29th October - 4th November

This week I have been

Enjoying - the flame red colour of the leaves on the trees. There is a line of half a dozen of these trees in the car park near my place of work and they are a delight to see.

Loving - the fact our bathroom is another stage nearer completion. The lino was laid on Tuesday which means it's an awful lot warmer in there now. I really love the differing shades of grey and silver.

Having the floor down also meant that the new to us piece of furniture which has been sat in the dining room for the past couple of weeks could be put into place.
We found this pine child's size wardrobe on Gumtree for £35. The seller very kindly agreed to deliver to us for an extra £5. G painted it a shade called Stormy Blue and it's now home to our towels, bathroom cleaning products, loo roll and other odds and ends. Perfect.

Celebrating -Halloween with friends. This year we invited our friends G and M over with their two children J and G. S was in charge of helping them dish out the sweets to our treat or treat callers. It was a slow start to the evening but in the end I think we had somewhere between 70 and 80. 
S made these gruesome looking eyeballs for us all to eat

and whilst she did those I used a tube of black icing to paint faces onto marshmallows which I took in to work so we could have a sweet treat there too.

Trying - out a couple of new recipes for breakfast time. During the week it's always two Weetabix but come the weekend I want to have something a bit different. With G on the Slimming World regime I have been looking at ideas on various websites and baked oats is a firm favourite. I made these on Saturday morning, they are flavoured with lemon fat free Greek yogurt. I served them with a blob of jam and natural flavoured Greek yogurt. Warm from the oven they were lovely.

Then on Sunday I made this jammy dodger french toast inspired by sarah_sw_recipes on Instagram. I didn't put in enough cinnamon so I know to increase that the next time I do these. This really filled me up.

Going - out in our, new to us, car.
Yes we are car owners once again. I detest the whole looking for cars thing. Both G and I have zero knowledge when it comes to cars. We have been half heartedly looking for a few weeks but the time had come to make more of an effort. 
The result is that we are now KA owners.
We are in the incredibly lucky position of not needing a car to get us to work. With it just being the three of us these days we now don't need a larger family size car.
Most of the things we need to do can be accomplished (with a bit of forward planning) on foot, with public transport and online shopping, so it is a bit of a luxury having a car sat outside for the convenience of being able to pop out and get us from A to B when we need to do just that.
Considering all of these things we wanted to buy something small and cheap to run and fingers crossed this will fit the bill just nicely.

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. 

1st-9th September

This week I have been 

Reading - a Lidl magazine which was posted through the door. Liking the look of these cookie based bats for Halloween.

Cooking - a couple of new things. This turkey chilli was a huge hit and will definitely be made again. G has joined Slimming World and has lost 5lb in his first week. I'm in the process of working out weekly menu plans.

Feeling - proud and anxious on S's first day of the new academic year.

That first morning S was up before me and had a big smile on her face.

She wasn't quite as happy to be called out of bed the rest of the week!

Due to the problems she has had over the past year I was feeling more than a little anxious as the week progressed but I'm thrilled to say all went well.

Drinking - tea from my new teapot and cup.

T rang me on his way home from work. He is back working for a charity and is busy driving to different shops covering for staff holidays in other local branches.

He said he had bought me something he thought I would like. 

'I think you'll like it, it's a bit odd, but I think it's your kind of thing,' he said.

I like it very much and was really very touched that he thought of buying it for me.

Wondering - if it's too early to add the pumpkins to the mantle along with the toadstools.

Loving - my bargain Emma Bridgewater bat mug. Found in a local sale for 50p.

Watching - Strictly Come Dancing to see who got paired up with who and how they all performed in that first team dance. 

Visiting - a windmill for Open Heritage weekend.

This windmill is just a 5 minute drive away from us and yet we've never taken S here. When we got there they were conducting tours but we had just missed the start of one so we wandered off to a stroll in the woods. When we got back the sails were turning and the tours had ended so we sat and enjoyed watching the windmill in motion whilst sipping hot chocolate.

