24th September - 14th October

I've not been around much as things have been busy plus S was off school for one day not well, G had a birthday and then I managed to catch a bug which had been doing the rounds at work.

So from the past few weeks I have been 

Wearing - brooches to go along with the theme of the day. 

There was the Coca-Cola can for Crush a Can Day

and this strawberry for Strawberry Cream Pie Day.

Reading - the next book from the Maisie Dobbs series. This is the one I have enjoyed least so far. I have the next couple on my book shelf and the later ones are on my Christmas wish list. G is aware!

Enjoying - messing about with a fake felt beard for Lumberjack Day

My mum and sisters were coming over and so I asked them to wear their best check shirt and we each had our photo taken whilst modelling the beard.

A few days before hand it had been Elephant Appreciation Day so we went out in the garden and played the Elephant Game. 

Watching - talented people at the theatre. My birthday present to my friend T was tickets to see Women In Power. It's a new production, a collaboration by some very well known women and we were thoroughly entertained by the fabulous cast who acted, sung, played instruments and danced non stop for 90 minutes. 
The second trip was with G and some friends to see Austentatious. Each night the performance is different as each performance is improvised by the cast. They had us in stitches and I would thoroughly recommend going to see them if you ever get the chance.

Loving - that Rocky is settling in so well and finding his own favourite places. This was where he liked to settle down a few weeks ago. Lately he has made the top of the freezer his own, he likes to keep and eye on us and he is quite close to where we store his food!

Buying - little china treats from TK Maxx. I went in to look at the Halloween offerings and was very restrained and just bought one little bowl. 
Just the right size for chocolate based treats.
I was unable to resist adding to my mug collection with this slightly wibbly wobbly one. With the stars and Joy decoration it does have a festive flavour but, I will admit now that it hasn't been stashed away to be used later, it's been used daily since purchase as a little Joy everyday is a good thing I think.

Doing - a jigsaw. I found this one whilst having a tidy up. I think it was one of G's stocking filler gifts.

It's made up of 250 pieces and so G and I raced through it in no time at all and it's now sat in a bag ready for the charity shop.

The theme is sweets from the 1970s and although there were lots of things we recognised there were also quite a few we didn't.

Visiting - an exhibition named We March On all about the history of Southampton Football Club. I'm not footie fan but I still found it all very interesting. The Saints are G' team and so we went to see this on his birthday.

Wondering - if this is really what I look like? To mark World Egg Day a plan was hatched(!) between me and my colleagues that we would each decorate an egg in our likeness. Due to being unwell last week I completely forgot about it until a colleague sent me a picture of hers the night before we were due to take them in. I was feeling tired and not at all in the crafting mood but felt like I should make the effort. I'm glad I did, we all had a giggle and it made our Friday a quite eggscellent day.

Loving It

I always have lots of bits and bobs with hearts on decorating the dining room mantle for the month February.

 At the start of the week I added to the decorations with a paper garland strung across the dresser.

I bought a book of differently patterned papers from The Works, cut out hearts from the three prettiest ones and threaded them onto a length of red ribbon.

G and I don't exchange cards and presents on Valentine's day but I wanted to make a little gesture.
I bought a little net bag of chocolate hearts and ladybirds and popped them onto this heart shaped plate with a stamped note saying 'happy valentines day my little love bugs' for G and S to share.

This evening T is coming round to stay with S so G and I can go to to the theatre to see The Shadow Factory. 
Look at us going out on a school night, very much looking forward to it though.

9 Years and One Week Later

Some weeks just fly by.

When you look back you're not exactly sure what you did or why the time has flown by the way, it just has.

It's been a week like that around here.

Mind you where have the last 9 years gone?

See that serious little girl on the see saw.

That's a photo taken of a 3 year old S during our introduction week with her.

It was 9 years ago last Friday that the four of us travelled home together from her foster parents.

The serious look stayed for some time!

We did have a little treat planned but things didn't quite pan out so hopefully we'll be doing it soon instead.

