5th - 11th November

A short post this week as the end of it got a little weird.

This week I have been

Watching - Rocky trying to adjust to wearing his cone. He had the snip last week.

I took him back to the vets today, all is healing well and he's allowed outside once again.

Celebrating - with a sparkler. G's sister's birthday is on 5th November. As you can tell from the photo this year was a special one for her. 
Family friend L (along with her son, daughter and son's girlfriend) created a wonderful two tiered bonfire cake and they also made this Guy and box of fireworks. Included were a set of mini sparklers, one for each guest at her celebratory birthday meal.

Trying - to look fierce with the help of these fangs. On November 8th 1847 Bram Stoker was born, so with the help of these photo booth props left over from Halloween we channeled our inner vampire.

Extraordinarily Grateful - to our wonderful NHS. 
When I woke up yesterday morning G told me he had been awake for a few hours with chest pains. What kind of pains I wanted to know. Not worrying pains he said. 26 years ago he had a viral infection which affected the pericardium and he said it felt similar. So he rang 101 for advise. They said because the pain had been there for a few hours they were sending an ambulance to check his heart. It arrived shortly afterwards and an ECG was done. The results were leaning towards another incidence of pericarditis but they took him to hospital so he could be thoroughly checked and the option of a heart attack ruled out. Thankfully after having various tests and seeing a cardiologist this was indeed the conclusion so 12 hours later I collected him from the hospital. He has some medication and needs to rest. 
Here's to a less dramatic week ahead.

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.

Rest of June Round Up

My last post was just over a fortnight ago.

That wasn't part of my plan for June.

Then again when do things go to plan?

Everyone's ok but I'd be fibbing if I were to say that the last two weeks chez Jumble and Jelly have been plain sailing!

Enough of all that though, let's take a peek at some other news.

After a little discussion me, G and S have booked to go away to Amsterdam for 4 nights in early August.

Excited? 

You bet.

Amsterdam has been on my wish list for ages.

I went to the library and took out some books.

One is on self guided walks around the city and also for places such as Delft and Haarlem. We're not quite sure yet where else we will visit but Haarlem is definitely high on the list.

We need to go places and do things of interest to all 3 of us.

Last week I took S to Cambridge for her annual eye check up. The day was a hot, long one made all the more tolerable for S for our stop off at Five Guys so she could have one of their milkshakes.
The check up showed a minuscule cataract in S's left eye. It's something which can happen at an early age because of the condition she has, but it's nothing to worry about and is not likely to grow or require surgery for years and years.

My 90 day chuck out challenge failed after I reached 30 days. It started well enough when I had a really good clear out from our bedroom drawers and then went through the kitchen cupboards. I'm not too bothered as I regularly send items off to the charity shop. We may get a little cluttered at times but I'm not a hoarder.

A few weeks ago one of my school friends posted details on Facebook of an open evening at our old secondary school.

The reason for this special event is our school will soon be no more.

It's going to be demolished, it needed too much money to maintain the poor state it was in and so it was cheaper to construct a new one, which has been built on the school sports field.

The site the current school is standing on will then be converted into a sports area. 

Eventually.

The thing was the event was being held between 4 and 6.

How disappointing, many wanted to go but those hours are when lots are at work or travelling home from work.

Then just a few days beforehand they extended it by an hour until 7pm.

Hurrah.

I didn't want to pass up the opportunity of one last wander down those corridors and luckily neither did R, so he and I went together.

This is the door to my English classroom.

Our teacher used to have the girls and boys line up separately along here before going into class.

So many memories from just this one spot.

I left in 1984 and as you would expect during that time things have changed, but not as much as you may think.

Words can not describe how familiar it felt to once again be walking down the staircase (in what was known back then as the 'new block') as if I had just finished my maths lesson.

I will never forget that feeling.

Somewhere I hadn't set foot for over 30 years and yet it felt like I'd been there only yesterday.

We saw half a dozen others from our year group, the last time we had seen each other was the reunion last September.

We reminisced some more, took more photos and marveled over the fact our former headteacher was also visiting that evening and looking extremely sprightly at 86.

We had an entertaining afternoon out one Saturday in Eastleigh at their annual arts day.

The group of four acrobatic dancers showed such controlled strength as they threw themselves around this cage during their performance.

I loved watching the group of women all dressed in grey perform together. They are called Ceyda Tanc Dance and you can read about them and watch videos here. It was so inclusive, women of all ages and physical ability joined together in one rhythmic gathering, it was entrancing to watch.