Enjoying - crossing a couple of jobs off the long to do list. I painted the skirting board in the bathroom so now we are one step closer to getting the flooring down and having a room finished. Such a good feeling.

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.

Malcolm

Last week we had to say goodbye to our beloved Malcolm.
He wasn't at all well during Sunday night and G took him to the vets first thing Monday morning.
He had blood tests. They thought it may be his thyroid but that came back all clear.
Could be the start of an infection they said.
They also mentioned a possible issue with his heart.
He had a injection.
He was not himself Monday or Tuesday.
Wednesday he seemed a little better and ate breakfast which something more like his usual enthusiasm for food.
But Thursday he took a turn for the worse and we needed an emergency appointment at the vets.
S decided she wanted to come with me and I prepared her as best I could for what was likely to happen. She was incredibly brave.
I held Malcolm close and talked to him as he went to asleep and we were given a few minutes alone with him afterwards.
Loving them as much as we do we make that decision because we can't let them suffer and that's the thing you have to keep reminding yourself when you are missing them so very much.

Captain of the Carpathia

What a wonderful afternoon wander I had today.

And the thing which made it even nicer was, unexpectedly, being joined by T.

I must admit I didn't divulge just how far we would be walking, it wasn't actually that far, but if I had told him what I planned he wouldn't have got out the car!

14th May is the birth date of Arthur Rostron.

Sir Arthur was the captain of the RMS Carpathia and when on 15th April the ship received a distress call from RMS Titanic he ordered the Carpathia to head towards the Titanic and by doing this they were able to save the lives of just over 700 people.

We parked by St James church

and walked along the road to the house Captain Rostron lived in.
The house is called Holmecroft and is situated at the top of Chalk Hill.
The house is screened from the road by lots of mature greenery.

At the bottom of Chalk Hill is a relatively new collection of housing which has been named Rostron Close.

Our route back to the car was a circular one and just before we reached it we stopped off at the burial ground which is linked to the church where we found the final resting place of Captain Rostron.

James, Fred, Irving and Florence

We've had the chalk out again, this time it was for marking the birth of J.M Barrie on 9th May.

G  drew me a set of fairy wings and a wand so I could pretend to be Tinkerbelle from Peter Pan.

Thursday and Friday were rolled into one with the viewing of a truly dreadful movie called Blue Skies. This movie was selected for Fred Astaire's birthday on 10th and Irving Berlin's birthday on 11th.
Irving Berlin wrote some wonderful songs but the threadbare story which was used to string them together in this film was uninspiring to say the least.

Another birthday for 12th. 
I'm sure you can guess from this photo whose it was.
A lady with a lamp.
Yep, it's Florence Nightingale.

Today is Hummus Day and I had bought the ingredients to try making my own for S and I to have for lunch, but she was invited for a sleepover last night and didn't come home until early afternoon. They will keep and I'll do it another time.

To finish off here is a photo of S after she came home from youth club on Thursday having just become this year's Duck Race Champion.

Running....

.....out of time to blog.

..... to catch up with myself.

...... as in proper running, in proper trainers and getting all proper hot and sweaty.

Surprisingly all the above apply to me during this past week.

Of course the running out of time one isn't any real surprise but I should explain more about the proper running.

G and I decided that enough is enough.

We are both overweight and not very fit.

Regular exercise in some form or another needed to be introduced into our lives.

With a little help from Mr Google I found a 12 week plan on the NHS website.

What attracted me to this was the way it's set up.

It's a combination of the Couch to 5K programme and a set of Strength and Flex exercises.

It's a gentle start on week one to get you going and then each week gradually builds towards upping your fitness level.

We are right at the start, just two days left of week 2, but so far so good.

And I love it that we are doing this together.

So there we have it.

Having to make the commitment to finding the half an hour needed each day of either the Couch to 5K or the exercises has meant that blog time (writing and reading and commenting) has had to take a back seat. As has the ironing, shame that.

