22nd - 28th October

This week I have been

Dancing - to the Bay City Rollers.

Well these days the only original Roller in the band is lead singer Les McKeown.

I went to see them on S A T U R D A Y night (if you know their songs you'll know why I spelled it that way!) with my sisters, it was part of their birthday gift to me.

I had an amazing time.

To be dancing away to all my favourite songs whilst Les McKeown was on stage singing them was just the best.

I was lucky enough to find this fabulous transfer on E-bay which made just the most perfect t-shirt.

Making - a new necklace. This was an illustration from the front of a vintage sewing pattern. I just love her hairstyle.

Wearing - it was Pumpkin Day on Friday and so there was only one choice of brooch.

Eating - to carry on with the pumpkin theme I made us pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. S wasn't keen but G and I enjoyed ours with yogurt, fruit and a drizzle of maple syrup. Delicious and really filling.

Reading - a Christmas book. Saturday afternoon I was in the mood for something festive. I had a few books on my shelf to choose from and went for this one as it looked like a short read. It certainly was as I finished it on Sunday afternoon. By this time I had been out and bought myself another new Christmas mug, it was only 50p from a charity shop so how could I have resisted?

Watching - The Bishop's Wife. It was Elsa Lanchester's birthday on 28th October which provided us with the perfect opportunity for another viewing of this superb movie.


Celebrating - my sister's birthday on 24th. She knew about two of the items of clothing as she had chosen those herself but everything else was a surprise. As you probably remember we spend £10 and all items must come from a car boot or charity shop.
All of these items come to £9.97 in total.
The mug, Gisela Graham mini heart dish and the cupcake decoration were all £1 each. The coaster, cushion cover and paper decorations were 50p each.

This long length grey and pink cardi which originally came from New Look was £1 and was one of the things C has picked out.

The hand made top on the left was one of my favourite buys for her, it reminded me of a gingerbread house! This was £1.

The plain grey jumper was the second item she had chosen and was 50p.

The red glass dish was 50p.

The snowflake jumper was £1, the book was 10p, the jug was 50p and the white deer brooch was new and 87p.

17th - 23rd September

This week I have been 

Listening -  to Second Thoughts on Radio 4 extra as I walk to and from work. I loved the series which ITV made although I have no recollection of the series Faith in the Future which followed on from it. 

Cooking - more new recipes. The syn free carbonara was a hit with all of us.
Yes I can confirm the rare occurrence of us all eating and enjoying the same meal did happen once this week.
On Thursday I cooked Chinese lemon chicken and left Asian BBQ chicken marinading in the fridge on Friday morning for G to cook for him and S. You can tell he dished up this meal, look at the amount of chicken on his plate!
Both were given the thumbs up and will definitely appear on the new menus. All can be found on the slimming eats website which I thoroughly recommend.

Thinking - about organising a family outing just before Christmas to see the new Mary Poppins movie. I love Mary Poppins and am so excited about seeing the new movie. 

Wearing - lots more scarves this week due to the change in the weather. Plus the one which was called into action to help us with our latest sleeveface creation for country music day last Monday.

Feeling - so pleased for working my way through a huge to do list this weekend. With G working, the weather being rubbish and S full of cold and staying in her PJs I had no choice but to be indoors and so used the time to get lots of little bits and pieces done.

Watching - the return of Strictly. I'm ready for this year's competition to commence and once again become immersed in all the glitter and sequins.

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.

Got It Covered Mark 2

Yesterday was the birthday of one Mr Barry Pincus, better known the world over as Barry Manilow.

And here's the (much younger) man himself enjoying a coconut cocktail a la Copacabana.

I wanted to do one of these album cover photos back on 23rd April for Barbra Streisand birthday but wasn't able to find a suitable record.
Then whilst on the look out for one for Barry I found the perfect one as it had her face on both the front and back cover.
Here's the front, a little difficult to get quite right due to the way she was positioned

but with the photo on the back we were able to produce this.

I think it was worth waiting for!!!

Patsy Cline and my Dad

The majority of the events I have chosen for this year long project are happy occasions, although that can not be said of today's choice.
On 5th March 1963 singer Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash.

The main reason I chose this is because my dad really liked Patsy and in particular he liked the song Crazy.
I can't listen to that song without wanting to cry. 
Her voice, the lyrics, memories of my dad. 
Too much.
I much prefer Walkin after Midnight. 
As you can see from this photo Patsy embraced the cowgirl country and western image. I didn't fancy all those tassels so I went for this horsey scarf which echos the pattern on her skirt and is about as way out west as I want to go!

Last Thursday was St David's Day.
I had intended to go out in the garden and decide on where would be just the right spot for my new daffodil to live.
Then the snow happened.
Call me a wimp but I didn't fancy those weather conditions so I will be doing that little task this coming weekend instead.