Saturday morning G and I wandered along to a book sale at a local church, we didn't stay long as there wasn't much on offer

and so we made our way to a cafe for ice cream. Caramel fudge clotted cream ice cream in fact. And yes it was delicious.

We went to our first car boot of the year Sunday morning, lots of finds which I'll put together in a post at the end of the month.
Our weekend was rounded off with a wonderful evening going to see Sara Pascoe. It's the first time we've seen her live and we would definitely go again, Sara had us chortling away the whole time.

Monday was my second trip to the dentist for the rest of the root canal treatment.
The dentist was pleased with how things looked.
There has been a small amount of discomfort this week which is only to be expected. Just hoping it all settles and that's the end of it.  

Tuesday was a late start at work after dropping S of at a day of dance.
6 teachers were coming in for the day to teach 6 new styles of dance. 
Vogueing, Krumping and Afrobeats were among those on offer. I'd only heard of one of those and am still none the wiser about what some of they actually are, but S enjoyed it which is what it's all about.

               (loving the lobster shoes featured in the new CK catalogue I received this week)

S has been out and about each day of the school hols this week.
As well as her dance day she has seen different friends each day which I'm pleased about. T has had two driving lessons, worked an extra shift and spent time with friends.

Little things always make me happy, like wearing my bunny ear ear-rings a couple of times this week, aren't they cute.

A few tentative plans have been made this sky pink evening for the Easter weekend.
G will be working on Saturday and Sunday and off Friday and  Monday so we need to make the most of the time off together.
I'll let you know how we get on.
Happy Easter to you all. xx

Saturday to Sunday

A round up of life here from the past week or so.

Saturday 11th saw us in Winchester for a few hours.

We went to see the The Romantic Thread in British Art. A small exhibition drawn from the extensive collection of Southampton art gallery.

Although undoubtedly the highlight was the Frank Dicksee Romeo and Juliet which was used to advertise the exhibition- anything Pre-Raphaelite gets my vote- a close second was a work named Coliseum at Moonlight which can be viewed here. The way the artist has captured the light of the moon has to be seen to be believed. The artist is Frederick Bridell and he was born in Southampton.

It was very cold that day, snowflakes were in the air, but we were warmed up by delicious hot chocolates as we waited for the train home. The florist based at the train station always has the most stunning displays and that day was no exception.

Monday is normally full of housework chores but I did manage to carve out a little time so I could finish my latest read. I thoroughly enjoyed this story of Ava Maria finding love and happiness in the Blue Ridge Mountains, it made me laugh out loud a couple of times which is always a sign of a good book. It's been made into a movie and I shall keep my eye out for a copy once the car boot season starts, you never know someone may have a copy they don't want anymore and I'd be interested to see how it translates to film. This is the first book in a series and I'll definitely read more.

Tuesday was Valentine's day. T was the only person in our house to receive a card, in fact he got two from the same chap!

I'm trying to decorate the mantelpiece in our dining room differently each month. I have so many odds and ends and sometimes I forget what I have got. I've been collecting as many of these items as I can and keeping them all in one big plastic storage box. Hopefully as the months go by I'll have something on show which reflects the time of year, occasion or celebration. 
This month is all about red and pinks and hearts.

Thursday was S's parent's evening. We had her report last week and she's doing ok, but there's room for improvement. We were taken aback by a comment made by her maths teacher, he described S as a boisterous student. This is so out of character from all the other comments we've had over the years. It would seem that she shares her maths class with more than just one or two of her good friends and it would appear that the chatting sometimes takes over. Although we had a laugh over the comments there was also a 'you must take it more seriously' chat as well!

Very welcome signs of spring seen in the park on my lunchtime visits.

Friday evening I was out for a meal with a bunch of friends from my previous life as a civil servant. We all worked together for about 15 years and still try and meet up every now and then. 
We met at the new Watermark complex of restaurants which is built opposite the old city walls. Lights were being projected on the walls as part of a Festival of Light event. This is a great new space in the city and I hope it gets used to it's full potential.

Saturday morning I was out to eat once again. Last year on what would have been our dad's birthday my sister T had suggested going out for breakfast and toasting dad with a coffee and a bacon sandwich, two things he was fond of, and we decided to do the same again this year.

