currently… Making
I’m working on a baby blanket for a very imminent baby (So once I finish this post, I’m back to crocheting my fingers off!). Then I’ll be alternating between another blanket and a beta knitting project.
Currently… Feeling
A mix of emotions I think. With all that happened in Manchester last week my emotions have been a bit loopy. I spent Tuesday hugging Jaxon at every opportunity. I think he was a bit grateful when I went out in the afternoon because it meant I stop hugging him so much. As the week went on, stories would come out of people helping other people. Strangers on the street were becoming other people’s heroes. It might have just been a cuddle in a moment of need or giving first aid until the emergency services arrived, but people came together to help one another. As my Mum said on Friday when I saw her, if we’d have been local, the kettle would have been on, she’d have given people lifts and she’d have made up the spare bed. After the minute’s silence on Thursday the crowd in Manchester started to sing Don’t Look Back In Anger. It’s become a bit of an anthem to show Manchester coming together and helping one another to move forward.
Currently… Planning
More adventures. This week, I have a cinema trip, a picnic and then at the weekend it’s the Elliebth Designs Annual Day so I’m off on a road trip with a fellow planner addict! Need to figure out what to pack for that.
Currently… Loving
The weather. Yes it’s been a bit hot and sometimes uncomfortably so but it’s been dry which has meant we’ve been able to spend more time outside. Jaxon is loving his paddling pool which was unexpected. Last summer when we went to our friend’s house for a playdate, he wouldn’t get in the paddling pool and even if he did he would only stay there if I was holding his hand. I’m thinking I might take him to the swimming pool when the schools go back after the half term break but I don’t want to push my luck!
Sometimes I’m so organised I scare myself. Sometimes it’s in the middle and other times it’s a complete disaster zone. With this year being our tenth wedding anniversary, I wanted to go on an adventure but it didn’t go so smoothly.
This time things fall pretty much in the last category.
Ever since we went to Amsterdam for our Honeymoon in 2007, I’ve been talking about going back to Holland. With us celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary this year it made sense to try and go back this year. When we went to Rome in January, we had a whole discussion about how I needed to get my passport renewed. This came up again at the end of March while sorting paperwork for the boys’ crazy adventure this summer.
The thing I find about blogging is that I get into so much detail that my post ends up too long. And it really doesn’t need to be…
I’ve spent time over the last fortnight writing and rewriting the same post but I’ve started again with a sort of TL;DR kind of version instead.
On the Wednesday before we were due to go to Amsterdam, Chris went upstairs to pack his stuff while I was working. About 10-15 minutes later, he reappeared behind me waving my passport around. He got me to read the expiry date.
Even though we’d discussed it when we were in Italy, I had completely forgotten to get my passport renewed. We looked at ways to resolve the issue but they were all complicated and involved a long car journey. We could get an appointment for a premium service on my passport. But, because of the time of the appointment, it wouldn’t be ready by the time we needed to be on the flight.
Following a couple of rather upset calls to the Passport Office and then our Travel Insurance, we had to go ahead and cancel our trip to Amsterdam.
I spent a large chunk of Thursday semi-moping on the sofa. Every time I tried to focus I kept going round in circles about what a doughnut I had been!
When Chris got in from work on Thursday, he’d got a plan B. we were off to go glamping at YHA Wye Valley near Ross-On-Wye. Now with it being almost in Wales, we were going to need to stop for multiple charges along the way to make it there. I think a lot of people would be like “Camping is so not the kind of thing to do to celebrate your wedding anniversary!” But actually I really loved it. Staying at YHA hostels around the country have actually played parts in our story, so going to stay at one for our anniversary was kind of cool in a cheesy way! We stayed at YHA National Forest on the way home from The Lakes shortly after Our Sidekick came to live with us, then we stayed at YHA Ironbridge Coalport when we went on our last holiday as a three. Well it was almost three and a half as Jaxon was a bump.
Once we’d dropped Jaxon off at Preschool and dropped his suitcase etc off with my Mum, we got on the road. Our two stops were at Oxford and Cheltenham. Although the Oxford stop didn’t go quite to plan, we were able to see some of Oxford anyway. I managed to spot The Eagle and Child pub which is the one that Tolkien and C. S. Lewis used to go to with their writers group The Inklings.
When we got to Cheltenham it was really time for some lunch so we went to find something to eat while the car was charging. We were asked for directions as someone stopped us thinking that we were locals. Thanksfully we were able to find the directions they needed on my phone and we were able to help them anyway.
Following lunch we got back on the road and did the finaly bit of the journey. Some of the roads leading to the YHA site were really steep and a bit crazy to drive along. It’s in a tiny parish called Welsh Bicknor – it’s no longer part of Wales but in it’s past it was an exclave of Monmouthshire.
After arriving at the campsite and resting for a little while we headed to Pizza Express for dinner. Chris had already got the vouchers as a plan for a different celebration but that didn’t go to plan so he still had them to be able to use for our anniversary.
Dinner was very lovely and it was a lovely evening out. I did feel like I was going to have to roll back to the car!
Our tent had an inbuilt wood burner which was great. Chris was excited to test his fire lighting skills and got the fire going to heat the tent. He was having issues with it on the Friday evening but definitely had the knack of it on Saturday evening when he lit the fire again. I had been up to the main hostel building to use the showers and when I got back the tent was so toasty I didn’t need to worry about being cold with wet hair!
On Saturday we explored the local area and walked from the campsite to Goodrich Castle. This was a two mile walk and normally probably would have been fine but because of how steep the paths were both upwards and then down again, by the time we got to the castle I was ready to curl up and even nap. I think the whole sleeping in a different bed along with all the sitting still in the car meant that my back was hurting a little bit.
We headed into Ross-on-Wye to get lunch, I had hoped to be able to get some white DK wool for a project I’m working on but finding it was a challenge. There doesn’t seem to be any specific knitting shops in Ross-on-Wye but I was able to find some white DK in B&M in the end which meant I could carry on with my crochet. (Especially when Chris was taking the steep roads to and from the youth hostel).
While Chris still wanted to explore Ross-On-Wye, I decided to sit in the car and do some reading as I actually could. I started on The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan and was glued. In the weekend I finished the whole book. It was a great read and would happily read it again sometime.
For tea on Saturday we got fish and chips and headed back to the campsite. I carried on reading while Chris went for a shower then while I was in the shower he got the fire going. When we went to bed it was so cosy I didn’t need as many layers on, then when we woke up on Sunday morning I didn’t want to get out of the bed because it was so cosy and yet so cold in the rest of the tent.
On Sunday morning before heading for home we headed across the border into Wales to go to Monmouth. We had intended to stop and go for a wander but alot of shops seemed to be closed as it was Sunday and finding somewhere to charge the car was a challenge.
Accommodation: YHA Wye Valley
The accommodation was lovely. The mattress on the bed was a bit hard for me but the nice thick duvet made up for it! I think had we been there as a family, we would have probably driven each other crazy by being such closed quarters. The breakfast was lovely although even though we’d asked for Chris to have Gluten Free provision the message hadn’t been passed on to the kitchen staff – fortunately enough the guy Chris spoke to on Saturday morning was on it and happened to have some Gluten Free bread to hand.
Meals out: Pizza Express, Seven Seas Fish Bar
Pizza Express – a lovely meal out with great staff. Lovely prompt and polite service.
Seven Seas – a lovely chip shop with great staff. They don’t accept card though so make sure you have cash on you. Good size portions so even a regular would be enough between two adults.
Charging for Zoe
Most of the charging points in Cheltenham and Ross-on-Wye involved paying for parking as well as any payment for the charging. The charging point in Monmouth is token operated so if the community centre is closed you can’t always get a token (We could be wrong on that one – we didn’t chance it in the end).
When you look at social media it can feel like your home needs lots done to it to make it feel better but sometimes it’s just little things you need to do. Here are 10 tips to make your home shine.
We’ve been working on our house both inside and out and quite a few houses that I pass on my way to and from different places have been having work done to them in one way or another – one house I see has practically doubled its floor space with the extension that is going up outside!
It’s a bit of an interesting time for the housing market, with reports that the indexed value of homes in the UK has recently fallen for the first time in two years. For those looking to sell up, it may be a bit of a concern, and a shifting of the balance between demand and supply.One of the ways to make sure you get full value for your home is to embark upon home improvements. Major enhancements and renovations, with a view to selling in the future, is almost always a good idea – provided that any such undertakings are financed sensibly.
But for those looking to sell in the more immediate future, the good news is that there are some quick and easy fixes you can make around your home which can add a lot more to the price tag than you may think…
1) Kitchen improvements
It’s the hub of any home, and always a magnet for viewings. So giving your kitchen some TLC should be a priority. A lick of paint on the walls? Decluttering surfaces and storage? Tile and grouting work? New fittings and hardware? Any/all of these, coupled with a deep clean, will get you where you need to be.
2) Lighting
It’s not a case of getting an electrician in, or fitting expensive skylights. But popping in a few tactical lightbulbs here and there, or some fairy lights in the garden, will do wonders for a potential buyer’s first impression of your home.
3) Upgrade your shower nozzle
Nothing quite like a power shower to seal the deal! Many people assume problems on this front are to do with water pressure. More often than not though, it’s down to an inferior nozzle. Forking out a few quid to get a high-quality one may just be one of the better investments you ever make.
4) Bathroom fixtures
Don’t just stop at the shower nozzle. There are so many other quick wins within the bathroom. New shiny towel rails, lights, taps and fittings are cheap and easy to upgrade, and very much worth the minimal hassle involved.
5) Dress your windows
Curtains, shutters and blinds can alter perceptions in a big way. Although it may feel like a big outlay late in the game, investing in high-quality window dressers can make all the difference, and provide a stylish feel.
6) Fix all defects
It’s so tempting to just absorb the costs of structural or superficial problems instead of spending time and money on fixing them. But, within reason, the value gained by having a problem-free home is well worth it, and gives you the upper hand in the sale, rather than the buyer. This is not something to skimp on.
7) Spruce up the fireplace
Whether you use it or not, there’s nothing like a fireplace to give off the impression of cosiness. Perhaps it needs some new paint around the edges? Filling of some cracks? Or just a good old-fashioned clean? Either way, it’s worth putting some time into this small, but valuable part of your home.
8) The garden
If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, this is one of the biggest golden eggs to be sitting on. Declutter it, cut the grass, make sure there are no broken pots, get rid of any moss or overgrowth and clean it up so it gleams. This will be the best investment of your time of all, guaranteed. You might want to make sure that you make your garden better for the environment too. Maybe try some of these tips from Stylish London Living.
9) Declutter the gutters
Cleaning gutters and giving them a quick wipe-down will unearth a tremendous amount of dirt, and you’ll scarcely believe what a difference this can make. This is a job that will take just a matter of minutes, but the results will speak for themselves.
10) Get something lovely in the oven
It’s one of the oldest tricks in the books – but it works! If you know when there are going to be viewings, bake a cake, or get some other slow-cooked goodness on the go. The lovely aromas will clinch the sale!
It’s almost 1am and I can’t sleep – like I’ve been staring at the ceiling and just switch off my brain. Which is why this is coming to you on a different day to normal. Well after writing for about five minutes I had to surrender and put my phone down because the bright light was making my eyes hurt.
Currently…Watching
With Season 3 of Scorpion currently airing on ITV on Saturdays, I went back and started at the beginning again between new episodes. It’s kind of funny that some bits in the earlier episodes are delivered in one way but when you see the later episodes you realise they actually almost meant something else.
I’ve been trying to read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank before we go on our adventure to Amsterdam/Haarlem but I’ve still not got very far. I’ve also started reading Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni after I was given it for my birthday. (Ooh another blog post idea there!)
Currently…Listening
All sorts. I was listening to Disney and Musicals on my way to collect Jaxon from Preschool today. Did have to stop myself from dancing along the road to a few of them!
Currently…Making
I had gone back to Jaxon’s rainbow blanket but I think I might have to start another baby blanket – what is with these people who keep having babies! Haha!
Currently…Feeling
Excited but a little tense. I thought I was clearing things off my to do list before the weekend but I just keep gainging the instead.
Currently…Planning
There’ s all sorts of planning going on around these parts at the moment. Planning about new adventures as far as my business goes and what needs to get done before the Boys go on their Crazy Adventure!
Currently…Loving
The gorgeous weather! Where did all that sunshine today come from? It was sneaky!
Of course, I had the best intentions of writing or vlogging about Planner Con earlier in the week. I got the tripod out ready to record a video of some sorts and the holder bit for my phone has ended up hiding somewhere and I’m not sure where it is. So that plan was shelved. Then I realised I needed to get a wiggle on and write about it.
This weekend just gone, I attended Cambs Planner Con organised by Anna aka Mrs. Brimbles. There had been a moment when I thought I had lost my place but thankfully I’d got myself in a knot over nothing because I still had my place and I could go.
In a way, Planner Con started for me on Friday evening. Leading up to Planner Con, I’d volunteered to help Anna with anything she needed help with either in the run-up or on the day.
One of my duties was sorting out the evening meal on Friday. It wasn’t exactly an official Planner Con event but it was a pre-Con event if people wanted to come to that bit.
Having handed over Jaxon duty to Chris and jumped in the car. I drove to the Brewer’s Fayre in St Neots. I wanted to make sure those coming knew who to look for so I snapped a selfie and posted it to the FB Group before heading into the building. I figured it might be easier to spot at least one friendly face if the other lovelies knew who they were looking for. (I am so rubbish at taking selfies! I’d say I need more practice but that might be a bit narcissistic!)