Our favourite was definitely the couple on the left from Glasshouse dance who performed a classic boy meets girl tale with a twist or two along the way.

At the end they encouraged the audience to join them and dance along to Love Train. 

Some resolutely refused to get up and dance, I have to say that when the female performer approached me I jumped up and was happy to bop away with them. It seemed like the polite thing to do seeing they had entertained us so well.

I'm still settling into being at work for four days.

I have been trying to get a better handle on shopping and meal planning.

When the children were little it was so much easier.

Now with T sometimes being in for meal times and sometimes not, which can mean an hour before dishing up he'll say 'yes I'll be here to eat with you' and then suddenly his plans have changed, or saying he won't be in and then turning up, it seems I need to have an unending supply of meals which can instantly be adapted to suit.

And do you know what, I don't a limitless supply of food, time, money or patience to cater for each scenario and I've been finding it quite frustrating.

I am cooking from scratch so much less these days and I don't like that either as I have always tried to provide my family with a variety of foods. Then again I suppose this is just another change that our family is going through as the children are growing and doing more outside the home.

Only a couple of days left in June now but just enough so I can finish my posts for the month. If things go to plan of course.

2 Days Off

I've just had two days off and spent quite a lot of my time on various trains.

Once a year I have to take S to Cambridge for a check up with the specialist eye unit based at Addenbrooke's. 

It's a long day involving 3 trains, 2 tubes and one bus.

We've done the trip 4 times now and so know our route pretty well.

We go prepared. 
When S was younger we would take sticker books and colouring books and this Shaun the Sheep book. As well as having a couple of stories it also contains 2 very basic games which we must have played hundreds of times on these and various other journeys over the years.
When S sorted out her book shelves this week this book was one she decided she no longer wanted. I must admit to feeling a little sad but hopefully when it goes off to the charity shop it will be bought by another family and enjoyed by them just as much.

G doesn't work Fridays and so he proposed we spend my second day off out and about somewhere together.

Bearing in mind we needed to be back in time for the end of the school day we needed somewhere within reasonable travelling distance.

The lure of a newly recommended vinyl record shop provided the idea for our destination in the end.

We took the train to Fratton.

I wouldn't recommend Fratton as a day out destination, there isn't very much on offer. Although we didn't really venture very far from the main high street, who knows there may have been some real architectural gems just waiting for us a street or two away. The vinyl shop was a bit of a let down too, lots of the stock was at a much higher price than G has seen in other places.
We did make a couple of purchases each in a Barnardos charity shop. G has two new shirts and I have a new tshirt and skirt. Like I need anymore clothes, but at £1.49 each I found them hard to resist.

A plus point for Fratton is that it's right next door to Southsea. In fact it's next to a part of Southsea we've never really explored before.
I was fascinated by all the buildings and array of housing we saw. Lots and lots of terraced houses but loads of huge detached Victorian villas, semi detached houses with attic rooms and cellars and all with such different features. If someone was organising a walking tour of the architecture in Southsea I'd be first in the queue to go.
One thing which was in abundance was original stained glass. 

Another thing Southsea has a lot of is pubs, it seemed there was one on every street corner. Naturally we went into one for our lunch, The Bold Forester, in case you were wondering. 
And churches, that's something else they have a lot of, it seemed there were nearly as many of those as there were pubs.

G ended up finding another vinyl shop and bought not 1, not 2 but 3 albums from off of his wish list. He was really chuffed with that little haul.

I found a car which looked like Mater

and at one point I may have said a bit too loudly and excitedly, 'oh my god there's a Tardis across the road.'

Grateful

Way back in November a small spot appeared on S's top lip. During December I had to take T to the doctor as he had hurt his ankle and S had had to come along with me and so I asked the doctor to cast her eye over the spot as it had begun to grow a bit bigger.

A small cyst which would probably burst and sort itself out she declared.

Slowly it continued to grow but it didn't burst. It was uncomfortable but not painful. I took S back to the doctor in February and he said he would refer us on to a maxillofacial specialist at the NHS hospital.

A few weeks into waiting for the initial consultation the spot had turned into what looked like a huge blood blister and one day it burst and bled. And boy did it bleed. G rang the hospital to see how the appointment making process was going only to be told they hadn't received the referral letter from our surgery. Although for the majority of the time all was ok, occasionally S would scratch her lip, or catch it when she was changing her clothes and the bleeding would start again. I was called into school twice in 3 days because of it.