The weekend was rounded off with a trip to the theatre for me and G. We went for a drink first, somewhere where the walls were covered in works of art including this David Hockney which really grabbed our attention.
At the theatre we watched The MGM Story. The website shows 4 participants but there were only 3 of them the night we saw it. My oh my did they have bucket loads of energy, they sang and danced their way through the history of the musicals produced by MGM.
An extremely entertaining and (for the performers) energetic way to end our weekend.

Celebration and Season

Jeepers creepers if I thought the week before G's birthday went quickly this latest one went at double quick speed.

Which can mean only one thing, it's time for another news round up.

Lets wind back to 8th and G's 50th.

As planned it was lunch out with family, all very relaxed and jolly good fun and then back to ours where we were joined by friends.

Lots of cake was consumed and this magnificent creation was the hands down favourite.

It was made by our friend M with help from his young son and daughter.

Do you like the cheeky banner?

I bought a make your own slogan kit from Poundland.

As soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted it to say.

G had already had his gift from me (our trip to NY back in April) but he did have a present from the children.

They gave him a chimenea with some mega marshmallows for toasting.

The day following his birthday G asked me what I wanted to do. I answered that as it was his birthday weekend it was for him to choose. He choose to do nothing. He wanted to chill out and listen to music, so he did.
I pottered and did some of my jigsaw, she's beautiful but oh there are so many shades of brown.

Monday I went into town and met with my friend I.
I wore my new favourite autumn outfit. I think the colours are very seasonal. The dress was a £1 buy from the car boot and I think the cardi came as a gift from my sister. I may also be wearing a new necklace. A buttony necklace for 75p was too much for this jewellery magpie to resist.

Talking of autumn, whilst in town that day I found out we now have a branch of Flying Tiger. I picked up a couple of things including these pumpkins. Got to have a bit of seasonal decoration going on indoors.

Carrying on with the birthday celebrations G and I had a night out together on Tuesday. We went to see a trio called the Lounge Kittens, who sing rock and metal songs but in a three part harmony Andrews sister style, but with way more sass. G is the rock and metal love but I loved them and if you want a listen, here's a link. 
Their support act was a chap called Jay Foreman who sang his own comedy songs which were very funny and very clever, especially this London Underground one.

G spent this past Saturday in London. His birthday treat from his sister was a trip to the theatre to see Sunny Afternoon, the story of the Kinks. He said it was brilliant. Apart from the fact a chap who was sat behind them was clearly drunk and talked throughout the first half, when G politely asked him to stop he was rude and then proceeded to eat a bag of crisps extremely loudly. Thankfully he was asked to leave during the interval. 

Of course there has been other non birthday stuff going on during the evenings. 
Evenings which are now darker so much earlier but the plus side of that is we get to put on pretty, twinkly lights.

All Clothes, Apart From the Shoes

What a whirlwind of a weekend that was.

I'm still catching up from it now.

Friday evening I went out with friends from school as another reunion looks to be in the offing later in the year which should be fun.

Something quite wonderful happened Saturday morning which I'll share in another post, then G and I had an afternoon trip to the theatre to see The 39 Steps and to round off the day we had friends over for pizza and wine.

Sunday morning we went to the car boot and then to do a quick grocery shop. 

Once home I grabbed a bite to eat and then it was off to see my good friend M to give her her 50th birthday gift and have a good old catch up.

There was a job to do once I got home, info which will have to wait until the next post, and then there was just time to squeeze in the ironing of school uniform before settling down and enjoying the last installments of The Durrells and Home Fires.

Phew.

There was great excitement upon arriving at the booty this week because the first person we came across was selling all their clothes for 10p an item.

My sister found 11 things and had to go back to her car to drop them off before she could carry on!

My buys from the morning are as follows....

Blue and pink patterned M&S top £1, brand new with tags attached black and white George dress 10p, Fat Face navy stripy top 50p and brand new with tags attached navy M&S sweater 10p.