I thought I would get there and I would be waiting for people to arrive but I got to the restaurant and people had already arrived. I guess this threw me a little bit but it was okay.
During the meal, I got up to chat with the staff to organise the next bit and bumped into Leila aka Swanny. The last time I saw her in person was at #140Conf in 2009! Yes, I know!! Crazy! We tried to figure out if we were into planners at that point and hadn’t just put two and two together. Following the conversation with Leila, I had to decide which planners I was taking with me. I thought I’d already made up my mind but then I got home and had to decide all over again. (Top to Botttom: A6 LoveFromPoppyDesigns TN, A5 Notebook from John Lewis, Meadowgate Leather Standard TN, Yellow Leuchtturm A5 Notebook, Lyra and Co Fauxdori, Erin Condren Hourly)
The Lyra and Co Fauxdori above along with the chocolate below were presents from Mona and Sarah who had come to Cambs Planner Con all the way from Germany! I love Lyradoris – my favourite is my A5 one with cameras on the front.
Saturday
After going to collect my hire car, I loaded up the car and got on the road, I collected one of the other planner ladies from her hotel and we drove across the town to the venue. When we arrived at the venue there was a queue as people waited for the doors to be opened. Anna (Mrs Brimbles) was on the door and welcoming people – it was great to see her. We were given our name badges then it was time to find our seats – the first seat I tried to sit in was already reserved so I had to move. I ended up sat with a lovely bunch of ladies. Each table had these fab sequins on them. I followed the example from a few other people and added them to my badge (like above). Sunday I think out of all the sessions, the creative journalling session with Geraldine or the making session with the lovelies from Lush Cambridge were my favourite. They were both “get on and do” sessions which is definitely more my kind of thing.
I had a lovely time again. I wish I had been a bit more confident to talk to more people – I kept being a bit of a chicken! By the Sunday I was beginning to flag but I was excited. Following Planner Con I was driving over to my friend’s baptism so even though I was tired the excitement was keeping me going.
We joke about cake making things better but cake actually did make things better.
Four years ago, I left my full-time permanent job. What was I doing next? Who knows! I had no new job to go to and everything I applied for I didn’t hear back let alone job interviews. When I left my job I don’t think I was 100% well. I think although not necessarily diagnosed my mental health and wellbeing was not in a good place. I was miserable, I struggled to get out of bed to go to work each day and when I was there the general level of tension in the place I worked was just making it horrible to be there for one reason or another.
Anyway, it was a case of wait and see in a way. That was the Thursday before Easter 2013. I decided to take “time off” over Easter and we’d start on the Tuesday after the Bank Holiday.
Cake Leads to a New Job
On Saturday, I had a call (or could have been a text) from my Mum. Her friend’s company’s new contract start date was being brought forward and they needed a kitchen assistant at least until the permanent team could start.
It was a slower pace but I still had something to get out of bed for (and be proud of) and was earning while looking for something more permanent which was great. When I was unemployed between jobs following university, I really struggled with not having anything to do. I would sleep late into the morning which in turn meant I was staying up later and later each night. It wasn’t good!
I was making cake and puddings for the old folks. I know that sounds sort of boring in a way but it healed my mental health and meant that when I did go into my new job I think I was better prepared. When I did start my new job I ended up bumping into an old friend. We ended up being on the same team which was even better! We could stick together and help each other out when needed.
So yeah cake heals the soul in more ways than one.
This morning we went to the NCT Nearly New Sale organised by our local NCT group.
Mum and I have been to nearly everyone since before Jaxon was born. Usually getting the next age bracket or other bits. Today we were on trousers, shorts and a ride on toy. We were also looking for more track for Jaxon’s train set that lives at Grandma’s house.
We looked at a tricycle that we thought about getting for Grandma’s house. My Dad (Grandpa) has been working on fixing up the garden so that it’s more Jaxon-proof, so toys for the garden were on the shopping list.
Jaxon spotted a toy that he wanted. It’s a Thomas Twisting Tower or something like that. While we were there I didn’t want to get it because I didn’t think we had enough room but having looked at pictures since we got home I’ve realised it’s might have been missing parts.
I’d picked it up and thought that maybe we would get it. We carried on looking at the clothes and then went to look to see if there were some wellies. While Mum walked with Jaxon to the shoes section I nipped back to the toys and put the Thomas toy back. I wasn’t convinced we needed it and I also wasn’t convinced where we would store it. I said to Mum that I thought he would forget about it once we got home and would go back to his wooden train set. So meany mummy that I am, I snuck the Thomas Twisty Tower back to the toy section.
We got in the car and my mum commented how quickly I must have moved to get the toy back while Jaxon was doing something else. I then said to my mum I’m sure she must have done something similar to my brother and I when we were younger. To which she smiled and agreed.
All the way home Jaxon kept saying “toy”. Oh boy, way to rub it in little boy.
I get it, it’s one toy why is it bugging me so much. Why am I sat on my sofa tapping this out? Well, to be honest, I’m not quite sure. I think it’s processing it all. I keep getting in a bit of a rut as far as blogging and think I just need to get writing again. Stop flapping and write.
In recent years, I’ve been to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace twice and both times I’ve stopped by the Toft stand.
Each time I see the TOFT stand I debate whether I *need* another ball of wool and a pattern. I keep looking at the Imaginarium book and trying to decide if I would make use of it – while the prize is in my house I keep having a peek…maybe it needs to go on a future wish list!
After the Knitting and Stitching show back in October I reached out to the team at Toft to see if we could collaborate. Then we started the ball rolling on this giveaway. Hopefully there will be an interview with Kerry to follow at some point in the future.
TOFT was started from the Toft Alpaca Stud farm that Kerry Lord had grown up on. She’d been away to university and come back with the question “What do I do next?” She’d moved back and it was shearing season so got thrown into that – I guess the rest is history! Ten years and three books later, The Toft Alpaca shop has evolved into TOFTuk.
The TOFT Studio is home to the TOFT luxury British DIY knitwear and wool company, offering alpaca and wool knitting yarns and exclusive easy-to-make knitting and crochet patterns. TOFT was founded by Kerry Lord in 2006 who is also the writer and designer of the Edward’s Menagerie crochet pattern series.
TOFT designs and manufactures quality alpaca and wool yarn and fashionable knitwear here in the UK from British sourced luxury fibres and is based on an alpaca farm in Toft, Warwickshire. Workshops to learn to knit and crochet are available for all skill levels in an on-farm studio.
So do you love crochet? Maybe you’d like to these creations.
Each pattern has a number of combinations in the book. Each creation is split into 3 parts. You then pick from 23 designs in each part to create your creation.
So if like me you’re a nerd: That’s 23 head combinations and each head combination has its own body combination. That’s 23×23 then each combination of that has 23 leg combination so you have 23x23x23. So that’s a total of over 12,000 different combinations. It might keep you out of trouble for a little while anyway…
If you’re the winner of the hardback copy of Edward’s Imaginarium there are also PDF patterns to accompany them. I’ll be in touch with the winner to organise that bit with the winner and Toft.
If you have questions, leave a comment or drop me an email.
Due to the location of Jaxon’s preschool to our house, it’s generally easier to catch the bus. Although it’s actually probably quicker to walk. Although it also means that I arrived over 15 minutes early for collection. But if I was to wait for the next bus I would be nearly 10 minutes late – fun times!
So while I’m sat on a bench in the park next door to preschool. I thought I’d pass the time by writing a bolg post of sorts.
Today and one more session this week then I think Jaxon breaks up for Easter. I probably need to check that before I try to bring him on a wrong day or miss a session because I thought it was the holidays. One of our church groups finishes this week for the Easter break. Then because of how Easter falls amongst other bits we don’t go back until nearly the end of April.
Chris has asked also if I’ll go to collect the visa applications for the Crazy African Adventure in the Summer. Jaxon refused to go in the carrier this morning so that could be a real challenge taking him to London without the buggy if he won’t go in that. It crossed my mind to see if I could get a babysitter for the afternoon but I don’t know what time I will be back and Chris is working a later shift so might be back after me. Will have to see and juggle the day! Either way, need to make sure I pack a packed lunch tonight for Jaxon to eat on the train (or with his babysitter if I manage to get someone).
On Friday evening, I had the Red Nose Day coverage on while doing various bits. I really wanted to see the Love Actually sequel – it was quite frustrated that, that didn’t come on until nearly 9:45 pm. Amusingly enough it’s had 151 complaints made to OFCOM following the airing on Friday. I had tweeted about how inappropriate it was to air Innuendo Bingo pre-watershed and got an earful because normally it airs in the afternoon on Radio 1.
This Weekend I….
The boys and I went to see Kung Fu Panda 3 at the cinema. It wasn’t my first choice as I quite liked the idea of going to see Moana but seeing as Jaxon was with us it needed to be him-suitable. I’m sure Moana would have been fine but we decided Kung Fu Panda would have been more his thing. The song You’re Welcome keeps coming up on the Disney playlist so that one keeps getting stuck in my head!
This Weekend I….
Following our cinema trip, we grabbed a pizza for lunch and had a picnic in the middle of the living room floor. Our Sidekick had a meat feast concoction thing that Chris had come up with because of an offer he saw. I had a Ham and Pineapple (I think I was on a large but it took me like three meal times to eat it!) and Jaxon was supposed to share with me but ended up just eating the little garlic bread pizza to himself. Jaxon loves having indoor picnics. I just have to make sure that when the weather is good enough we make sure to have outdoor picnics too.
This Weekend I….
During the afternoon our friend Tom (from Tom’s Garden Services) came to fix up our garden fence that got damaged during Storm Doris. He did a great job again. I just need to get round to painting the fence now (and hopefully doing all the fence and not just the bit closest to the wall).
This Weekend I….
Sunday was Mother’s Day. Jaxon made me breakfast in bed (with assistance from Daddy). Chris carried it up the stairs and then at the top of the stairs Jaxon held onto one end of the tray while Chris held the other end.
This Weekend I….
Following breakfast, we headed to church. This week we started a new series which leads up to Easter which is called Road to the Cross. It starts with the events of Holy Week – there was a summary to get up to Maundy Thursday and then up to the Passover Meal. While we at church I got a cuddle with my friend’s new little baby boy – he’s gorgeous! Jaxon wasn’t so keen on me hugging a baby that wasn’t him. He ended up going to find Chris and hugging him super tight!
This Weekend I….
After church we headed home, I worked on tidying up the garden My neighbours said hello and we had a chat – I said that I couldn’t do some of the gardening because my secateurs had run away. My next door neighbour said I could borrow hers so she posted them through the reeds on the trellis so that I could get them that way rather than having to walk around the front of the house.
This Weekend I….
I was being super domesticated and after hanging the washing out I also ended up pulling out the sofa with help from Our Sidekick so that we could tidy out under the sofa. It was so messy under there! I think I need to write it on my to-do list to do it every so often whether it really needs it or not.
This Weekend I….
There was a hiccup with part of my Mum’s Mother’s Day present so I delivered part one to her house on Sunday afternoon then when Part Two arrived yesterday I nipped round and dropped it off while running errands. There are road works on her street at the moment, so while the road was temporarily blocked I ended up semi-abandoning the car in the middle of the road, running to the front door, opening it, shouting “Special Delivery BYE!” and then shutting the door. By the time I got back to the car and had my seatbelt on Mum was stood on the pavement outside her house looking a bit bemused!
This Weekend I….
Actually managed to stickerate in my planner! I know right just a bit crazy. I’ve been having planner wanderlust again. I purchased some A6 Chic Sparrow inserts from a member of one of the planner groups that I’m part of. Now I just need to decide which A6 TN I would like. If any was an option and I didn’t need to worry about the customs charges I would like an American Dream from Chic Sparrow (but turns out that one is discontinued!) I guess my next choice would be a Mr Darcy or Creme Brulee maybe. Either that or I’d keep it UK and go for a Meadowgate Leather one. For now I’ll keep looking at Lyra and Co and see if there’s one that comes up there that I like. I would like the camera print like this Hobonichi Weeks cover but I’m not sure if there is one.
What did you get up to this weekend? How was your Mother’s Day? What did you get up to?
Well, welcome to my post for #SlimmingSunday. As described on MrsShilts‘ blog, it’s a “new weight loss, fitness, and healthy lifestyle linky with me, MrsShilts and Michelle from Mummy From The Heart.
The boys are “secretly” making breakfast in bed for me. While they are downstairs, I figured I’d tap out a quick blog post (or two maybe!).
(Okay had to pause there. My toast and a mug of squash arrived. Jaxon assisted carrying in the tray. I think Daddy carried it up the stairs though lol)
At my Slimming World weigh in on Thursday I had put on 2.5lbs (or it could have been 2lbs). This wasn’t exactly a surprise.
Following a situation that happened on Friday, I couldn’t eat and I felt ill although there wasn’t a specific symptom if that makes sense. I just felt blah and that triggered not feeling hungry for two days and on the third day I had to encourage myself to eat even though it made me feel nauseous otherwise I wasn’t going to keep up with Jaxon and he needed me to be present and focused.
So back to this week. Evening meals have mostly been on plan and following the “not hungry” days although daytimes haven’t always been on plan there has been less junk consumed in general and it’s closer to being on plan. Jaxon loves toast and so I usually end up having sandwiches at lunch because it’s easier than trying to sit down to eat something hot when he’s already inhaled his toast and is ready for the next thing (at this point I think I should be more planned but generally it doesn’t always go that way).
With the weather being a bit better, we’ve been out walking more rather than taking the bus which is all good. I managed to hit my steps target both on Thursday and Friday but I’ve run out of battery (and keep forgetting to charge!) I think it’s stopped counting now so must remember to put that right as well.