G decided that we needed to take the situation into our own hands and he made an appointment at a private hospital. Let me say at this point we don't have private health care.

On Tuesday last week G took S for her consultation where he was told she had an  oral granuloma. Since the bleeding it had dramatically reduced in size and swelling but the doctor assured G that without treatment it would grow again and then burst and the cycle would carry on repeating itself.

On Thursday I took S to have the very quick freezing procedure she needed.

On hand to help during the procedure was Nuffy Bear and as his t-shirt shows he is a Very Important Bear as he sat on S's lap and she held onto him very tightly indeed.

I am grateful for the fact that although in this instance we didn't get to use the facilities of the NHS hospital, the option was there. The health care that S has received (and will continue to receive) since we became a family has been incredible.

I am grateful that although we had an eye watering bill to settle, in this instance, we were able to go with an option which has meant that since G made his decision everything was dealt with swiftly and S is now happy to look in the mirror and hopefully won't have to sit out of class or be sent home and miss school which she loves.

And after watching Comic Relief on Friday and the horrendous health issues for children and their families in Africa I was incredibly grateful again and again and again. 

Here is the girl herself all dressed up for school Friday morning complete with red nose. The theme was 'go dressed 1980's style' so we decided bright colours was the way to go. We had gone through S's wardrobe earlier in the week and chosen what she was going to wear but that morning she asked me 'Mum, could you help me get dressed for today like the olden days.'
Olden days!!!!!!!
The 80's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Surely the olden days should be something more like the Victorian era, not when Wham! and Culture Club were doing their thing!

Days 25-29

I'm not managing the post a day I wanted to do over the summer holiday but I am (kind of) keeping up with what we've been up to.

Back to Thursday we go now. 

Thursday was the day we always get during the break. A day of whinge and whine. A day of needling each other for no good reason.  A day when nothing can really be enjoyed 'just because'.

So this seemed the perfect time, when it came round to the evening, to try a gin and tonic. I don't drink a great deal of alcohol but there are a few drinks I would like to sample and this was one of them.

Never again.

I asked G if he had ever tried a G&T and he said he had, but he didn't like it as it was like drinking shampoo. I wished I had listened.

It was vile.

Friday was a much nicer day.
We took the ferry over to Hythe, we went in March last year and had a really good day and thought it was probably time for another visit.

S's new Meerkat was given prime window watching position in the little train which you can take along the pier.

It was such a beautiful day as this photo of the bunting along the water's edge proves

and I thought the bunting on the freezer cabinets in Waitrose was very eye catching too!

This was the perfect spot for us to sit and enjoy our ice creams

before we headed to the playground where after about 20 minutes it started to rain.

Which only added to the day because we got to see a, albeit very faint, rainbow.

Whilst waiting for the ferry G pointed out this message carved into one of the planks on the pier  

and next to it shows that thankfully....

As we were returning to Southampton a much larger vessel was leaving, the Queen Victoria.

No photos from Saturday as it was a day spent tidying. G wanted to clear out the attic so we did a trip to the charity shop with items we no longer needed/wanted and then we all lazed around as it was so hot and humid.

Sunday was even hotter but we had decided we were going out regardless. Just a few weeks ago we had been to Manor Farm for a WW2 event and they this weekend they were holding a Victorian Whodunnit event.

There were four woman in Victorian dress who we had to interview to try and work out who had stolen the church silver. T REALLY got into it and it was he who confronted the thief and she confessed all!
This was a note written by one of the suspects, left for us to read as evidence.

There were a couple of things we saw this time that we missed on our last visit. The pantry door was open so of course a photo had to be taken as I knew I wouldn't be the only one who would want to see.

I was wondering if this had anything to do with the Wartime Farm series which is being filmed at here.

My three most favourite pictures of the day, after the ones of the piggies.
My dream garden door complete with hollyhocks.

Free range chickens in the cottage garden.

A little robin who was flitting around the picnic tables seeing what he could find.

No photos from Monday. 
We spent 3 hours at the eye hospital for one of S's appointments and followed that with an impromptu meet with another lovely blogger. The plan was then to make our way into town to do some shopping but T received a text from school friends asking him to meet up with them elsewhere so I let him go off with them and took S to the park where she just happened to see two friends from school. So whilst she was off playing I got to chat to another adult for a while and everyone was happy. Result.