Rusty brown George cardigan 10p, bird patterned scarf 50p and brown George wedges also 50p.

S took some money with her and paid £2 for this New Look cardigan. It looks like it's only been worn a couple of times and as she's very partial to an animal print she was very pleased with her purchase.

About time

This is what happens every time.

Whenever life gets busy or there is something which is playing on my mind I become so wrapped up and distracted and it's always blogging, reading and posting, which takes a back seat.

I'm pleased to say though that this time the reason I have been preoccupied is because of something good.

I have been offered and have accepted a new job.

I'm in the last week of my time at the surgery and from next week I shall be employed elsewhere doing something very similar and I'm thoroughly looking forward to the new challenge.

This post is a mish mash from the last couple of weeks when my time and  energy have been diverted elsewhere.

There have only been a couple of clothing purchases.

 Apart, that is, from a bit of a splurge when in town recently.

We stumbled across the Cancer Research shop which was having a mega sale offering 10 items for £5.00. 

S and I rifled through the rails and between us found a nice collection of bits and pieces.

My favourite item though has to be this badger jumper.

Our local branch of Barnardos sell all items for £1.99 and so I snaffled this beauty for that bargainous price.

Over a couple of evenings G and I, with a tiny amount of help from S, put together this wonderful jigsaw.

All the sweets are in their 1980s packaging and we spent a lot of time saying 'oh I remember that!' Somethings haven't changed much whilst others have disappeared completely.

One Saturday we took the train down to Boscombe where we met G's brother P and his partner S for lunch. S had her birthday in February and we took her gifts with us. 

As you know I like a bit of a theme and this collection of presents is no different. We gave her an Avon Milk and Honey gift set, a Cathy Kelly book The Honey Queen and a bar of milk chocolate.

G and I have also managed to squeeze in an afternoon at the theatre. I haven't read Madame Bovary although I have heard it dramatised on the radio. G wasn't familiar with the story but after seeing this funny and clever adaptation we both want to read the original.

We have another trip to the theatre booked for May when we will be seeing The 39 Steps. Again neither of us are overly familiar with the details to this story and so for Mothers Day I was given a copy of Alfred Hitchcock's film version to help get us better acquainted.

Hopefully I'll get myself up to date with everything and manage to get a couple more posts done by the weekend.

Looking Forward

Thank you for all the kind wishes left on my last post, I'm feeling much better now and trying to be a bit more attentive regarding my diet.

So what's new around here.

A batch of freshly hatched conkers for a start.

Whilst in town on Sunday we took a little detour to the park by the art gallery and S gathered up a great haul of shiny new conkers.

I was hoping to be able to take some photos of the lovely autumnal trees but once again I managed to go out without a memory card in my camera.

Annoying.

On Saturday G and I had a trip to the theatre to see Orpheus.

 But it wasn't the Greek myth as you may expect it to be.

 This production by the Little Bulb Theatre was set in 1930's Paris to a score of jazz, opera and French chanson and it was absolutely fabulous.

A real treat of an afternoon.

They are in the middle of a tour and I urge you to go and see them if they are your neck of the woods, you will not be disappointed.

For World Vegetarian Day last week I had planned on cooking a meat substitute dish but for various reasons this didn't happen. In the end I managed to cook it on Sunday and although I have no photos to show what it looks like I will share the recipe. It's one which resulted in clean plates all round and as that is a rarity these days it's something to be celebrated. 
Mix together 1tbsp curry powder, 2tbsp apricot jam, juice of a lime and 1tsp coriander. Fry meat free chicken style pieces for 6 minutes and then add the curry mix and cook for another 6 minutes. Once cooked pop them in pitta bread. That's it. This time I served them with salad and rice.

I did a spot of baking this morning. Mincemeat crumbles. They are the perfect accompaniment for a mid morning cuppa.
Cream 5oz butter and 3oz sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in 5oz plain flour and 3oz cornflour. Form into a ball and then push the mixture into a baking tin and chill for 20 minutes. After chilling bake at 200c for 12 to 15 inutes until puffed and golden. Spoon on a jar of mincemeat. I didn't have the crumble ingredients given in the recipe so I used a mix of caster sugar, plain flour and porridge oats, sprinkled it on top and baked for another 20 minutes.