Well, it’s nearly 8:30 am and we have to be at church for 9 am I better stop faffing and get dressed. Speak soon!
Recently my blogging skills have been a bit lacking. I’ve had ideas for posts then either written them down and not come back to them, started and not finished them or just forgotten what it was I wanted to write before writing it down in short hand or long hand. In this case I started this Wednesday and now it’s the weekend oops!
Today it’s Wednesday. Once I managed to get Jaxon dropped off at preschool I headed into town.
A lovely apprentice/trainee at Venus Hair and Beauty called Lisa put a call out for models who wouldn’t mind having their hair styled so that she could practice her skills.
I am all for helping out students, trainees or apprentices if they need guinea pigs. However had it been to cut my hair I might have been a bit more hesitant following past experiences but wash and blow dry – nothing could really go wrong could it?
I booked an appointment then when I got to town couldn’t actually remember my appointment time so I was half an hour early. This didn’t phase the team at all. Lisa’s manager (I think) got me all signed in and then took me to the waiting room which was upstairs from the “reception” desk. I was given a consultation card to fill in and was offered a drink. Not only was there tea or coffee but there was juice, water and cola! So plenty of choice!!
Venus (and Jeeves – the barber) share a building on the High Street here in Bedford. On the road it’s just a door way that leads to hallway and staircase. On the first floor is the barbers bit and then upstairs is the women’s bit.
The “waiting room” was like someone’s living room. It was so cosy and the sofas were super comfortable and with it being upstairs rather than a shop front you don’t have to worry about people starring at you as they go by. There were a range of magazines so I flicked through Hello (I think – it’s my usual hairdresser reading!) then started to write a to do list of what I needed to do in the rest of the day.
I was then called into the “styling” room. Rather than it being one big room, there are two or three smaller rooms each with one chair in so it’s again quite cozy and not crazy busy like a salon can be.
The washing part was really relaxing and I think there was a little head massage thrown in for good measure. It made me feel all relaxed and I probably could have had a little snooze!
My mistake with booking it while Jaxon was at preschool, was that I spent a chunk of time clock watching rather than enjoying the moment and relaxing.
As Lisa blow dried my hair she secured each curl into a pin curl so that it would hold it’s shape while she worked around the rest of my head. As much as I love curls growing up my hair was always too heavy to hold the curls but this time the curls stayed in and my hair was still slightly curly (although heading towards a wave instead) on Thursday morning.
All in all, it was a great job. Part of me wished I had had somewhere to show the hair do off but instead I had to do the preschool run and then we headed home for the afternoon.
Now the next thing to think about is whether to dye my hair and finally suck up the courage to go for pink or purple. (Images below are from Pinterest )
I’m excited for Little Makes – this is a new linkie that I came across at the beginning of January. It’s joining with Jemma at Thimble and Twig and Fee at One of Each.
Granny Stripe Blanket
I’m still working on this blanket and now debating how many more rows I need to do to be finished. My Mum and our friend Judit suggested finishing it off and then putting away all the spare wool, then when Jaxon moves from his toddler bed to a proper single bed, I could then add the extra rows on. I love this idea. However I’m concerned I’d use the wool for something else or forget what I needed it for. Then again I could just end up putting it away somewhere and not remembering where it is!
Laura from Lemon and Ginger snapped this pictures of my blanket at group this week.
Painting and Craft
I stopped procrastinating or finding excuses and on Friday after Preschool, Jaxon and I came home and did some painting.
I found that although he didn’t get like to get his hands mucky he’ll happily use a paint brush.
Jaxon loved the painting but when Daddy tried to help I don’t think he was so impressed lol. We managed to make quite a few pictures – Jaxon loved it when he was left to do his own thing. However, he did paint over my painting so that was a little annoying lol. I need some more blu-tac to add the pictures to Jaxon’s gallery in our hallway.
Another two weeks have flown by. This time I’m on it and have pictures to share! Yeah!
Normally I flit between two or three projects but I’ve been focusing on getting this one finished.
My lovely friend K is currently working in New York. When we discovered Caron Cakes were a US exclusive we asked very nicely if she could go to Michaels for us. She was super lovely and brought us a couple of balls home at Christmas.
I wanted to make sure that I used the wool on a specific project. Rather than a bit here and there like I do with other wools. I’d tried casting on a couple of times, only to find that it didn’t always work.
Having spent the best part of my spare time this week knitting I actually managed to put the finishing touches to it before bed tonight and snap a couple of pictures (albeit not great!). Technically the pattern finished around the purple lines but with some careful maths I figured out how to repeat section 4 and 5 of the pattern and make it use up the rest of the ball (in fact the casting off row was dealt right for yarn!)
So all finished. I actually finished a project. I think it took me about four weeks in the end. However, I had been alternating with other projects. According to the news, Monday is going to be one of the warmest February days in 100 years. Therefore I won’t necessarily be able to wear my scarf but will try to get some more action pictures!
In this day and age, you would think that swapping internet service providers would be so straight forward and yet again it isn’t. Our internet was cut off in the middle of the night, ready for our new phone line (and then internet) to be activated in the next few days. However, the router from the new company hasn’t arrived yet which means that at least for now I’ve decamped to my Mum’s house to use her internet connection (and sofa, her computer to move around files and borrow a memory stick to transfer back to my MacBook).
My Dad has put on Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers. Well, I think it’s The Two Towers – I haven’t seen it in a while, they are talking about Minas Tirith and Pippin has just hugged the flaming bowling ball. So while I wait for files to transfer to the FTP server for my client’s website I figured I’d get a blog post written. (I got it wrong we were watching Return of the King)
Currently…Watching
I’m working my way through Person of Interest this week, although I did catch up with both Scandal and Bones. Today while we had no internet connection we watched The Ellen DeGeneres Show, a documentary about extreme logging, Tinga Tinga and a single episode of Bing – Jaxon adores Bing so normally we work our way through all the episodes that iPlayer happens to have. I think like Thomas I need to find an episode list and we can work our way through all the episodes instead of just the ones that happen to be on. (Maybe that’s a spread for my BuJo)
Currently…Reading
I have been super rubbish about reading at the moment. I need to try and make more time for reading because it’s often what I need to switch off at night. I keep getting caught in that “just one more episode” addiction with Netflix lol. My current read that I started in the last week or so is Mosaic of Grace by James Prescott (You can find it on Amazon here and you can find James’s blog here). I’ve also been reading a bible study through YouVersion’s Bible App based on the Five Love Languages. I’ve been writing lots in a notebook I was given for my 30th birthday. It’s sort of become my bible notebook in the hope that I will be more focused with my bible reading as well as Christian based books.
Currently…Listening
I’ve been working my way through the “Hits from the Musicals” playlist on Spotify – I’m not so sure Jaxon appreciated me singing Defying Gravity on the way home from MK on Sunday but he was tired and eventually fell asleep so I turned down the music. I’ve also discovered why Hamilton is so catchy and popular! My Shot came up on the Musicals playlist and I couldn’t skip it (because of the limited skips on a free account) so listened to it and have left it to play each time it comes on now, and also sent the YouTube link to Our Sidekick because I thought he might like it. I’m not sure he was convinced but he appreciated the thought anyway. While not having an internet connection, we had my iTunes library playing. At one point My, My, My by Armen Van Helden came on. Definitely not my normal choice but Jaxon enjoyed it and was dancing around the living room trying not to step on wooden train track pieces.
Currently…Making
I’ve been working on Jaxon’s rainbow blanket which is based on Attic 24’s Granny Stripe Blanket using up wool from my stash – well that was the idea. I’ve had to go out and buy the odd ball because I’ve run out in the middle of the row – or in case the ball actually went walkabout so I had to replace it. I’ve also been working on my Debut scarf. The pattern is by The Yarn Juice. I was doing fine until Monday when I realised that I had got my repeat the wrong way round and instead of looking like a forward slash – it was looking like a greater than a symbol – oh dear! I spent a chunk of Tuesday frogging it, then having done that realised that I actually had a large chunk of wool left. I set about working out whether repeating the eyelet section (Section Four of the pattern) was possible. It ended up being a bit of an algebra challenge. Maybe if I’d have known that when I was at school, algebra would have stuck a bit better.
Currently…Feeling
Stressed lol. This week has been a bit complicated and I’d be glad to get it finished and get back on an even keel – here’s to next week!
Currently…Loving
Back in my bullet journal. I keep debating whether I should switch or not – especially after buying my Erin Condren towards the end of last year. I think I get so caught up in making it a certain way that I don’t get anything done. The EC is lovely but I need a bigger handbag to be able to carry it around with me! I’ve decorated some bits into the future so would like to be back in my EC but those dates but we’ll see!
Heads up! In this post there are a couple of affiliate links.
Today was my weigh in at Slimming World. Here’s my progress:
Hello there. Sorry I’ve been a bit lax with the updates. On the 13th we flew to Italy (I’m still meaning to write a post or two an it that!) and that seems to have thrown everything out even though it was only for a couple of days.
Week 3 – 12th January
I weighed in the night before we flew to Italy. The idea being that hopefully I wouldn’t go to mad while I was away. We did end up having pizza to nights in a row and I did enjoy a couple of cream cakes but I don’t think I went mad. I did have some of Chris’s gelato one day which was very yummy!
Balancing the food against that the amount of walking we did and it wasn’t all that bad. According to my Fitbit, I walked a total of 26 miles across 3 days. That’s a bit mad!
Week 4 – 17th January
With Mum going away at the weekend we ended up weighing in on Tuesday to make sure we had both done it. I had thought that any weigh gain from the Italy trip would show this week but it didn’t. I think it pushed itself into next week instead.
Week 5 – 26th January
I think this was a delayed reaction combined with some laziness on my part. Chris has been doing a great job making sure the dinners we are Slimming World friendly and Gluten Free for him too. We’ve had a wide range of choice including Vegetable Paella and Chicken Chasseur.
I stood on the scales at group. I’d gained 1.5 pounds – oh dear! Not good! Right let’s get this thing sorted out. So we came home after group and Diet Coke Chicken was for dinner so that helped with cutting down temptation. I even looked at going to a yoga class at John Bunyan Sports Centre but they were fully booked. I was offered the opportunity to book into next week’s class but I had to explain to the guy that I was trying to book in because our Community Group had been cancelled for the week and that meant I had a free evening. I’ve booked in for a couple of exercise sessions next week – trying to squish in some more classes before my pass runs out – oops!
This morning I walked to my friend’s house too which meant that by the time I walked back to Preschool to collect Jaxon I had hit my 10k steps and was heading towards 5 miles walked in one day. A couple from church have set the target to walk a 1000 miles in 2017, I think I might adopt this idea too. This works out about 83.3 miles per month so far for January with four days to the end to the end of the month I am on 82.9 miles.
Week 6 – 2nd February
I knew this week wasn’t going to be good. I knew it was going to be bad.
1.5lbs on. Yep. Not good at all. Do the maths – I’m only just about over half a stone lost from where I started. I NEED TO GET THIS FIXED!
Having weighed in, Mum and I headed home. Chris has been making dinner while Jaxon ate his tea so dinner was nearly ready when I got in. I tried booking in for a Yoga class using my gym pass while I still have it but the Thursday class was fully booked again. I booked in for the yoga class tonight (Friday) and headed to the gym anyway. I did a bit of running and cycling as well as some leg curls. Not sure how much of any of that will do anything specific but I’m sure it helped in the grand scheme of things.
I made sure I was as close to on plan as I could today (Friday). Having ran out of time to have breakfast before taking Jaxon to preschool, I threw two hi-fi bars in my bag and meant to pick up a banana but I forgot. Having dropped Jaxon at preschool, I caught the bus to my meeting. As I had time to spare I popped to the local shop and got a bag of bananas as well as two yoghurts (even though the cake did attract my attention when I walked past!). One of the yoghurts ended up with a hole punctured in the lid so I had to bin it instead of eating it. Minus a little pack of Go Ahead Cookies (5
As I had time to spare I popped to the local shop and got a bag of bananas as well as two yoghurts (even though the cake did attract my attention when I walked past!). One of the yoghurts ended up with a hole punctured in the lid so I had to bin it instead of eating it. Minus a little pack of Go Ahead Cookies (5 syns) and a packet of Nakd Salted Caramel Nibbles (7 syns) I was on plan. I ate like three bananas though so might be all banana-ed out soon! Haha!
I’m hoping it’s made a difference and I’ll see a change. Here’s hoping…roll on week 7!
Taking a child on an aeroplane at any time can be a challenge. We took our toddler on an adventure to Rome. Back in December, we booked our trip, part of the idea behind it was that we could see how Jaxon coped with a short flight before taking him on a longer one. You can find Day One here.
Sunday Morning
While Chris sorted out the deposit and keys with the landlady, Our Sidekick and I sorted out the final bits aroudn the apartment and got everything packed up.
After we had handed back the keys to the apartment, we headed up to OVS for Our Sidekick to take a look around after stopping the fun early yesterday. While he was in there, I went to Tiger. It seemed to be more home orientated than the UK one. I wanted to get some bits there but we were on a budget (although in the end we did come home with spare Euros!).
Today’s main visited was to the Vatican City. I would have loved to visit the Sistine Chapel but it’s closed on a Sunday and probably isn’t toddler-friendly. Jaxon would have probably got bored waiting for me to enjoy every bit of it. With The Vatican City being it’s own country we did have to go through a checkpoint/border control before we were allowed into St Peter’s Square. The poor guards couldn’t believe how much we had with us (Note to self: next time don’t go to The Vatican on leaving day with all our luggage!)