Last August my sister T paid for a notice to be put in the local paper on the anniversary of when our dad died.
Unfortunately they printed some details incorrectly.
My sister complained and they refunded her money.
She had suggested we go out for a meal one evening, but trying to find a date when the three of us are free has provided more difficult than you would have thought.
So she decided to use the money to buy each of us one of these daffs to have in our garden.
I thought it was a really lovely gesture. 

Live Music

G regularly checks the websites of local live music venues and whilst doing this very thing last November he found the Lounge Kittens were performing a family friendly show at The Art House Cafe. 
The gig was in aid of supporting  Independent Venue Week.
G introduced me to the Kittens last year and as today's event was advertised as family friendly we thought it would be lovely to share it with S too.
Today marks the anniversary of when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash. They were all on tour together and were flying from one town to another when the tragic accident happened.

Going to watch live music today seemed like a very fitting thing to do.

Snow White

December 1st is another one of those days which was created by food companies to help promote the selling of their produce.
This time though the food they are promoting is on the healthy spectrum as it is Eat a Red Apple Day.
As soon as I read about this day my mind to flew Snow White and the eating of that poisoned apple.
What a rogues gallery of Snow Whites to behold.

December 2nd 1957 saw Sam Cooke's You Send Me reach the number one spot.

If you have never listened to Sam Cooke before then I urge you to. 
He has the most beautiful voic.
The depth of emotion he conveys in is his version of Send Me Some Lovin' is simply marvellous. Check him out on You Tube.

Hoagy

I'm very late with today's post as I went into town with S straight from work.
She wanted to buy a pair of black trousers for an upcoming dance competition and I wanted to take the opportunity to pick up a couple of Christmas presents.
A lovely time spent with my (not so) little girl.

But back to today and it's the birthday of Hoagy Carmichael.
I must admit that the only thing I knew about him is that he composed one of my all time favourite songs.

I know I have shared this version of the song before but Robin Sarstedt's cheekbones and cheeky smile definitely deserve another airing.

A W O L

It's been a busy old week around here and if I have taken one thing from it then that is I need to be really tip top on the organisational front regarding my daily activity and subsequent blogging.

With that most hectic month of the year creeping ever closer (yay!) I shall need to step it up a bit, making sure I allow time for that all I want to do.

I left you on Tuesday when it was Pickle Day so we shall pick up with Wednesday and the fact it was Anni-Frid Lyngstad's birthday.

I ask you, who doesn't enjoy a bit of ABBA every now and again.

As long as it is not in the form of the movie Mamma Mia, oh my goodness I never want to have to see that again!

We have had some great fun here when warbling along to ABBA on the Sing Star game. 

One of my favourite ABBA songs is Ring Ring and so I went with wearing my dial phone brooch.

Thursday was Button Day. A month or so ago I selected some buttons for a little project with Button Day in mind. I made them into a bracelet for S.
Incredibly easy to make I shall be making one for myself for sure.

I had been looking forward to Friday and Homemade Bread Day.
My plan was to do some prep for it on Thursday as I had friend coming to visit Friday evening. We hadn't seen each other since my birthday in July so with so much catching up to do there wouldn't be a huge amount of time for bread making.
Instead Thursday evening was spent out catching up with another friend who I hadn't seen since May. If he isn't busy with work he's on holiday and when he was last free I couldn't make it due to G's shifts.
It has taken an age to find a date we were both free so when the chance presented itself on Thursday we grabbed it.

Yesterday was Mickey Mouse day. 
Again my plan for the day didn't materialise. I was going to download some sort of template for us to pose with, but for one reason and another it didn't happen.
S had a good day. She had her friend D for a sleepover on Friday and in the morning then took themselves off into town for window shopping, followed by lunch and then the cinema. G went to work.
I had a lovely day. First thing I took myself off to Homebase to buy a new Christmas tree and unexpectedly found a perfect present for my sisters from the children.
Once home there were household jobs to do then I went and picked up my mum and bought her back here for lunch. We then wandered round to the local church hall for their Christmas fete. We always manage to find a few bits and pieces and this year didn't disappoint either.

Today is the birthday of the wonderful Meg Ryan. 
I love When Harry Met Sally and this would be my first choice for watching but a while ago I found a movie called The Women for 50p in a charity shop and thought I would give that a go instead. 
It was ok but it could have been so much better.
It has gone inside the bag along with my latest batch of donations to the charity shop.

I'd like to think I will do better this week.

Status Quo

Whatever your taste in music happens to be I defy anyone not to enjoy a bit of Quo.
Songs from Status Quo are guaranteed to get people up and dancing at Christmas parties and leave you with a great big smile on your face.
Today would have been Rick Parfitt's 69th birthday.
As a tribute G and I will be partaking in what is known in our house as Quo-ercise.
We'll be exhausted from the exertion and probably the giggles as well and for that we thank Mr P and the rest of his gang.

The Man in Black

Alvin Stardust.

What a wonderfully showbusinessy name.

Today is the birthday of one Bernard Jewry who was also known at various times in his career as Shane Fenton and Alvin Stardust.

 In homage to his leather clad look I wore black trousers with a black t-shirt and accessorised with a large black ring.