All that has happened, so what is it I'm looking forward to?
Well, it's G's birthday in two days time and then on Friday we both have the day off work and so hopefully we'll be off out somewhere for a spot of lunch. 
Happy days.

And during a recent conversation with my sister she told me how she and her partner have decided to just buy each other a token gift at Christmas and use the money they would have spent on presents towards paying for a couple of weekends away. I knew G would love this idea for us and when I suggested to him did he want to consider this for us too he was on the internet within hours looking at possible destinations. 
Now next January we are off to Brighton, only for one night but it's great to have something so lovely to look forward to.

Activites

As well as being preoccupied with leaving one job and starting another and all the other things which were happening which kept me away from blogging we were busy doing some fun things too.

One Sunday me, G and S went for a little explore in a copse we have driven past umpteen times but never investigated.

We were delighted to find an oversized chair

and table. G is 6ft 5'' so that should give some idea of how big these two items of furniture are.

When I was little this whole area was trees and fields but has since been built on with a relatively new housing estate, it must be handy if you live there now having this copse on your doorstep. A green space to go and stretch your legs in and do a spot of squirrel spotting, we saw loads of them scampering around.

This is just one of the jigsaws we've completed recently. On the days when getting outside isn't an option a jigsaw is a good indoor activity.

Not an activity but an event from September, my nephew's 21st birthday. 
What to buy was a mystery. 
Pinterest provided the solution.
I bought a black umbrella from the local 99p shop and packaged up £1 and £2 coins totalling £21 in pieces of paper and attached them to the umbrella with lengths of cotton. I then wrote on a tag Save for a Rainy Day. 
He was a bit bemused when I gave him his gift but pretty pleased with it once the penny dropped.

S and I have been to our first ballet performance, we went to see Coppelia.
It was billed as the ideal family introduction to ballet and it was indeed perfect. The ballet is in three acts and during each intermission we discussed what had been happening in the story. It took a lot of concentrating for S and I think her attention would have wandered with anything more in depth. The costumes were beautiful and the grace and elegance, not to mention strength, of the dancers made it a spectacular experience.
We had booked the tickets months ago and originally we planned it would be me, G and S who would be going. 
G didn't join us in the end because he took T to Norwich instead.
The end of October is his brother L's birthday.
T, G, L's adopted mum and T's birth siblings met up at the crematorium as they wanted to take L some flowers. T had been wrought with anxiety about the visit for a couple of weeks beforehand but G described the day as being filled with a few tears and lots of laughter as everyone supported each other.

Last week being half term meant it was time for our annual trip to the country park for their Halloween trail. T didn't join us this year as he has been volunteering in a charity shop on a Sunday afternoon for the past few weeks and he offered to do extra shifts whilst he was off. S bought a friend along with her and neither of them liked the huge spider hiding in one of the trees!

Holiday A-Z

Thank you for the recommendations of places to visit whilst we were away and for the happy holiday wishes.

We arrived home late yesterday afternoon from our week in Sheringham and although in the end we didn't venture much further than the beach we had lots of fun over the week.

I have decided to do an A-Z of our week, although it has to be said some examples are more tenuous than others, to record as many things as possible, so this is going to be a photo heavy post.

A is for Artwork. Both G and I like the art work of the old railway advertising posters and so a print of Sheringham was the ideal holiday momento for us to bring home.

Along the prom at Sheringham is an Art Trail recording aspects of living by the sea, animals living in the sea and seaside activities like eating ice cream! I wish I had taken more photos of it, but I managed one of the seals.

One of my favourite photos because of the different textures, I love the sun Bleached colour of the wood.

On our way to the beach each day we had to pass a row of the prettiest houses and this one on the corner had a Conservatory on the back. I really like the duck egg blue it's been painted and then the seaside sign and bunting just make it look so jolly. Shame about the buddleia, a rambling rose would have been nicer but now I'm just being picky!

