15th - 21st October

This week I have been

Wearing - a little blue combo of a crown patterned top and a bunting strewn cardigan after the pregnancy of the Duchess of Sussex was announced.

Feeling - a little blue at times too. Wednesday was the birthday of T's brother L who passed away a couple of years ago. When the children were little this would have meant a day trip to London for us all to catch up. Now being older and mobile T drove himself up to Norwich, staying for two nights to see his birth siblings and spend time with them.


Trying - not to succumb to the temptation of snuffling a cake (or two) on Chocolate Cupcake day and so deciding to go down the brooch route instead.

Grateful for - the comments left on my last post which contained messages hoping we were all over our various bugs. Much appreciated.

Watching - The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. G and I have watched 3 episodes of this so far and we are hooked. It's written by the creators of The Gilmore Girls and I loved that long series so it's really no surprise we are enjoying this one.
Rocky adores Graham and ignores me most of the time, but whilst we were watching this TV show last night it seems my lap was the spot he preferred. Look at the size of his feet!

Eating -  steak and chips. Can't remember the last time I ate steak. We are lucky enough to work near some fab bars and restaurants and so a little gathering was organised for after work midweek. What a treat. 

Loving -  this late Autumn sunshine. To make the most of it the 3 of us took ourselves out for a walk on Saturday.
We took the train to Shawford and then walked the 3 miles along the Itchen Navigation trail into Winchester.

Over the years we had done various sections of this trail, which takes you past some beautiful river views, 

and this time we also took in St Catherine's hill. A walk up the hill is on the agenda for another day.

Hoping -  for a little colour in the front garden come the colder months after I potted up this colander and a terracotta planter with winter pansies. 

10th - 16th September

This past week I have been

Listening - to the cricket and hearing Alistair Cook's final innings for England. The test series between England and India this summer made for such thrilling listening and it was made all the more entertaining by the sensational TMS team.

Wearing - a new to me blouse. Bought at the car boot for £1.00 this pretty lightweight long sleeve blouse is perfect for layering on these not quite summer, not quite autumn days.

Spending - a CK voucher I was given for my birthday last year. Can't believe this stayed unspent for so long when there are so many things I love in that shop. But then maybe that's the reason, just what to spend it on when there is so much I'd like. I finally plumped for this sailing boat bag.
Loving the look of disdain on Rocky's face as I use him to model it for me!

Going -  on a night away to Weymouth. This little trip was part of my birthday gift from G. 

G had booked us into a lovely Air BnB property which was a 10 minute stroll from the centre of town. 

As we walked along the front we looked at all the hotels and BnBs on offer. Some places looked very unappealing, dead flowers in plant pots and plastic woodland creatures stuck to walls were two of the things which did not enhance the kerb appeal and then others had little touches like this bunting hanging over threshold and it just made the world of difference.

Feeling - nostalgic for holidays of my childhood when we came across this row of holiday chalets. Love the very CK colours they have been painted in.

Eating - ice cream from Rossi's. I chose the natural flavour whilst G went for the peppermint and chocolate chip. So light and creamy. Delish.

Cooking - on Thursday I cooked a chicken curry using coconut yogurt for the sauce instead of coconut milk and as both G and S liked it that's one new recipe which will find it's place in the new weekly menu. G has lost another 5lb this week and there are many more new recipes still to try.

Walking - around Weymouth trying to see as much as possible during our weekend stay. The area around the harbour was very picturesque.

Hoping - the car was going to pass it's MOT but knowing that it was quite unlikely.

We will now be on the look out for a new one.

Reading - Five Quarters of the Orange. Another Joanne Harris book which did not disappoint. I wasn't sure I was going to like this one but in the end I couldn't put it down and so having lots of train travelling time was a real help.

August

So here we are at the end of August. 
Just another couple of days left before that first day of school feeling hits and S stands by our front door for the traditional photo shoot and heads off on the start of a new academic year.

The weather has been good during the summer break. S has been out and about meeting up with friends at local parks, she's been to the cinema a couple of times, mooched around town, been trampolining, met my mum for lunch, had friends to stay and gone on a sleepover.
Plus in the middle of the holidays we had our own holiday when we took the Eurostar to Belgium.

I have well and truly fallen out of the blogging habit this month which is a shame as it meant I have missed the 10th anniversary of when I started recording our lives here at Jumble and Jelly. Although I don't post as regularly now as I did when the children were younger I can't imagine stopping because it's so lovely having a record of us and the things we do.