I didn’t realise quite how far the crowds are from the Pope’s actual window – I was grateful for the big TV screens. The address was given in Italian and unfortunately, my listening skills are rusty! This meant that I wasn’t abl extra slate for the boys. I got the odd phrase like “mio fratelii e sorelle in Cristo” (my brothers and sisters on Christ) then could not keep up at all! Occasional words would make sense but that was about it. There were a bunch of people near the front of the crowd who kept cheering like they were at a rock concert rather than hearing the Pope speak which was quite funny.
Once the address finished, we explored the local area and ended up at a shopping mall called Terminal Giancolo. We had lunch in the food court area. This was a bit disappointing but it did fill a hole. There was a small soft play area that Jaxon played in for nearly an hour. He’d spent so much of the weekend doing “adult” stuff that it was only fair that he got something of his own to do. He was a bit sulky when we left but that soon stopped and he was back to his normal self.
After The Vatican, we went to catch the bus to our next stop and Chris realised we weren’t going quite the way we were supposed to be so we ended up getting off the bus we were on. We then had to walk for a bit to get the bus that we needed. My phone wasn’t keeping up so I adopted some photos that Our Sidekick was taking.
Once we were on the bus, we headed back to Pyramide and caught the train from there towards the airport.
Our rail passes for us as far as Fiera di Roma (it’s a hit like the Birmingham NEC or Excel in London). We got off the train to get a single fare each to the airport. However there wasn’t a ticket booth or machine at the station so I ended up doing my best to figure out the website to buy the tickets we needed to get the rest of the way. At one point, I was really tempted to risk it and dodge the fare rather than figure out the website! In the end it was fine and we made it to the airport.
Getting food for Chris at the airport was a challenge and in the end whereas we had something proper to eat, Chris ended up eating a sharing size of crisps to himself! I think he was really grateful to get home and be able to eat normally!
While Chris got some food, Jaxon and I found this giant sofa to sit on. Parts of the sofa had USB ports and plug sockets for charging devices. At one point, Our Sidekick was lying down and Jaxon snuggled up next to him. (For all of a minute before wriggling away again!)
By the time we had made it into the air, Jaxon was shattered and ended up sleeping most of the way home.
Taking a child on an aeroplane at any time can be a challenge. We took our toddler on an adventure to Rome. Back in December, we booked our trip, part of the idea behind it was that we could see how Jaxon coped with a short flight before taking him on a longer one. You can find Day One here.
Saturday Morning
Now that it was about eleven hours after we’d all climbed into bed exhausted from the day before. We realised how rock hard the beds were. I did wonder if this was just comparing to my over squishy (in need of replacing) mattress at home. Then again maybe it was an Italian thing. Anyway, we were all grateful for the sleep that we did get. Jaxon was disorientated by not being in his usual bed and this meant he wanted out as soon as he was allowed. He hadn’t settled well the night before but once the tiredness took over I don’t think he cared. He wanted to get out almost as soon as he woke up but I think this was also his normal toddler ways. My alarm clock is Jaxon punching me in the ribs most mornings.
While the boys headed to the kitchen to get breakfast, I had a little more time to come too. I looked out of the windows and was so incredibly grateful to see the sunshine. I really did not want to spend the day trudging around Rome if it was downpouring again like the day before.
Chris made toast for Jaxon and convinced him to eat some which meant the day was already starting on a good note. Our Sidekick and I ended up holding on for breakfast while we were out due to the amount of bread we had to last between the three non-GF eaters. Getting breakfast for Jaxon was the priority – we could wait (and eat cake or pastry if needed for breakfast!)
With the amount we were trying to pack into the day I made sure we had plenty of changing kit with us for Jaxon. I got this packed down into my little handbag rather than using my larger hand luggage bag as the changing bag which had been one of my plans. Chris had loaded his rucksack up with packed lunches for us.
Our first adventure was to the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin following the instructions were given to us by the landlady of the flat. Look at that beautiful blue sky. There was a chill in the air but it was a lovely day in the sunshine so that was keeping us warm. Outside the church, there is the Bocca Della Verità (The Mouth of Truth). The story there is that. You put your hand in the mouth of the statue and tell a lie, it will bite your hand off. (You can see the clip here)
From the church, we walked around the building up to Circo Massimo. As it was a Saturday morning there were a lot of runners doing laps. We started from the far end of the loop walking towards the visitor information boards. As we were walking, Chris and I were discussing what the area was for. We both commented how it was probably something to do with chariot racing and when we got to the information board that’s exactly what it was.
Even though it’s January, that sky is just so blue! Clearly, we just hog grey rainy days here in the UK.
It was fascinating. I think we could have gone round all the buildings but we would have had to pay for that bit. With Chris’s directions, we took the tram from Circo Massimo to the Colosseum. First of all, we went to get some gelato for Chris and a sandwich for me. I had thought about getting gelato but I hadn’t actually had any breakfast. As much as I love ice cream, I couldn’t really do it with Jaxon watching! He would have wanted ice cream too. We ended up splitting a ham and cheese sandwich.
The Colosseum had been on my list of places to see for a number of years. I had hoped to go inside to explore but the queues were crazy to get tickets. After walking around the outside of the Colosseum we headed around the outside of Palatino (one of the hills of Rome). We ended up going to two churches that are near the Colosseum and Palatino. One of the churches we went to was the Basilica di Santa Francesca Romana. (Turns out that Santa Francesca Romana is the patron saint of car drives because of a legend that an angel used to light her way). The other church was la Chiesa di San Sebastiano al Palatino. One of the two was an accidental discovery after Chris had misread the map.
Saturday Afternoon
After exploring these bits we headed up along Via Dei Fori Imperiali and stopped for our lunch, across the road from the Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) monument. There were a bunch of guys busking on the street so we had music to accompany our picnic lunch.
We headed further along Via Dei Fori Imperiali past the monument. After a little research, I found out that it’s built in honour of Victor Emmanual who was the first King of a unified Italy. Construction was started in 1885 and finished in 1925. There’s also a tomb for an unknown soldier as well as on the roof there are four chariot riders.
Next, we headed to the Fontana di Trevi. This one was on my list of places to go, so was very excited about it. While Jaxon and Chris explored the fountain a bit more, I stood back from the crowds and watched. It was too crowded for me right next to the fountain, also Our Sidekick and Chris were being a bit grumpy at each other so I needed a bit of a time out. Our Sidekick went for a look round United Colors of Benetton which faces the fountain.
From there we wandered up to Via del Tritone but on the way tried to find somewhere to change Jaxon’s nappy. We ended up visiting a museum called Crypta Balbi. It’s part of the National Roman Museum. The museum was really interesting and we were able to find a toilet to change Jaxon’s Nappy (Yes that’s the biggest issue we found in the room was the lack of changing facilities. Fortunately, with Jaxon being in pull-ups we are generally able to change him standing up so he’s not having to lie on the floor).
The museum is on the ground of what was Campus Martius which was a bit like the village green historically. It’s pretty much between two churches – Santa Caterina dei Funari and Chiesa di Santo Stanislao dei Polacchi. After that, we wandered around some more shops. Chris and Our Sidekick were still grumpy at one another so we decided to call it quits and we would catch the bus back to the apartment.
Saturday Evening
I told Chris he needed to chose what was happening for dinner and he formulated a plan. We ended up back at Il Maggiolino as it was definite that they would be able to cater to him. The waiter remembered us from the night before. He directed us to a table then grabbed the mat to identify Chris’s gluten free meal. Our order was pretty much exactly the same as it had been the night before and again the service was great and we couldn’t fault it.
On our way back to the apartment following dinner, we went to a different Pane e Pane branch. This time we were served by a really lovely lady who took the order in English.
Although Jaxon probably should have gone straight to bed once we got back. He was allowed to have a dessert/treat that we had bought in Pane e Pane. As you can see it went everywhere and Chris had to assist with clean up duty.
It was a great end to Day 2. Jaxon was such a good boy all day. I’m pretty sure not every toddler would have handled the day as well as he did.
Taking a child on an aeroplane at any time can be a challenge but we took our toddler on an adventure to Rome. Back in December, we booked our trip, part of the idea behind it was that we could see how Jaxon coped with a short flight before taking him on a longer one. You can find the other posts in the series here.
Thursday
Our flight wasn’t until 3 am Friday morning but Chris asked me to do the online check-in Thursday morning. What a good idea!
I attempted to do it from my phone while at a church group but I needed all the passport information before I could do it so it had to wait until I got home. No problem! With lunch finished I grabbed my iPad and the passports to get us all checked in.
I got as far as inputting Jaxon’s information and there was an issue. Jaxon was listed as an adult, not a child so the validation on the form wouldn’t let me process Jaxon’s as he’s under 16. I rang Monarch’s Customer Service Line and after 10 minutes, Jaxon has been edited to a child seat and we were given a refund (under 16s don’t pay departure tax so yay for a refund!).
I went to try and process it again and it wasn’t working. The refund on the booking was causing it not to allow me to process it. I rang Monarch again and once again their Customer Service team knocked it out the park. They were going to hold the refund to one side for an hour while we got checked in (which is exactly what they did and the refund appeared by the time we were back at the end of the weekend).
Friday
I went to bed and tried to go to sleep but it was just like that Disney advert when the kids can’t sleep because they are too excited. (I can only find the American version of it!). Anyway, that was me I couldn’t sleep. In the end, it turned out I had about 1hr 40mins of sleep so was essentially running on a nap rather than a proper sleep.
We got up just before 3 am and got the car loaded up and headed to Airparks car park near Luton Airport. We had both thought that Jaxon would fall asleep in the car given the fact it was dark outside and he wouldn’t have had that much to watch out the window but instead he was awake. He loved looking out the window of the bus and although he’s not normally the kind of kid to carry around a cuddly toy, Ooh the Monkey (made by Hannah at Prior to The Day) had to come too, for Jaxon’s first aeroplane trip.
We arrived at the airport and I was busy taking photos for Journalling and Blogging although Chris kept making comments at me!
Of course, we needed some selfies to document the day, also to occupy a toddler while we waited for the gate to be assigned. Breakfast for Our Sidekick and I was a bacon brioche from Pret A Manger. Chris had a poached egg, beans and mushrooms instead. Jaxon had a cheese sandwich and other munchies from Boots.
Following breakfast, Jaxon, Chris and I went for a walk towards one of the other gates as there was a flight leaving before ours. After waiting for about half an hour, the plane was still at the gate and had been delayed so we decided to call it quits and head back to Our Sidekick to get out bits together. As it happened when we got back it was about three minutes until our gate opened so we started walking towards the gates anyway. On our way, the gate number was added to the departure board so we were able to head directly to the gate.
When we arrived at the gate, an announcement was given out about families flying with young children could have priority boarding. This meant that we were the first four people to get checked in to board our flight. Our flight had sets of steps up to the plane rather than a walkway from the boarding desk to the plane. Once we had got down the stairs to the door onto the runway, we had been joined but two other families who had priority boarding too.
Once we were on the plane we had a quick game of musical chairs, Chris took the middle seat with Jaxon in the window seat. Our Sidekick and I were then across the aisle from one another. Jaxon was getting a little bit restless while waiting for the other passengers to board but Chris was on it and kept Jaxon occupied one way or another. I’m not sure he entirely understood why he needed to wear a seat belt and why it wasn’t a five point harness like his car seat and buggy but in the end, Chris had him sorted out and we were all ready to take off when the rest of the plane were ready.
This is the point that I figured that the average toddler might freak out. I’d prepped the iPad with episodes of Thomas and Friend’s so if things got desperate Jaxon could watch that all the way there. But this mummy didn’t need to worry because Chris had got it in hand. As the plane ascended to its cruising altitude Jaxon gradually dozed off and ended up curled up on the seat and slept nearly all the way to Italy. I think at one point of another the older three of us all took a nap too. I had been watching Rizzoli and Isles but in the end had to rewind an episode because I’d dozed off in the middle of it! Oops!
In the latter half of the flight, Chris got Jaxon changed out of his pyjamas and a clean nappy. This actually turned out to be a really good idea because finding changing facilities was going to become an issue throughout the weekend. Having got off the plane at Fiumicino and found our way to the train station, I then had to navigate the ticket machine. I knew we needed the ticket into the city but all the services I could find were the Leonardo Express which meant we needed a specific ticket. We ended up going to Termini and starting our trip from there. The train from Fiumicino to Termini took about an hour. It was a direct service rather than an all stops. I loved that Termini station is almost a shopping centre in a way. Imagine St Pancras but busier!
We weren’t entirely sure how to get from Termini to the apartment, we started by taking the Metro to Ostiense/Piramide and then walking the rest of the way. I wasn’t sure why there was a pyramid at Piramide but when I got home I found out that it was built as a tomb around 12BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius. (More info).
Following the route, we worked out from the map book we purchased at the Roma-Lido train station (as the one in my guidebook didn’t go far enough to cover where we needed to go). We crossed the River Tiber (Tevere) over Ponte Dell’Industria. (The Wikipedia picture looks a lot nicer than my picture!). What you can’t see from this picture is that Jaxon was on Chris’s or Our Sidekick’s shoulders and we’d been taking it in turns to carry him. The carrier was in the suitcase but we’d been trying to encourage Jaxon to walk in the hope that he’d sleep better at the apartment because he’d be so tired!