With my blogging head on, now D is for Doors. I know there are many who, like me, like an attractively painted door so here are two for your delectation.

When the tide goes out at Sheringham there is such an Expanse of sandy beach and the water was warm enough for some paddling too. 

Fish and chips, eaten for tea on the sea front on our first night. Just had to be done, it's the law on holiday!

As well as being a good blogger and snapping away at random doors, there was also plenty of attractive stained Glass. These windows were on a building in Ipswich.

On our many strolls along the prom I tried to have a good (but hopefully not to obvious) nosy inside some of the beach Huts. Some were really pretty kitted out in CK accessories and other such goodies.

T's eldest brother is going to uni in September and so is now living in Ipswich so we went and visited him on Monday. It was our first visit to the city and although it has it's fair share of grand buildings, such as the old Post Office below, we didn't think it's as attractive as Norwich. 

We also went out for the day on Tuesday. Hopping just two stops on the train down to Cromer where I busied myself on the beach.

This is the Keyhole to the cottage we stayed in. Random I know but it had to be included as when we arrived T opened the door and commented to me he knew I would like it, he knows me so well!

This sign on the Launderette just down the road from our cottage really made G chuckle when he first saw it. Never mind all the local attractions, this is THE reason to visit North Norfolk.

A beautiful Mosaic spotted as we walked past the entrance to one of the hotels in Cromer.

Something else I could have possibly used under 'A' for advertising but I decided to use as N for Nippy.

The Oddest thing to have been spotted this week was Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in someone's garden.

Cromer Pier. We didn't wander down it, I did suggest it but others had pressing needs such as finding somewhere to buy an ice cream.

Quite a lot of the houses had pebbles over the front of them, excellent natural protection against the elements so close to the sea and it looks so good too. This is the house with the lovely conservatory and bunting.

Red poppies were everywhere, down by the sea, in the churchyard at Cromer, on the war memorial in Sheringham and the local steam railway is named the Poppy Line.

S is for our beautiful S, looking suitable happy in full holiday mode with one of the many ice creams she consumed over the week. 

And T is for a very handsome and very happy T who as we were leaving Sheringham and made a dash to the supermarket to make sure we had lunch to eat for our journey home, finally found a bottle of cola with his name on it! 

As I have mentioned before finding things with the children's names on is extremely difficult. So imagine how surprised and thrilled we were when coming up from the Underground at Victoria we saw this shop. S's birth parents chose her name and the spelling without the H on the end makes it even more unusual.

A View of Sheringham beach one morning, with the tide in, as we took a stroll looking for a place to spend our the day.

We started our holiday with a one night stop off in London as on the Friday night G had booked for us to go and see Wicked. It's something we have all wanted to see for a while and what a fantastic way it was to kick off our time away. A fabulous show with some great songs. 

This was an eXtremely strange find. I bought this very same bangle in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago for 99p and nearly fell over when I spotted it in the window of a vintage shop for £22. The shop was closed but I went back a day or two later and asked the owner about it. He said it was made from lucite which is why he had priced so high. I just thought it was something cheap and cheerful from somewhere like Primark.

Y is for Yummy milkshake but it's really just a good way of getting in one of my favourite photos of T from the week. He doesn't really do smiling and posing for the camera but I managed to snap this whilst he was talking to his brother and he didn't realise I was taking it.

There were a lot of people in Sheringham with dogs. I don't know whether there are a lot of dog owners locally or whether it's a particularly dog friendly holiday destination but there were lots of them. We didn't meet many cats, probably they are wise to the dog situation and stay well out of the way, like this one enjoying a few zzzzzzz's.

As well as the places above we did also manage a trip to Norwich on Friday to see T's nan. Given the reason for our last visit there it felt a little strange this time round but it was important we went.
There were so many more places we could have gone but as the children were happy to go down to the beach we just kept things simple. Although one afternoon when G's mum had a hospital appointment and he needed a signal on his mobile to check in with her, he and T took a walk high up along the coastal path.
It was a lovely week with lots of sunshine and a fab start to the summer holidays.