I am borrowing an idea I have seen on Pinterest and decided to write a round up of August using a series of prompts. An idea I can see me taking forward into the next decade of blogging.

This month I have been

Reading 

A French Affair by Katie Fforde. I took this away with me and read most of it on the train journey to and from Brussels. I wanted something which would be light and easy to read and I thought the title was very apt seeing as we had to travel through France.

How did it take me until I was 50 to read this book. I loved it. L-O-V-E-D it.

Watching


Serendipity, a fluffy rom com with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale as 18th August was Serendipity Day.

and Forgetting Sarah Marshall as it was Mila Kunis' birthday on 14th August.

Trying

To make a jelly in a seaside sandcastle bucket for Sandcastle Day. 
But the darn thing didn't fully set and ended up a quivering heap on the plate!

Cooking

I made lemon rice pudding meringue as a nod to Lemon Juice Day.
I made S some macaroni cheese and bacon sandwiches.
I also made honeycomb lasagne and ham and mustard hash. The lasagne will be making another appearance but the hash won't as although G liked this S didn't.

Eating

We made sure we included raspberries in our picnic lunch in Antwerp as this was the closest we could get for Raspberries and Cream Day.

Belgian fries. G liked them, S and I weren't that fussed. But the waffles. Well what can I say, we all loved those.

Drinking

Watermelon Day was on 3rd August and so I made sure to have some in to make a smoothie with it. I know this should probably be obvious because of it's name but I didn't enjoy it in a smoothie as it made it too, well, watery!

Doing

Silly things with my lovely daughter. It may not look it in this photo but she was laughing as much as me and G whilst we were posing for this!

Going

To Belgium. We stayed in Brussels and had day trips to Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges. We had a great time and I would thoroughly recommend a trip to Belgium to anyone considering it. 

One evening a couple of weeks ago we met up with some with friends and we took ourselves off to a local green where we enjoyed fish and chips for our tea. Their younger children played with S and we sat around chatting about this and that. A perfect way to unwind after a day at work and spend a relaxing summers evening.

On a great clue solving day out to Lymington. The treasure trail took us around the town as we worked our way through the puzzles. We got the answer wrong, but we didn't care as we had great fun trying to solve the mystery.

Loving

Rocky.

Let me introduce you to the latest member of our family.
He's 18 months old and needed a new home. How could we resist?
He was already named Rocky and of course we had to keep it but within a day or so we were calling him Rocky Road. Due to the fact he is always around your feet, especially when you are trying to walk down the stairs he is now being called Rocky Road Trip Hazard.

Feeling

Annoyed is how I was feeling a week or so ago after I discovered that now S's school will only allow girls to wear on of two 'official' style skirts I am expected to pay out £22.50 to purchase one.
The reason this new school uniform rule is being introduced is because other girls were wearing skirts which were too short and didn't comply with the rules. So now the school have decided that all girls have to wear one of the skirts they deem as acceptable. Never mind that many girls did wear skirts which were within the uniform guidelines. It makes me so cross.

Wearing

A dress which matched S's drink

and a bottle green scarf in homage of Word Scout Scarf Day.

Thankful.

This month marked the 10th anniversary of when we lost our dearest Dad. It feels utterly impossible that so long has passed since then. I still miss his dreadfully but will ever be thankful that he was my Dad.


Wondering

If I would find a lion suitable to photograph on World Lion Day and then finding this smiling face on a door not far from the apartment we were staying in.

Listening

I bought this Shaky album for 1 Euro whilst we were in Ghent. Bargain I'd say.
We used the cover for this year's take on Vinyl Record Day.
And in case you are wondering, yes that's me knelt against the washing line support in our back garden.

Although it hasn't happened as yet, in actual fact we're off to it tomorrow evening, G and I will be listening and warbling away when we go to Sing Along with Grease. Can't wait, what a way to end the month.

Other Stuff

G has been bitten by the wood construction bug.

I showed him a picture on Pinterest of a wooden pallet converted into a planter and within an hour he had created one from a pallet we had in the garden.

Can you see the sink?

Our bathroom is slowly being decorated and updated and we saved the old sink to use as a mini pond in the garden.

From old bits of pieces of fencing a neighbour was chucking out G has made this little shelter for his bike. The long stick on the left was bought back home by T years ago after we all went out for a walk and it's lovely it's been incorporated in the design.