We arrived at our apartment earlier than our check in time – we’d got it organised for late afternoon but with the weather as wet as it was, it would have been better if we could have changed the time. First of all we went across the street to a cafe where we could get a couple of drinks and a snack. I incorrectly ordered and Chris ended up with an espresso rather than something like an Americano coffee. Oops! On the TV in the cafe there was a show called Uomini e Donne playing. It was like Jeremy Kyle meets Blind Date with a tea dance thrown in for entertainment. it was kind of random!
We ended up wandering around the block to the nearest supermarket so that we could get some basics like bread and sandwich fillings. In the supermarket we were in there was so much choice of Gluten Free food, I don’t think Chris quite knew what to do with himself.
We ended up playing I Spy stood outside the apartment for a little while. The boys did tell me I was playing wrong when I said “Something beginning with S” and I had picked the satellite dishes on the roof and that should have been “Something beginning with S D”. We played four or five rounds and then the landlady arrived. Her English was patchy but miles enter than the Italian we would have cobbled together.
She took us into the foyer and Chris, Jaxon and I got into the lift with her and Our Sidekick took the stairs. The lift was limited for four people but I’m pretty sure the four of us plus Jaxon wouldn’t have overloaded the lift. We got up the floor the flat was on and Our Sidekick was there sat on the stairs waiting for us. The whole apartment had tiled floors which for January meant the floor was always cold but I guess in the summer it would be quite refreshing on your feet given how hot it can get outside in an Italian summer. On top of the sort of “chilled to the bones” feeling we all had we just wanted to defrost and relax.
The landlady got the heating on and explained how the hot water worked. She also explained about various other bits around the apartment and local area. After relaxing for a little while it was time to go and find some dinner.
Chris had done some research and we hoped that finding a restaurant that could serve Gluten-Free food would be relatively easy however I think we must have found the least gluten-free area of Rome. Having tried three or four places, we wandered into Il Maggiolino. (EDIT: Since writing this post, Il Maggiolino has closed),
I was so tired that trying to ask in Italian was making my brain hurt so I sort of blurted out “Tu parle Inglese?” and hoped the waiter would be sympathetic! Thankfully he did speak English and when I asked did they do gluten-free options he understood me and knew what I was asking! I think the staff were in the middle of having dinner together before the shift properly started however they still sat us for dinner which was so lovely of them. As soon as we were seated we were given the menu, I think all barring maybe three or four dishes had a gluten-free counterpart. Wow! Not only that the waiter then explained which beers on the menu were Gluten Free too.
We placed our order and the waiter brought over a table mat to put under Chris’s plate so that it was clear who was on the gluten-free meal. Gold stars and high fives all around here! The service was just so friendly and helpful we loved it. A minor flaw was the lack of fruit juice based options for Jaxon but he had some water so that kept him going until we could get him some juice back at the apartment.
Following dinner, we walked back via a shop called Pane e Pane. I think it’s a kind of franchise as there was practically one on every corner like you might have a certain brand of coffee shop on each street. We tried to order in our best Italian but the chap behind the counter wasn’t taking it. He served Our Sidekick and then served me. While he was getting my order together he was complaining to another customer how the British don’t make an effort or something along those lines. I’m convinced I really needed some witty come back and they’d both face palm realising that I had understood even if I was struggling to speak it. We did the next best thing and when we wanted to go back to the shop the following day we went to a different branch instead after all voting with your feet can make the strongest statement sometimes.
After we went to get dessert from Pane e Pane we headed back to the apartment and got Jaxon ready for bed. Within about an hour and a half, Chris and I had also gone to bed. We were so shattered but it was a great first day.
I am a Proud Pack Pony. AND I WILL keep wearing Jaxon as long as I physically can or he wants to be carried. At 2.5 I’m convinced he won’t want to give up anytime soon.
This last week or so, Facebook has been raising my grumpy. This time it was a blood boiling moment (or maybe raised a few degrees). Well, that was yesterday evening. Last Saturday, we watched around 4.9 million people protest about Women’s Rights. Here we were with Loose Women choosing to bring down mums and judge them for their parenting choices. Why can’t build each other up?
To give you the context, on Loose Women that had been televised at lunchtime they had been discussing “Pack Pony Mums” – their Facebook post starting the discussion went like this:
THE RISE OF THE ‘PACK PONY’ MUMS!
More mums are now following the ‘toddler wearing’ trend by strapping their two, three and even four-year-olds to them with slings and not letting them walk by themselves.
Is this too extreme? Do we try and keep our children too dependent on us? What age should parents stop carry children, co-sleeping and bathing with them?
Although they hadn’t started it, the Daily Fail did that one, they carried it on and had to comment.
As you can imagine, I wasn’t the only one having an issue with this. If you regularly read here then you know I LOVE babywearing. I swear by it! Chris and I have both tried to take a Gentle/Attachment Parenting stance when it comes to looking after Jaxon. Now some bits don’t work for us (like cloth nappies) but other bits have stuck with us. And going forward as Jaxon grows we will try to continue the gentle parenting route.
Babywearing a Newborn
We have been babywearing pretty much since Jaxon got home from the hospital. I’d been reading about it on the internet and wanted to try it. I found this Hug-A-Bub carrier and when it arrived I tried it with the cuddly toys in the house to learn how to tie it properly. While I was recovering from my C-Section, Chris got the inaugural use of the carrier. He wasn’t going to let my recovery stop him trying it out. He was going to have all the fun for both of us.
This was around six days old. Chris had decided to let me have a lie in and was going to take Jaxon on an adventure. Okay, it was downstairs for breakfast but it was still an adventure. About quarter of an hour after I snapped this, Chris had got his waterproof on over the carrier so that Jaxon and he could go to the shop without getting wet as it was drizzling. When I did get up, the boys had, had breakfast and Chris was teaching Jaxon to code. I’m not entirely sure how much Jaxon was taking in as he may have been asleep but he was snuggled in and feeling safe.
About six weeks later, my brother was getting married. We were going to take the buggy but due to the lack of space in the church we decided that Chris was going to wear Jaxon. Not only did Chris wear Jaxon during the ceremony, but when Chris did have to up to the pulpit to do the reading, he took Jaxon with him. I think I held my breath through the whole reading just in case Jaxon woke up or got upset. In actual fact I had nothing to worry about he made a little noise and had a wiggle but then settled and stayed asleep and snuggled against Daddy.
Toddler Wearing
Through Jaxon’s life so far we’ve always carried in some degree. Once he was getting too big and fidgety for the Hug-A-Bub we switched it a Connecta. Although I did try a woven wrap, we have always preferred the SSC (soft strutured carriers) and now use a Boba 4G. Now Jaxon is two and a half and still loves to be carried. We are still using the Boba 4G but I am thinking we may need to invest in a toddler carrier than will take him as he gets a bit heavier. He loves being able to sit on someone’s shoulders now but he’s getting too heavy for me to be able to do that as much but we’ll see – I might get stronger! I can still carry him on my back so that’s fine. From this, position on my back he can often see what I can see from my eye level so when it comes to pointing out things to him then he can see too. Sometime it’s him pointing things out to me now too.
Since getting having to try and fit a buggy on top of all the holiday packing and camping gear that we have needed, we have become more reliant on the carrier due to the tiny amount of space it takes up in comparison. Between Chris, Our Sidekick and I, we can take it in turns to carry Jaxon when needed. In the picture below, this was taken at Hogarth Falls and a lot of it would have been inaccessible with a buggy. At this point, Jaxon had just turned one and wasn’t walking without a lot of assistance. The next image below it is the same trip. On that day we climbed one of the highest hills near the village we were staying in and in fact, it’s high enough to be classed as a small mountain. We took turns to carry Jaxon and without the carrier, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this.
The photo below was taken when we were away for the weekend in September. With three adults and a toddler in Renault Zoe, getting the buggy in as well wasn’t going to happen. So again the carrier came along with us in it’s place. We were able to explore Norwich on a busy Sunday afternoon with Jaxon at shoulder level so he could see the world around him again. Maybe I do resemble a pack pony with Jaxon on my back and then have my backpack on my front but it meant he could see things, when I pointed things out he could see them
Even though this was the end of October, it was unseasonably warm that day and we managed to go to the postbox without needing our jumpers. This was twenty-seven months.
As you can see, we’re still carrying at 30 months. This was taken at the Coliseum in Rome. It’s totally up to each parent what they do but we watched so many other parents struggle with their buggies over the cobblestones around the Coliseum and Palatino. The carrier could fold down small enough to fit in our hand luggage and then we could use it when we needed it.
So, as a Proud Pack Pony. Why did I get upset?
A few weeks back, Loose Women discussed how new mums can feel isolated and lonely once the crazy of a newborn baby has died down. I had gone from working a full time busy office job to being at home with a newborn baby. I tried various baby groups but I never felt quite like I fitted in. One group was lots of mums who had met in their antenatal classes so they already knew one another. In one group, Jaxon was the youngest and we’d spend most of the session alone. On a number of occasions, we’d get to group and Jaxon would have a feed, followed by a sleep. It was then pointless me going out to a group when he could sleep on me in a post feed daze at home (and at least I had the TV for company!).
Finding my People
I found the local Sling Library and “found my people” so to speak. These lovely ladies (and a couple of gents) were so amazing at encouraging me and other parents with baby wearing. They would take the time to answer my silly questions and the not so silly ones too. In the end I became a volunteer for the library so helped other parents when they came along with questions. So Loose Women have once again mummy shamed on national television. So maybe this makes me a pack pony but if Jaxon is happy and healthy then that is what is most important. Pack Pony Mums Unite!
I am generally fed up of the Mummy Shaming that goes on, whether it’s on Facebook or television.
If you want to babywear then do it.
If you want to use a buggy then do it.
If you want to breastfeed, then do it.
If you want to bottle feed then do it.
If the last few days has proved anything we need to stick together more than anything. We need to lift and encourage each other not drag each other down.
If you’d like some facts rather than opinions, there are studies all over the place. Here are a couple: La Leche League, Babywearing International and Natural Child Project. There is also this post by Dr Rosie Knowles on FB that my Sling Library friend shared. Dr Rosie is a Mum, GP and author. She’s on a mission improving attachment and wellbeing for families through carrying in arms or slings. (This image below is from her FB page).
I wasn’t the only Mum who was took to writing about it. You can see Abi’s Open Letter to the production team here.
Do you babywear? Do you not babywear? Have you wanted to try but not been able to find support local to you? Anyway, I’d love to hear your stories. Please share.
I have still been watching Blindspot. I’m about three quarters of the way through Season One now and realised that there is a season Two. I caught up with Finding Carter so am now waiting for the new episode to air this week. We watched the season finale of Sherlock and I’m still a bit baffled. Think I will have to watch it again and see if I get the hang of it this time round. It didn’t help that I was on the computer at the same time that Chris was watching it the other day.
Currently…Reading
I actually paused on The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher for the time being. theres not anything particuary wrong with it just I got in a bit of a rut. I’ve started On The Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher so have read almost five chapters of that in one night.
Currently…Listening
I’ve been trying to listen to more worship music while I work so I’ve had Rend Collective and For King and Country playing but did end up listening to Paramore for a little bit earlier. Jaxon quite liked bopping around to I’m Still Into You when that came on.
Currently…Making
After spending some of yesterday reattaching my yarn choices into my Crochet Bible. I was able to carry on with the stripes on my granny stripe blanket for Jaxon’s bed. I hit the first repeat today which means I’m back at the beginning of the colours and working in pink again. I had to drop one of the colours when I got to it because I couldn’t find the ball of wool, even though they are all being kept together in the same bag for the time being.
Currently…Feeling
A lot better. I didn’t feel entirely right yesterday and then yesterday I had a banging headache at one point. I ended up taking some paracetamol, putting the electronic baby sitter on and curling up on the sofa for an hour or two. I got some crochet done once the paracetamol kicked in but it still made climbing the stairs to change Jaxon’s nappy interesting.
Currently…Planning
Planning now includes our next adventure which will be around my birthday, the boys adventure in the summer and my adventure to Norfolk later in the year for my friend’s wedding. Squeee! So excited for that one. Might have to buy a new dress and new shoes…
Currently…Loving
Bullet journaling again. I’ve been transferring my work notes into my sunshine yellow Leuchtterm Notebook to see if it works better as an overall system. My normal notebook is a slightly unusual size and although it works fine as a notebook I’m not sure about it now. Helpful right?
Heads up! In this post there are a couple of affiliate links.
I’m excited for Little Makes – this is a new linkie that I came across at the beginning of January. It’s joining with Jemma at Thimble and Twig and Fee at One of Each.
Granny Stripe Blanket
When I joined in with Little Makes back at the beginning of January, I was counting down the days until the Attic24Moorland CAL started, however after attempting it four or five times I surrendered in the end and decided that the Granny Stripe Blanket was a better idea for now.
I think this rainbow blanket is going to be for Jaxon’s bed – I just need to decide whether to make it the right size for his current toddler bed or make it for a single bed that he might move into once he’s a bit older. My Crochet Bible from Stationery Geek is coming in extra handy this time. However, because the wool is all from my stash I don’t entirely know where I got each different colour from.
It’s quite relaxing to do as it’s simply back and forward but I did realise that some bits aren’t quite right. Thankfully you can’t see them unless you practically have your nose right next to it!
Journalling about Rome
This week has also seen me catch up with my Journalling especially writing about Rome last weekend. I’m still working on it but getting there, all the bits are now stuck in and just need text adding around them.
Toddler Baking
This time I actually have something that Jaxon joined in with. Our neighbour gave us a brownie kit they came in a glass bottle with all the ingredients ready to go, you just add egg, milk and butter. Having spent the weekend trying to restore order to the house, using up the kit was on the cards. Following dinner today, Jaxon, Chris and I set about making the brownies. Some of this involved sitting on the floor and working together.