The lyrics from his songs from the 70s are a nonsense but they are so catchy, I have been humming My Coo Ca Choo all day.

This evening I attempted a bit of microphone swinging along with Alvin as he sang You, You, You.

I have a newly found respect for Mr Stardust, that microphone action is much harder than it looks!

Got it Covered

G's record collection came in very handy for vinyl record day.

Also his leather jacket and guitar.

Something a little different.........

Go here to see other photos which helped to inspire our attempts.

Jamaica

Jamaica gained it's independence from the UK on 6th August 1962.

I shall will leave you with Harry Belafonte singing about leaving his little girl in Kingston as we go off on our travels for a few days.

Dance and Music

S's dance group had a mini performance slot at a local primary school's summer fayre on Saturday afternoon and she said she would be ok with me and G coming along to watch her.

It was lovely seeing S and getting a flavour of what she does each Friday at her street dance class.

Whilst there I took the opportunity of having a look around the school garden.

What is more colourful and cheery than a bicycle basket full of geraniums.

The other colourful feature which I really liked were these funky looking birdhouses.

Sunday saw us in Salisbury.

A little wander along by the river

before we settled ourselves in Lizzie Gardens 

for an afternoon of Music in the Park. It's the third year we've been going to these free concerts and it's such a lovely way to spend a sunny summer afternoon.

The band playing yesterday were Break Cover and they played a whole range of songs. We had stuff from Status Quo, The Kinks, ZZ Top, Steve Earle, Billy Idol and The Monkees. An extra reason for going along yesterday was for G to say hi to an old school friend who is one of the guitarists. He is the chap second from the right wearing a hat. They haven't seen each other since 1993.

And here we all are. I like this photo G took of us all as we sat chatting away.
Lovely family times.

Remembering November

As the month draws to an end I need to write up the rest of what we've been up to in November and then my aim is to try and be a bit more on top of things in December.

We'll wait and see if that happens.

My sister T has her birthday on 25th November. I don't find her as easy to buy for as my other sister but whilst out shopping with her a couple of weeks ago in M&S T showed me a mug she was coveting. It's a delicate shade of pale blue, is the perfect shape for cupping hands around and has the cutest bunny ever in raised decoration on the front. I understood instantly why she loved it so much. 

Thankfully she didn't buy it and so a couple of days later I did.

I then teamed it with a woodland animal canvas shopping bag from Store 21 and a notebook from The Works. She was thrilled with it all.

Phew!

You may remember back in the summer we took mum out for her 70th birthday and as an extra little Christmas gift we thought we would print off some of the photos from our day and pop them into a keepsake album.

When the three of us got together to choose which ones would make the cut (and so veto any that were too unflattering!) our youngest sister C presented each of us with a bracelet.

Being the eldest mine says Big Sis.

T is next so hers said Middle Sis.

And yes you've probably guessed it, C's says Little Sis.

You maybe able to tell from the shape that all slot together around a heart.

It was a really lovely gift to receive out of the blue.

We've had 2 more birhtdays this month, G's mum and sister. A family lunch out was had and tentative plans made for a gathering at Christmas. This year will be a little different as G has to work on Boxing day. My shopping is nearly done and the wrapping has been started. I enjoy all the elements of festive hustle and bustle involved in getting ready for Christmas, but there can be a fine line between that good type and the starting to feel stressed type. So one of the things I've done to help towards not feeling too over whelmed is devising a wrapping schedule. With a bit of luck I'll be sat on Christmas Eve with a bottle of Baileys and not the scissors and sellotape.

Talking of devising new schedules and making time for things, I have been trying to stay away from the internet and my phone as much as possible over weekends.
I have also tried to limit my online time during the week too and one of the things I have started to do is divide up across 5 days all the blogs I follow so I visit everyone once a week. I am finding this much better as I find I am focusing more on what I want to read and do online rather than just flitting around and before I know it an hour has passed and nothing much has been accomplished. I'll see how it goes but as there are other things I want to do and try to make I need to get the balance right.

I'm working myself up to cleaning the dresser in the dining room ready for it's festive makeover. One new addition may be my new toadstool candle holder, 50p from the charity shop I popped into at the weekend when dropping off some items. One of these days I'll develop the knack of just walking out and not being distracted by pretty things on my way to the door.

G and I had a fab night out at the weekend. We went to see Mozart's Requiem performed by the Southampton Philharmonic Choir and the New London Sinfonia. This was a new experience for me. I much more enjoyed the Requiem over the other piece they performed first called I Sing, And Ever Shall, but over all I preferred our night of polkas and waltzes in January 2014.

After the performance we headed out into the cold, took a silly selfie by the Christmas tree and then made a bee line for stall in the market selling cinnamon sugar churros.

This week when changing our bed I put on a new duvet set. It has Christmas trees on one side and snowflakes on the other and is the softest cosiest set we have ever owed. G and I keep talking about how nest like it has made our bed feel. It's made getting up in the mornings just a little bit more difficult.

Melvin seems to like it too.