There is another new fence.

This one is 3 quarters of the way down the garden and is screening bottom section of the garden.

We have two of these garden storage boxes, which you can make out through the slats in the fence, but this forms a nicer barrier between the grassed and graveled parts of the garden.

It's not just the back garden G has been busy, he has also built a fence along the wall in the front garden to corral all our bins together.

So as you can see we've been busy at home, but there has still been the odd jaunt out.

Love the original art work used to advertise a church fete we popped along.

Reminiscent of the old railway posters.

We had a lovely walk to the church and came home with two jigsaws

Two books read, both which has been on my bookshelf for the longest time. I've never read a Mavis Cheek book which I didn't enjoy.

This one of Katie Fforde's was more enjoyable than the last couple of her I've read and I think it may be because it's not such a recent publication.

A £1.00 sale rail at a charity shop turned up trumps for me with this top which will be perfect for work come the cooler weather. It's sheer so will need a t-shirt underneath and so will we good for layering.

S and I went to Cambridge for her annual eye check up. All is well.
We got caught up in severe delays from Waterloo on the way home and didn't get in until 11.45 which made for a very long day indeed.

G was working until 10pm on the longest day. 
We lit candles, sipped Bailey's and gazed at the stars.

On Saturday we went to Eastleigh Unwrapped. We've been going to this free arts festival for a few years now and it's always a great day out.
Our highlight this year was the Happy Feet show of 100 dances in 100 minutes.
Participation was entirely necessary when you had Elvis leading the conga!

Not the best photo as G took it from a distance but here are S and me doing the macarena.

A new addition to my dresser is this jug I bought whilst we were out on Saturday.
It has an Emma Bridgewater look to it and looks fab with my EB heart cup and saucer, but there aren't any markings on the bottom so I have no idea where it originally came from.

Food and Drink

I made a mistake with the date for this first one. 

I thought that it was held on 2nd June but in fact the 1st June is Doughnut Day.

This is my take on it and yes I know it looks nothing like a doughnut, but bear with me.

A hole is cut from the middle of the crumpet thus making it resemble a ring doughnut!

That's my excuse for trying this concoction for Saturday morning breakfast.

The crumpet is very lightly fried in a couple of squirts of that one cal spray and then an egg is gently tipped into the hole in the centre.

I got this breakfast idea from Emily who posts on Instagram under What I Ate For Breakfast.

If you love eggs and breakfast and eggs for breakfast then you'll need to follow her posts.

We then hop along to 5th June and my take on Sausage Roll Day. These are Higgidy feta and red pepper rolls and they are delicious. I bought some to include in my picnic lunch when I went to Osborne House and the rest went in the freezer ready to be enjoyed in the park on my lunch break.

The following day (6th June) was Apple Sauce Cake Day and if you click on that link it will take you to the recipe I used to bake this beauty. So quick and easy and one of the most delicious cakes I've ever baked. The recipe suggests using cinnamon but S isn't keen so I just used mixed spice instead. We use golden granulated sugar at home and I think this helped give the cake an extra boost in flavour.

We now skip to Sunday 10th June and Iced Tea Day. I looked at making my own but there was so much differing info about whether it should be hot or cold infused and to add sugar or sugar syrup that in the end I just bought some.

At least I knew I was going to like that!

For World Meat Free Day I made myself and G these Marmite and mushroom tarts from details posted by another Instagrammer kateveggiedesserts. G doesn't like Marmite so I didn't tell him it was included, it just enhanced the flavour. Next time I shall add some cheese.

We're round to another weekend and with Saturday 16th June being Fudge Day there was only one choice of ice cream for me to go for when G and I went out, clotted cream with fudge pieces.

Yes it was as good as it sounds.

June 19th was Cherry Tart Day and as this day was taken up with travelling to and from Cambridge for S's annual eye check up I took the easy route of wearing cherries.

20th June was Ice Cream Soda Day. I can't remember the last time I had one of these although I do quite clearly remember the first time I had one when I was a child and we were visiting family friends.

I loved it then but I'm not so keen now.

June posts have got a little out of sync for one reason and another and a couple of days have been missed so I must just pop the adorable duo of Melvin and Malcolm onto the end of this one.

4th June was officially Hug Your Cat Day but to be honest most days in our home called be given that title.