I have still been watching Blindspot. While we were away over the weekend, I watched season 5 of Rizzoli and Isles. Chris was out this evening so I started watching Finding Carter on NowTV.
When I have been out driving the car recently I’ve used For King and Country playing. Jaxon is loving listening to music at the moment so we’ve been having music on while playing.
Currently…Making
I ended up surrendering when it came to trying to complete the Moorland CAL by Attic 24. I’m sure it’s more my understanding of the pattern rather than anything to do with the instructions. I have started a granny stripe blanket for Jaxon’s bed with the colour scheme that I had put together for my variation of the Moorland CAL blanket. So far it looks like a nice combination of colour. As you can see I’ve taped my colour scheme into my Crochet Bible by Stationery Geek. It’s a very handy book.
Currently…Feeling
A bit of the weary side. This weekend just gone we were in Rome for a couple of days. It was a great adventure and I had just about recovered. Our Sidekick then got hurt at trampolining last night and I had to go to A&E with him. I ended up waiting until nearly 2am to bring him home.
Currently…Planning
Planning now includes our next adventure which will be around my birthday as well as things like updating my passport etc.
Currently…Loving
What am I loving at the moment? I don’t know. Yep so helpful right there! I’ll see if I think of anything…oh actually yes. I am loving that my ticket for Cambs Planner Con arrived last week. The welcome pack included stickers from Beautiful Planning too.
Heads up! In this post there are a couple of affiliate links.
I’m still working my way through The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher. I’m hoping with the adventures we have planned over the next few weeks I’ll be able to get some more reading done.
Currently…Listening
We have a radio in the kitchen and some days it’s on all day. I’ve known for a while that Jaxon loves music because he just has to hear music and starts dancing but in the last week or so he’s started sitting down for meals in the kitchen and if the radio isn’t on he points at it shouting On! On! On! So we’ve been having the radio on. I’ve been listening to more worship music when I have my headphones in walking to and from places. I’ve been also playing For King and Country.
Currently…Making
I’ve been trying to get on with the Moorland CAL by Attic 24 but I’ve been really struggling with getting the stitch count correct. I decided to pause it for now but use the wool that I have to make a granny stripe blanket for Jaxon’s bed. It’s going to be multicoloured so hopefully he will like it. It is a real shame as I did want to be part of the CAL but for now it’s kit stressing me out rather than relaxing me.
Currently…Feeling
Excited about the future. Chris and I have spoken about bits surrounding Daisy Media and that side of things. We’ve been planning more adventures for 2017 as well as bits round the house that need to be done in the middle. Our bedroom got finished – we’re just working on getting things organised and away following the furniture being moved round or removed completely. Chris now has a desk so he can do some work bits. Also means that if he needed to work from home there is space for him to it in.
Currently…Planning
Working on the next adventure we are going on, places to visit and things to do. Excited to tick a sort of Bucket List item off which is really cool. Need to actually write my bucket list properly. I keep starting it then giving up or changing notebook.
Currently…Loving
Loving how verbal Jaxon is now. It’s still vague in places and sometimes I’m not entirely sure what he’s staying but we’re getting there which is good! Heads up! In this post there are a couple of affiliate links.
I’m excited for Little Makes – this is a new linkie I’ve come across in the last week or so. It’s joining with Jemma at Thimble and Twig and Fee at One of Each.
This week I’ve been a busy bumblebee!
Temperature Blanket
With knowing that 2016 was coming to an end, I’d been crocheting like mad to get my Temperature Blanket finished. On New Year’s Eve, I was counting down the squares I had left to do as the time ticked away. With Chris working hard on decorating the bedroom nearly all week. He decided on NYE to park in front of the television for a bit. We ended up watching the Call The Midwife Christmas Special and playing Rummikub. I hadn’t watched the CTM Christmas Special on Christmas Day because I figured the boys wound’t want to sit through it. We had a good time and it was really nice to hang out.
Then again this wasn’t really a Little Makes – it’s about 2m long by 1.5 wide! Oops! Big Make there!
Caron Cakes
There’s this lovely wool called Caron Cakes and it’s a Michael‘s Exclusive. Yep – you can’t get it here in the UK. My very lovely friend who works in New York was back for Christmas and was willing to bring me back a couple of balls. (I had one and the rest were to share with my Mum, her bestie and bestie’s daughter). It’s so soft – it’s no surprise it’s been really popular!
So what is my Little Makes for this one? I headed for Ravelry as it’s generally a good starting place. I found a pattern called Debut by Katiuscia Bayslak (aka The Yarn Juice). I had a few issues with making sure I had the right number of stitches but after three or four attempts I figured it out.
Attic 24 Moorland CAL
(How pretty does this look!! The image is from Attic24)
I’ve never taken part in a Crochet-A-Long but this one starts today and I’ve still not decided on my colours – I think I am going to work my way thorugh the different colours in my stash and come up with something crazy. You can find more information over on Attic24’s website. (Specifically here but there will be more info up soon!). I’ll be sure to share my pictures as I get going.
Today was my weigh in at Slimming World. Here’s my progress:
Yesterday I went clothes shopping. Just for a couple of t-shirts and maybe a new jumper as my shirts seem to be shrinking or if they seem big enough they start riding up. I popped into Next to see if I could find a new pair of jeans. This was on the off chance there were some jeans in the sale rail – when I got there I was struggling to get the buggy between the racks to get to the sale rail so in the end I gave up.
Two Sizes Bigger!
I went to Primark with the intention of getting a couple of cheap t-shirts. I already know that I have to buy between one and two sizes bigger purely on the way that Primark T-Shirts fit. There seemed to be a distinct lack of bigger sizes so in the end I headed downstairs and bought 4 guys shirts (And even they were L and XL so that they fitted. I also got two jumpers and again I was looking at a Man’s XL or XXL for them to fit.
Time to Weigh in at Slimming World
Anyway, today I went to weigh in at group, I thought I might have lost a little bit but actually I hadn’t I ended up maintaining. It was a little disappointing but it’s better than putting on especially given the last few weeks food wise!
H0pefully this week I can buckle down on the food choices and get more of a result next week. Chris is usually pretty good anyway but going to see if he can help me with making sure there are lots of Slimming World friendly food on the menu. We have some bananas in the house but they had been a bit on the unripe side so I was avoiding them. I’ll have to go and check in the morning and see if they are okay to eat now. Am also going to plan more next week and if it calms down, hopefully I’ll be able to go for a mad dash round the block or even get out the gym before my trial runs out.
This year my focus word is simplify. Every year, I’ve always struggled with resolutions. At school we’d often have that task in English where we had to write our resolutions and it would do often be a pointless exercise. My resolutions would fail either because they are unquantifiable or have been unenforceable. So often I wouldn’t bother but maybe they just needed to be simplified. Make them into attainable goals with quantifiable results. Anyway, here we go, let’s start with this…
My intention had been since October or maybe even September that 2017 was to be the year of the destash when it came to my wool collection. By Christmas, it was growing into a bigger idea.
As I write this I’m lying on our mattress on our bedroom floor. There’s a stink of paint in the air (which may have me reaching for painkillers tomorrow…) and the carpet and underlay are up from the floor. Our house is a bit crazy as there seems to be stuff everywhere. But this isn’t necessarily just because of the decorating. Prior to getting the Christmas decorations out, there was a lot of stress about where to put it because of the “stuff”.
On top of this, life, in general, can seem to get complicated. Whether it’s knowing which Planner to use (I know planner peace doesn’t exist but a sort of planner temporary peace must exist right?). Maybe it’s more technology based with hundreds of Facebook friends included that friend from school who you didn’t speak to then let alone now or people you follow on IG who you don’t interact with or only see their pictures on the rarity that they post. Sometimes it’s something completely different like just simplifying what I carry in my handbag!
I have therefore started a sort of to-do list. Mostly it’s currently dealing with the crazy that is our house but it’s also about getting to a Square One. By getting back to that point I have some kind fo starting point to keep the house tidier. I’ve been reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo. Some bits of it I’m not entirely sure about and I keep wandering off to read other books. For example at the moment I’m reading Mosaic of Grace by James Prescott (before it’s launched in February) and The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher).
Hannah’s Simplify Start List
1. Try to knit/crochet from stash only. This isn’t always going to be easy but I will try my best!
2. Sort stickers and journaling bits.
3. The other drawers in the living room. Sort them!
4. Living room bookcase – do I need all those books? Do they bring me joy?
Have you chosen a word for 2017? Do you have any goals or resolutions to achieve? Are you giving up something big or trying to make a difference with something little?
Over Christmas, we restarted our NowTV account as a treat over Christmas. I figured while we had it, I’d try out some new things. First up was The Young Pope, Jude Law plays Pope Pius who is the first American Pope. The first episode is two hours long – I got 45 minutes in and had just lost the concentration to sit through the whole first episode in one go. Back to Grey’s Anatomy – episode 7 and 8 in one week because I thought I had watched an episode when I hadn’t.
On Christmas Eve, Jaxon and I unexpectedly spent some of the day with my parents. When we had arrived Dad was in the middle of watching Terry Prachett’s Going Postal. He ended up switching it off so that Jaxon could watch Thomas and Friends.
I started Chicago Fire while crocheting earlier in he week. Funny listening to Jesse Spencer put on an American accent rather than his Aussie accent. I got a bit addicted and am already on Season 2 and I am enjoying it. Part of the story line is bugging me a bit but overall it’s good. (Oh make that another part of the story is bugging me!) I’ve been binge watching it today while I work on blog planning.
Currently…Reading
Reading books often make up a lot of my Christmas presents. This year made no difference. My brother got me a Joss Whedon Biography, a book about Douglas Adams. I also received The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher, On The Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher and a whole bundle of knitting and crochet books.
I’ve had The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher on my wish list for a couple of weeks but after a certain point in the year I try not to buy from my list. Following Christmas I decided that I would purchase it on Kindle so that’s been my main read this week. According to my Kindle App, I’m currently on 40%.
Currently…Listening
At the beginning of the week we were still listening to Christmas music. Now Christmas is over and New Year is done. Need to start forming a new playlist. What’s good to listen to now that Christmas is done?
Currently…Making
I finished my Temperature Blanket on New Year’s Day. Then last night I finished edging it. It’s all ready to go on the bed when Chris finishes decorating the bedroom and the new carpet goes down at the weekend. (As I write this our mattress is on the bedroom floor and the bed frame is all dismantled against the wall.
Currently…Feeling
Kind of tired after all the crazy of Christmas, but hoping once everything goes back to normal it’ll all calm down again and I won’t feel so tired lol.
Currently…Planning
Lots of blog fun, adventures that were having as a family, other exciting things that are coming up too. I’ve also been attempting to be more intentional and organised about eating on plan. Sometimes it’s been a right fail but I’m hoping that most of the time I have been on plan and will see the results over the next few weeks.
Currently…Loving
The fact that our room will be newly decorated soon. There’s some old furniture going and some new furniture coming in too. I think I’m going to “Kondo” our stuff as it comes back in again so that we have less in the bedroom. I’m not so sure how it will work but I figure it’s worth the try especially if it saves less stress! Heads up! In this post there are a couple of affiliate links.
At the end of 2016, I was tagged by Amy at Mummy Fox in The (Not Big or Fat) Quiz of the Year 2016! I had started it yesterday but somewhere between my iPhone and iPad it vanished in the ether so I’m catching up now!
What was your highlight of 2016?
Just one highlight to pick. That could be a real challenge. Jaxon started preschool. Daisy Media kept growing (had a shrinkie moment but that will be fixed in 2017!). Jaxon started to talk and okay it’s not 100% there but we get more and more words every couple of days. He loves red and white. This is the year that he started growing into a proper little boy! I went to Cambs Planner Con and met a whole bunch of my planner friends in person after chatting heaps on Facebook. Had a fangirl moment when I met Anna aka Mrs Brimbles in person. You know in Notting Hill when Honey meets Anna and is like “oh I think we are best friends already” or something like that, that was a bit like my reaction. (Okay so I waved like mad, my inner monologue told me to stop being a wally and then I got verbal diarrhoea haha!)
Name one thing you are most likely to remember about 2016 if asked in five years time?
I think it would be that Jaxon started speaking. At one of his reviews, he didn’t have enough words to tick the right box so we were going to take him to a SALT drop in clinic thingy. At 2.5 he’s still not old enough to really be classed as speech delayed but it was causing concern. Then in the last two months he’s just come on leaps and bounds with his words.
Sum up 2016 in one word
Amazing!
Name one pearl of wisdom from this year that you will carry with you through 2017
Be you, everyone else is taken.
2016 has involved a lot of good stuff but also some not good stuff. I’ve had days when I’ve curled up in bed and bawled my eyes out (don’t worry the specific one that comes to mind, Chris was on Jaxon duty while I was snuggled up). I’ve had good days too where I’ve cried happy tears. I’ve had phone calls that have changed my day for the best and others that have changed my day for the worst.
Do you have any New Year resolutions?
I am really rubbish at keeping resolutions so I try to form proper goals that I can tick off. I want to try and read more, both for pleasure but also information for my job. How to guides about getting better at social media, how to write better blog posts etc. I want to get better at posting regularly and making sure they are good posts because in a way this blog is part of a portfolio for my business.
How did you see in the New Year?