I'm sure I'll get the balance right at some point.

Before I get myself changed for tonight's exertions here is a round up from the past week.

Do you remember the scene in Grease when Rizzo throws a pink milkshake over Kenickie and says 'to you from me Pinky Lee'. Click here to remind yourself if you don't.

Pinky Lee refers to a comic who had his own show in the 1950s and his birthday date is 2nd May. As I love Grease so much I had to go with this film reference and so I wore a pink milkshake brooch.

Thursday 3rd was Garden Meditation Day. I haven't a photo to show me sat quietly enjoying being outside in the garden but I do have a photo of our new fence.
One of our neighbours had a huge pile of planks of wood and decking that he no longer wanted. G asked him if he could take it off his hands. Of course came the answer and so during the past couple of weeks G and our neighbour's daughter K have used it to construct 3 new fences between our gardens.
They are a bit cobbled together and have a certain rustic charm to them but they are perfectly adequate and they are very proud with their handy work with wood which would have otherwise been scrapped.

May 4th is, of course, Star Wars day.
Behold three slightly wonky looking Wookies.
You may remember that this Chewbacca headband was G's table present last Christmas. I knew it would come in handy at some point!

The wonderful Richard E Grant celebrated his birthday on 5th May. I know, without a shadow of doubt, G would have chosen to watch Withnail and I but as he was at work I went with watching Twelfth Night which also tied in with Shakespeare's birthday the week before.

On Sunday we were up bright and early to go to the first car boot of the year. It's a little later than normal but the wet weather meant that the field has been too muddy.
As it turned out the field was still too muddy.
To get to the car boot you need to travel down a long twisty road and as we approached it we saw a ridiculously long queue of traffic. 
Temporary traffic lights we thought, but with the help of Facebook G was able to ascertain that people were getting stuck in the mud and needed to be towed off site by a tractor. Later on in the day we saw someone we knew who told us they had sat in the traffic queue for an hour before they arrived at the booty. 
Once we found out the conditions I turned the car round and we went for a walk in the woods instead.

Sunday was Beverage Day and many varieties of drink were consumed to keep up our liquid levels on such a hot day. Tea, coffee and squash mainly as although I had planned on opening the home made sangria we were given at Easter to have with our evening meal I forgot. I blame the heat.

On Monday I woke up with a hideous headache, so it was just as well I hadn't opened the sangria as it could have been even worse.
Monday was Cosmopolitan Day but I couldn't contemplate alcohol so G made us a delicious strawberry and banana smoothie to enjoy instead.
I spent most of the day in the garden, first off planting up some geraniums and then just lounging around. I had a million things I could have done but decided my time would be best spent doing nothing.

For VE Day on Tuesday I turned to my Marguerite Patten Victory cookbook and baked eggless chocolate buns which we enjoyed with custard.

In other news S is still continuing with her therapy sessions and although they are hard work they are making a difference.
Excitement levels are growing on a daily basis as S's trip to Paris edges nearer.
G and I have booked a night away in Somerset whilst she'll be away having fun.
T is still job hunting, he has had a couple of interviews but no success as yet.
Last weekend marked the fourth anniversary of when he lost his beloved brother L, always such an incredibly difficult time.
Malcolm cat was chased by the dog of one of our neighbours.
They never put them on leads when they take them out of the house to load them in the car to take them for a walk, one of them spotted Malcolm and that was that, he went off after him and the owner couldn't get control of him. Luckily Malcolm was quicker and more nimble but I was fuming at their lack of responsibility.
Melvin cat has been unwell and had to spend a couple of days in the vets. Fingers crossed he is now well again. One afternoon he decided that the way to lay was with his paws between a watermelon and the wicker fruit basket. He stayed like this for ages and then rolled over so his head was resting against the melon like it was a pillow.

That's all for now, I'm off to get my trainers on.