Rock n roll! I spent NYE at home playing board games with Chris and trying to finish my Temperature Blanket before the new year arrived. We also ended up watching Call The Midwife Christmas Special. At midnight, our neighbour’s dogs were going a bit bananas with the fireworks. I went upstairs to check on Jaxon and he was lying in his bed watching the fireworks light up his room. I got him up and we watched the fireworks out of his bedroom window. Then when I figured he wasn’t going to go straight back to sleep I took him downstairs and we watched the fireworks on the TV as Chris and I had been watching the live shows from London. Chris then took Jaxon to bed and we headed up shortly after.
What would you most like to do in 2017?
I’m fulfilling a sort of lifelong dream in 2017. I am finally going to Italy! It’s only for a few days and I’m sure there will still be heaps to see that we won’t fit into those few days but I am so excited to go. It’s been on my wishlist since I was at least 13 when I started learning Italian if not earlier than that. Ancient Rome was one of my favourite parts of history to learn about. I was always into ancient history a bit more than recent history.
What are your main goals for 2017?
See above about resolutions. I guess my main goal is to get my blog sorted. Blog more where possible. Keep going with Currently and get future posts organised where possible.
Back in August 2013, I decided I needed to do something about my weight. Also, I needed something I could commit to rather than trying to do it under my own power. I chose to join Slimming World as a couple of friends attended the group and someone I went to school with was the consultant. Here’s my Slimming World journey.
I’ve been a member of Slimming World since August 2013. To start with I was really focused. I went and stayed to every group. I was writing a food diary and keeping track of that along with my Body Magic. Before long I could see the pounds dropping off.
Then at the end of October, we found out that Jaxon would be making an appearance. I kept going to SW with support from my Midwife and Slimming World Consultant. The plan is approved by the Royal College of Midwifery.
Christmas 2013
I had lost around a stone and a half. Over the length of my pregnancy, I put this back on. I kept going to group and I think that was what stopped me from going overboard. However, this was really hard when everyone else around you, are celebrating their goals and achievements. I knew I was putting on ‘good’ weight because it was all for the baby but at the same time it felt like it was ‘bad’.
Jaxon arrived and I lose the equivalent of a stone and a half between Jaxon (nearly 10lbs of Baby there!) and all the fluids etc.
40 Weeks and 2 Days – July 2014
April 2015
By April 2015, I had lost 2 and a half stone in total and was still breastfeeding Jaxon. I was half a stone from my goal and it was within touching distance, in fact, I could smell it, I was that close.
Christmas 2016
Fast forward to Christmas 2016, I’m less than a stone from my original start point. I’m back at over 12 stone. My shirts are snug and keep riding up. My jeans still fit but I literally cycle between two pairs of trousers that still fit me at the moment.
This photo was taken at my Cousin’s house. It was Boxing Day and it was the annual Christmas gathering. I’m near enough back where I started in 2013 and need to do something about it. I don’t avoid being in pictures but I certainly don’t always like the results.
So here we go, 2017 is my year. That target certificate and badge will be mine.
In May, we will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary and might be going away for a weekend. So that’s my deadline.
Be at Target by our Wedding Anniversary trip.
How this week went
With Christmas and all the extra parties etc that comes with it, I kind of had to admit defeat and just get through it. Between the parties, I tried to be sensible and not go too nuts. Between the Christmas weigh in on the 22nd and the weigh-in today (29th), it was a disaster zone especially with so many meals out throughout the week. I weighed in at the Friday morning group that meets at the Rugby Athletic Club.
Yesterday, we had been to visit Chris’s Aunt so I was prepared that I was going to stay on the scales with a massive gain. Fortunately, when I did stand on the scales there was only a pound gain which was good. Following the group, Mum and I went to deliver leaflets for our “normal” consultant. We ended up walking past my friend’s house so we got chatting with my friend for a few minutes before moving on with the leaflets.
Lunch consisted of pasta, sweetcorn and leftover chicken. I think we’re a bit short on fruit at the moment so I might have to despatch Chris to the supermarket for a fruit top-up while he’s out running errands in a little while.
I’ve decided that this time I’m going to try and keep a diary of sorts. Each week I will post here how my journey is going while I will keep my food diary in a planner.
Technically I think it’s supposed to be Vlogmas but I’m doing Blogmas! But in the CRAZEE that is coming over the next few days the idea of trying to film and edit without Jaxon creating havoc just makes me a bit more stressed so writing this in bed or hiding elsewhere in the house seems like a good plan and hopefully I might just keep up!
Hello there, those who know me, know how much I love Christmas! It’s one of my favourite times of the year so when I was tagged by Rose at Bell and Bear I had to join in – you can find her post here and here are my answers:
What’s your favourite Christmas movie?
I started watching Christmas films straight after Halloween this year. Yes, I know that’s a bit early! Growing up I think my favourite was Miracle on 34th Street, especially the bit when Richard Attenborough as Santa Claus signs to the little girl or when everyone declares they believe in Santa.
It’s A Wonderful Life and The Holiday are my next two favourites. It’s a Wonderful Life is just so meaningful. The Holiday is just good fun lol.
Have you ever had a white Christmas?
Pretty sure we haven’t. I know it’s snowed in the week leading up or we’ve had sleety/rain between Christmas and New Year. I read somewhere that there’s more chance of it snowing on Easter Sunday then it is to snow on Christmas Day. (Which means my Dad is more likely to have snow on his birthday than for us to have a White Christmas).
Where do you usually spend your holiday?
As a kid, Christmas Day was always spend at home with my brother and parents and then Boxing Day. I think I saw a friend one Christmas as she dropped off my Christmas present while walking the dog but other than that it was always a family day.
When Chris and I got married we decided that Christmas Day would be at home then we’d fit in parents and extended family around that. Boxing Day alternates between my “extended” family on one side and Chris’s Aunt’s house. This year, my side have Boxing Day because of when my Uncle is working. Boxing Day (okay so not always Boxing Day now but it was Boxing Day as a kid!) at my Grandparents would be great. We’d have presents from our parents etc at home on Christmas Day and then on Boxing Day we’d get our presents from my Aunt and Uncle and Grandparents.
What is your favourite Christmas song?
I don’t think I have an individual favourite song. I love the whole of Amy Grant‘s Home for Christmas album as my Mum would often play it when she was getting the house ready for Christmas.
Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
Nope! In our house, you open your stocking and a “big” present before church. We then open the rest of our presents. Between church and dinner being ready. This year I’m not sure how well this will work as I’m not sure Jaxon will necessarily comprehend that he can only open one. Maybe we need to do those in the kitchen then “open” the living room once we’re back from church.
Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. And did you know that Donner and Blitzen’s names were originally Dunder and Blixem which is Dutch for Thunder and Lighting – it later changed through differnet versions. (Better explanation here)
Which holiday traditions are you looking forward to this year?
Looking forward to seeing family. Christmas is often the only time we properly slow down together.
Is your Christmas tree real or fake?
I’m a Scrooge when it comes to trees. We have a fake. The year we did have a real one I kept finding needles tucked in the carpet. Maybe when Jaxon is older we can reconsider the tree situation and have a real one again.
What is your all time favourite holiday treat/food/sweet?
I love Lebkuchen cookies. They are my very favourites along with Stollen and Panettone. Yep I have a sweet tooth! We used to have this tropical mix stuff they my mum would get at Christmas I think it was really for Dad but I loved the crystallised fruit and raisins in it.
Be honest, do you like giving or receiving gifts better?
I love giving presents, if I have time I like to handmake them too. I managed one handmade present this year which I hope it appreciated.
What is the best Christmas present you ever received?
If I can go a sort of cheesy one, three years ago at Christmas, I had reached 13 weeks in my pregnancy so we let the Pastor announce it at our old church. In the time it took for him to announce it and pray for us, our friend had texted across the church her congratulations.
Actual present wise I think it would be my blue electric guitar from my parents.
What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?
Australia or New Zealand would be amazing although being somewhere sunny at Christmas just wouldn’t feel like Christmas so maybe somewhere with snow and up in the mountains maybe.
Are you a pro present wrapper or do you fail miserably?
I am kind of a pro lol. I love making the wrapping all pretty.
Most memorable Christmas moment?
At my Grandparents old house they has these heavy velvet-y curtains across the patio door at one end of the conservatory. This particular tree the dining table was in the conservatory. My uncle was sat up near the curtains with my brother. I’m not quite sure how it happened but someone as a joke fired squirty crean across the table and my uncle ducked out of the way. The cream hit these curtains and all panic ensued trying to get there worse off! Oops!
What made you realise the truth about Santa?
I’m not actually sure. I remember when my cousin arrived my brother and I were 9 and 7 so I think we’d both figured it out but of course our cousin was just starting so we had to pretend that we believed even though we knew the truth. Then when she was old enough to know the truth, her younger brother had arrived so we started over again.
What makes the holidays special for you?
Spending time with friends and family. Catching up with everyone before the crazy of the New Year kicks in.
So there you have The Christmas Tag! I would like to tag the following bloggers to take part:
Technically I think it’s supposed to be Vlogmas but I’m doing Blogmas! But in the CRAZEE that is coming over the next few days the idea of trying to film and edit without Jaxon creating havoc just makes me a bit more stressed so writing this in bed or hiding elsewhere in the house seems like a good plan and hopefully I might just keep up!
At the beginning of December, Blogmas seemed like a good idea but as you can tell if you’re a regular it hasn’t always happened the way it should have.
This weekend is a bit bananas. Today Chris is at four church services. I’ve managed to only have to be at two. The first is at Renhold, where my parents attend. Chris took the family service at the beginning of November and decided he’d sign up for another service so got the morning service slot.
Chris thought this was a good idea when he signed up for it. He then got asked to be part of the Carol Service at Woodside which then entailed him being at three more services today.
This morning Chris spoke about how Christmas carols can portray an “idealistic” view of Christmas so Jesus being silent like in Away in a Manger or the there were three kings (We Three Kings), we know there were the three named gives given to Jesus but were there more Wise Men, maybe they had an entourage or more gifts.
Chris also played the video called The Well Good News by The Bible Society. I’ve seen it twice now and it’s so clever. The line when the Angel is telling Mary that she’s going to have a baby and the narrator talks about a “belly bump” always makes me laugh. You can see the video here.
While Chris spoke, Jaxon and I were out in the Sunday school room. I was making an angel with the other girlies, while Jaxon played with a jigsaw puzzle on the floor and then protested when he wasnt allows a second biscuit!
Following the service we dashed to Woodside to drop off for the technical run through. Jaxon and I went home for lunch and then completed some errands before bringing lunch to Chris. Apparently the fact that I brought him lunch got me bonus brownie points!
I’m off to the first of these three. I was originally going just as a congregation person but on Friday I had a call from one of the guys at church asking if I could do one of the readings at the first Carol Service. I said yes before really thinking about it. Oops! Who was going to look after Jaxon while I went up to do the reading? (Thankfully, a friend of mine came to the rescue and then I ended up sat on the same row as my Aunt and Uncle so between them they all kept an eye on Jaxon which was great).
The Christmas series this year was based around A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The three weeks leading up to the Carol Service were Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future (or Christmas Yet To Come).
A few weeks back one of the girls in our community group put the call out for help with painting set so I spent a couple of hours at church a few weeks back painting bits and pieces and then spent one Friday morning while Jaxon was at preschool helping with the next bit.
Although we’d chatted about some bits and the theming in the foyer etc I hadn’t really got an idea of what it would be like and even on Friday when we went to church to focus the lights it was still in progress so when I arrived today it was so good to see it all come together.
I quickly snapped these pictures while juggling Jaxon, so some aren’t great but they give an idea of what it was like.
The boards that I had painted, had then had these windows cut into them to make them into silhouettes of buildings. The finished article is just great.
The band opened the service with their take on Pentatonix’s arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and oh my word it was so good!! I was very impressed. I managed to video some of it on my iPad. (You can see it here).
My reading came after Silent Night, so I headed to the back of the hall so that during the final verse I could head towards the stage on the right side where I was to read as per my instructions.
The stage light was so bright that when I did try to look up and make eye contact I was being blinded so I decided I try to look vaguely over to where Jaxon was sat and then aim towards the sound desk where Chris was sat and hoped that would help with doing it right. I had a little fluff on the words in the middle so I stopped, took a deep breathe then carried on. I figured it was better for me to pause and restart than get more flustered!!
At the end of the service, I decided I needed to get Jaxon home as soon as I could. He’d spent the best part of 4 hours being told to sit still or be quite so I decided to get him home and allow him time was play or run around was needed. Once we got home he was so pleased to be home I’m not sure what he knew quite what to do first!
Technically I think it’s supposed to be Vlogmas but I’m doing Blogmas! But in the CRAZEE that is coming over the next few days the idea of trying to film and edit without Jaxon creating havoc just makes me a bit more stressed so writing this in bed or hiding elsewhere in the house seems like a good plan and hopefully I might just keep up!
I’ve been keeping up with “Who Do You Think You Are?” on the BBC. I find the whole genealogy thing really fascinating. My Grandad has done a lot about our side of the family and Chris has had an interest how he’s related to Admiral Byng. It’s one of those fmaily things that I think he’d like to know so that he can tell Jaxon.
We’ve “restarted” our NowTV subscription over Christmas so that we can catch up on the shows that we’ve been missing. So far I’ve watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, started the film adaption of Dad’s Army and am now watching The Holiday.
Currently…Reading
A friend of mine suggested I try the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. I’ve only read a couple of pages so far but I am working on it. Also I have received a couple of new books in the last week or so, so hoping I can get to read them soon too!
Currently…Listening
Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. You can find my Christmas Playlist here on Spotify. Yep still on Christmas. I’ve added some tracks and removed others but I’m still working through my Christmas playlist. I added a whole Christmas album on Thursday while at Centre 41 so I have some more random tracks on there like Gaudete by Steeleye Span. Although I seem to skip back to my favourites which are usually around Pentatonix or Amy Grant.
Currently…Making
I made a couple of other bits on Friday but now I’m focused on getting my temperature blanket done. We’ve got 18 days ish until the New Year so I need to get on with getting the squares finished. I got some done on the way to our Christmas gathering over the weekend which was good but it was too dark to crochet on the way home again. Having said that when I lined up the ones I had done I was three quarters through October.
I had two emails on Friday one of which I was half expecting and the other I was waiting for with anticipation. So I guess it’s a mixed bag.
I do feel better though. Last weekend, I’d carefully written some cards and wrapped some presents but I had lost one when I’d put it in a “safe” place and then couldn’t remember where I’d put it. I checked various places multiple times but still couldn’t find it. On Friday, I decided to try not to stress about it and hope and pray that it would show up. I checked a particular folder again just in case I really had missed it and there it was tucked in between two bits of paper! Thank goodness I found it.
Add to that, our short weekend trip to Dublin has been changed to Rome and I’m so stupidly excited. I haven’t had an Italian lesson since I was 17 but I’m determined to speak Italian while I’m there. I’ve been practicing a couple of phrases so I can blag my Italian skills even if I keep the phrase book to hand! My inner history nerd is also excited because I loved Ancient Roman history growing up too. SO EXCITED!!
Currently…Planning
More planning has been happening in my EC. It takes some getting used to and trying to get over the sort of white page-itis can be a real challenge some days but I’m getting there!
Currently…Loving
I was loving the cold weather but then is turned a bit warmer towards the end of last week which seems really strange. We’d gone from anywhere between minus figures and single digits to nearly twelve to fifteen degrees Celsius which is a hit crazy given it’s December.
What have you been up to currently? Have you been watching or reading anything in particular?
Technically I think it’s supposed to be Vlogmas but I’m doing Vlogmas! In the CRAZEE that is getting ready for Christmas I decided that writing might be a little easier. Hopefully I might just keep up! Here’s Blogmas!
This weekend was jam packed to the rafters so I’m just hoping I remember all that happened.
Starting Saturday morning, while I attempted to get some more sleep (haha!) Chris was playing with his phone next to me. Turns out he was looking at flights etc for our Dublin trip except it was cheaper and flights were more flexible for us to go to Italy for the weekend. Yeah! How exciting!
While Jaxon ate his breakfast, I attempted to make a start on some penpal letters that are going out before Christmas hopefully. I also had Cori’s (The Reset Girl) video playing in the background. She was talking about paper punches and all sorts of other bits. All very exciting! These are the cards that I’m hoping to send to my penpals. They are made by Tabitha Mary and are some of my current favourites. I can’t decide which is my actual favourite. Think I love them all! (I did have Bletchley Park as my desktop on the iMac for a while but that doesn’t come in one of the Christmas cards).
While we were getting ready to go out, the postman arrived with my December Brimbles Box. I had wanted to try and record an unboxing but I got all too excited and had to open my box before going out. That was fine but now means recording the unboxing might be a challenge, maybe a process video of some sort is needed instead. We’ll see.
This weekend was “Early Christmas” with the Uni Girls (and our families). Because Chris had to go to a rehearsal/setup meeting at part of the Christmas Carol Services at Woodside, we ended up getting a lift with Serena. I had forgotten to tell her how Jaxon shouts “Go!!” when he sees a green traffic light, so when we got to the lights near my house he shouted and she thought he was saying “No!!” I then explained and it became a bit of a game as to who could shout loudest.
Both Our Sidekick and Jaxon ended up napping in the car on the way but it meant that Serena and I could have a good catch up.
We had such a great time seeing everyone and even though Chris was late he wasn’t too late which meant we all got to hang out properly which was great. Part of the afternoon was spent opening presents which was great and so much fun.
I am so grateful for my presents. I got The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher as well as On The Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Kewey got me a bible verse picture so I think I will see if I can hang that in my “work” corner of the living room. Serena had got me this – so simple and yet so clever. The jar takes the ball of wool and you feed the working thread through the top and it stops the ball running away or getting in a knot. (Just need to get my temperature blanket finished now so I can try out the “gadget”).
Coming up over the next few weeks, I’m hoping to feature some of my favourite planner suppliers, this includes stickers, ephemera, stamps and other planner/journaling related goodies. Hopefully there will be social media links too so you can head over to find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as their websites and/or Etsy stores. You can find all the posts here.
This time I’m joined by Lucy and Mel from Stationery Geek. Lucy and I got chatting earlier in the year when I reviewed their Crochet Project Bible. I adore mine and although it’s been well loved and Jaxon-ed a few times it’s still works well and has helped me keep track of my temperature blanket all in one place! Anyway, here we go!
— See what I mean??
Hey, Thanks for joining in. So first up can you introduce yourself?
Hi, thanks for letting us take part. Lucy and Mel here, we have been working together around 18 months and we have discovered that we have quite a lot in common. We both live and work in York, both have a 6 year old child (Aston and Lily are two of our top product testers!) and of course we both LOVE stationery and all things crafty.
What inspired you to open an online store? Is it your main job or do you do it as well as a day job?
We actually work together at Exactis Interactive Print, a digital printers based in York. Stationery Geek has developed as another strand to the business with all of our products being designed, printed and packed in-house.
Lucy designed our first products, the My Diet Diary range, as an aid to her own healthy eating regime. As a self-confessed stationery addict, when she couldn’t find a diet journal with the content she wanted – she made her own. Stationery Geek has expanded from there and our system is pretty simple: we want something – we make it! After all, if we like something there must be other people out there who will like it too.
We specialise in niche items that are quite specific but can also be used in a variety of ways. By creating products that are tailored to our own interests we are able to include lots of extra details that simply wouldn’t be found in generic stationery.
Do you have a favourite product that you sell or something that you enjoy making the most?
At the moment we are both loving the Yule Log Book, our Christmas planner. Here at Stationery Geek HQ we are starting to get just a little bit excited about the festive season so it is great to be able record all of our lovely, Christmassy ideas and plans.
(Han: I think I need one of these in my life. I know where the Christmas present list is but need to track down my Christmas card list and get writing!)
Do you have any favourite Etsy/Online Shops for Planner/ Journaling related bits?
To be honest – no. One of the perks of working here is that we get to “test” all of our lovely stationery products, and if there’s a planner or notebook we need we simply make our own.
As a general rule we don’t tend to research other planners or stores selling stationery as we feel strongly that we want our products to be original and unique. Although we would never knowingly steal anyone else’s work or ideas it would be difficult not to be influenced by other items that we may see, so we avoid this altogether.
If you were to give one piece of advice to someone who is thinking of opening their own Etsy/Online Shop, what would that be?
Don’t worry about getting everything perfect at the beginning! There are always some teething troubles and sometimes you don’t know what is going to work until you try it. Just be flexible, take one step at a time and deal with any issues as they arise. Our website is very much a work in progress and we are constantly on the lookout for ways to improve and make things run smoothly for our customers (and ourselves).
Do you have any new products and/or offers on at the moment?
We are working on new products all the time, our newest item is the amazing Bloggers Bible. We often run special deals, competitions or giveaways – our Facebook page is regularly updated with details of these.
Technically I think it’s supposed to be Vlogmas but I’m doing Blogmas! In the CRAZEE that is getting ready for Christmas I decided that writing might be a little easier. Hopefully I might just keep up! Here’s Blogmas!
Today, I am joined by Nicole from The Mum Reviews, she is going to share how she uses planning to organise her blog. As you will see she’s more on the technology side of planning rather than paper based but it all works!
The Mum Reviews totally geeks out about using technology to plan and manage your blog
I started blogging last July when I decided I’d really like to share my thoughts about things I do with the kids, like days out and holidays. My husband was getting tired of listening to me pretending to be a newspaper critic, and I was tired of my sound opinions falling on deaf ears. So the original idea for my blog, The Mum Reviews, was to write reviews!
I wasn’t expecting to make money or receive free stuff to review. I just wanted to write about stuff I’d done anyway and share useful tips. However, once I started blogging, I realised I was completely clueless about blogging. Reading other people’s blogs inspired me to make more of my blog than just reviews, and it became a parenting blog where I share stories about my life and talk about issues that are important to me.
I love my blog as a creative outlet that allows me to express myself, and it’s even more rewarding when someone reads it and it makes them think, or feel less alone, or even (if I’m very lucky because I’m rubbish at comedy) laugh. But I have found that if I want to find those readers, I need to put a lot of work into it. And that’s where the planning comes in!
Planning my blog with tools I learned from the day job
My approach to planning my blog is adopted from my approach to planning in my day job as a production editor at a publishing company. Each project has any number of tasks to complete and these need to be completed in a specific order. A simplified version of this for publishing would be:
Copy-editing the manuscript
Typesetting
Proofreading
Printing
With lots of sub-tasks under each heading! So I think of blogging in much the same way. Each post is a project that requires a number of stages, such as:
Writing (obvs)
Taking photos
Editing photos
Sharing on social media channels
Putting on linkies
The tool I use for this is called Pivotal Tracker. I learned about it from my husband who is a software developer. Although it is specifically marketed at software developers, it is so useful and user-friendly for anyone who wants to manage projects. And it’s free for businesses with less than 3 employees – which is usually the case for bloggers.
The way it works is each task you have to do on a project is called a ‘Story’. You add a title to the story that describes the task, and there is also space to add further description and even attach a document. You assign between 0 and 4 points to indicated how much work you think is involved in the task.
As you work on a ‘Story’, you can add notes underneath anytime you make progress. So, for example, if my story was ‘Add blog post to awesome linky’, then after I add the post to the linky, I would comment on my story that I’d done so. I could also make a note of further work to be done, such as the need to complete the linky commenting requirements, and I could store a link to the linky there so that I could easily find it again.
When you’re finished with a ‘Story’ you ‘Deliver’ it. This part is more designed for if you’re collaborating with or working for someone else. If you were, the other person would be prompted to review your work and press the ‘Accept’ button. But as I’m working alone, I just deliver stories and accept them myself! The nice thing about this is you have a total record of everything you’ve done even after it’s complete.
So, in essence, Pivotal Tracker is just a glorified to-do list. But I love the enhanced ability to add notes, attachments and links, so that each item on your to-do list has all the information you need.
Using Google tools to make my blogging life easier
The other organisational tool I can’t live without is Google. It’s not just a search engine! For my blog and life, I use Google Calendar, Google Drive and Google Photos, and I love the way they allow me to switch seamlessly from my smartphone to my laptop. Everything is stored “on the cloud” so I can access it from anywhere on any device.
Google Calendar allows me to plan all of my life events and invite my husband to join in/be aware of different events. I love the way it has daily, weekly, monthly and schedule views. The schedule view is the best as it just shows what’s happening and when, cutting out any days where nothing is planned, and it automatically adds cute pictures. Like when I go to the dentist it puts a picture of a toothbrush. I know … nerd alert.
I know many people prefer paper diaries but those don’t work for me because I would forget to even look at it. With Google Calendar, it beeps at me and pops up on my phone so I can’t forget. Google even tells me when I need to leave in order to get somewhere.
Google Photos is amazing because it automatically backs up photos from my phone almost as soon as I take them. I can then access my photos from my laptop without having to sync or plug anything in. It has a brilliant editing feature and it also allows me to share directly to all of my social media accounts. And it’s easy to download photos to save elsewhere if I need to.
Google Drive is the document version of Google Photos. If you download the Google Drive app onto your computer, then you can save all your files to it in the same way you would save to the usual hard drive. You can then, once again, access them anytime on any device, either from your app or a normal web browser.
Are you convinced?
I’m often surprised by the wide range of planning and organisational tools bloggers do use. Despite being very modern by publishing stuff on the internet, many of them use paper diaries and journals to keep themselves on track, rather than technology. And I’m not judging them. I think it’s a very personal choice – you need to use what works for you and fits your personality. For me, I am forgetful and impulsive, so I love the way technology reminds me to do stuff and enables me to do stuff – immediately, whenever I fancy.
Here’s where you can find Nicole across the internet:
This morning started with recharging the car at McDonald’s. Chris took Jaxon for a walk while I sat in the car and knitted. It was just what I needed. Friday was a bit stressful. Then it was followed by the stress of the car etc yesterday meant I needed time on my own to relax a bit. Jaxon is on the go all the time at the moment and it can be exhausting sometimes. We went to Roy’s in Wroxham for lunch. I had a panini but would have preferred McDonald’s which was just around the corner in the same building.
At this point you can then adapt the name and slogan, colour scheme and icons. After you’ve made your edits and your happy with your final product you can choose download package. At one end you have the basic package that covers a low-resolution logo all the way up to the Enterprise version which has all the bells and whistles. You can find out all about it 
My normal go to drink when I'm out to eat is a Diet Cola or similar but Chris and I both went for fruit juice instead. I had a Tropical Juice (mango, apple and orange) and he had a Blueberry Spice (blueberry, apple and carrot with a taste of ginger). We both tried each others drinks but I definitely preferred my choice over his. The spice kind of reminded me of mulled wine and also the head on his juice tasted funny so maybe avoid that bit too. Jaxon was on a Kids Apple Juice which was the most amazing green colour (the top picture of the three doesn't do justice!). He practically drained his first glass in one go so it was good he had the second drink (or we would have got him water instead). 
I love the pianos in St Pancras. I ended up playing piano with a little girl there once. I’m not actually sure I can play anything else off heart other than Für Elise. One day I might remember to take a piece of sheet music to play when I get to the piano.
My 
