Happy 100th Post

Well since it's my 100th post I think that calls for cake and balloons! 

Do feel free to pop round for a cuppa with that cake - do you prefer tea of coffee (*instant only I'm afraid*).  We might even be able to stretch to a mocha or a hot chocolate. 

There is definitely squirty cream but I'm not sure if we will have any marshmallows left.  We seem to have a little elf (or perhaps 3 teenage children!) that eats them when know one is looking.

Most of the food shopping is done.  We went on Tuesday as apparently the 23rd is the busiest day for supermarkets.  We may pop out today for a last few 'fresh' items.

We aren't having a traditional Christmas dinner tomorrow.  That is being saved for the 27th when my Sister and Brother-in-Law, as well as my motley lot, will be at my Mum and Dads.

For quite a few years now we've spend alternate Christmas' at home or at my parents.  When we are at my Mum's she insists on the whole works for Christmas dinner - 8 veg, lots of sauces, stuffing, sausages in bacon, Yorkshire puds etc, etc.  We shall be having a buffet lunch instead. 

(It was that or buy everything 'ready done'.)

I remember when the children were very little that it seemed daft to spend most of the day in the kitchen and miss out on them opening their presents etc.  I would have been happy with beans on toast and more time spent together .....

.... so this is a sort of compromise.

Now that the children are all teenagers I suspect we may be entering a 'new phase' for Christmas. 

I (*just about*) remember the 'time before children'.  Christmas is very different when you are all adults - I remember it being a lot less stressful!

 

 

And certainly no-one announces on Christmas eve ...

*as the teenage girl did, never having mentioned it before*

... that Santa is definitely going to bring a Playmobil Hospital for her!

As usual (despite promises made to myself, again!) I still haven't wrapped a thing.  Hopefully I won't be up past midnight doing it, which I have been in the past.

I'm also hoping the teenagers won't need to be told to stay in bed until at least 7am. 

About 6 or 7 years ago we seemed to have reached a stage where we didn't need to remind them about what was an acceptable time to get up.  We had a year or two of even having to wait for them! 

The following year they took us completely by surprise and were all wide awake at 4.30am - which coincided with the year I was wrapping until 1am.  Santa nearly took all their presents away again that year!

Do you now I had forgotten that until just now - and I bet I haven't scrapped that story either. 

In fact Christmas seems to be the thing I am worst at getting scrapped.  I think it is because by the time the photos are printed it is dreary February and I want to look ahead not back.

So there is nothing else left to do but say MERRY CHRISTMAS and a very Happy and Peaceful New Year,

Louise x

Me on Monday .... the thank goodness weekend.

A very merry and Christmassy Monday to you all, courtesy of the very lovely Sian.

It was a weekend of as little as possible, topped with a lot of telly watching.
 
As a teacher I very often put life on hold for a week or two prior to breaking up.  Christmas is no exception and is even more stress filled since I also have to plan/organise/sort out for my daughter's birthday.

 

In fact if I had realised how much more pressured it would make December I would have planned her arrival a lot more carefully!
 
Our weekend really started on Friday ... which saw the girl child become a teenager!  She was lucky enough to break up at lunchtime - some of us had to work until our normal finish time. 
 
On my journey home I remembered that I hadn't picked up a birthday cake that morning.  So I diverted to a Tesco express to buy some very gooey chocolate cake.

Following instructions from the new teenager, we had booked a meal at a local Italian restaurant.  She was joined there by my parents, her paternal grandmother and her partner, my sister and brother-in-law, and one big brother.
 
There is a whole post in why the oldest-by-one-minute son wasn't there - but it basically boils down to tiredness.. He was sound asleep when we got home from the restaurant at 9pm and stayed asleep until well gone 10 the next morning.
 
Saturday morning started by watching 2 naughty Shetland ponies (or a very similar breed) playing 'chase' with their owner.  They are kept on a local allotment but obviously had other ideas.

I had hoped to do some crafting, tidying and perhaps a little shopping.  Instead I spent the day mainly being a couch potato, whilst my OH and the newly teenage girl went visiting her paternal grandfather. 
 
Of course we had to watch the strictly final, which we thoroughly enjoyed ... although I wonder a little at the fairness of it when some of the contestants have attended drama/theatre schools.
 
Sunday saw my OH singing carols in the local town centre.  The teenage girl and I went along to offer our support.



There were many more singers than this - and a lady playing the keyboard to accompany them.


I'm not really sure what happened to the rest of the day - lots of doing bits of this and that.  And staying up late watching repeats of very old 'Open All Hours' whilst I sorted this post out!

I hope you have had a restful and productive weekend,

thanks for visiting

Louise x

The Ghost of Hamlets Father

The oldest by one minute son loves acting.  He chose drama as a GCSE and is going to continue with the subject into A-Level.

*My mum worries it isn't academic enough and won't 'get him a good job' but then she isn't happy if she isn't worrying.*

He loved being in the school Christmas plays, and was most disappointed in those years when he didn't get a 'role'.  For the last 3 years of primary school (you had to be Y4 or above) he took part in the summer productions.

He was a 'lead singer' in the first two he took part in (comes from their very musical father ... I can't hold a tune in a bucket) and had an acting role in the last one.

So I was surprised when he didn't get more involved in the various productions his secondary school put on. 

Turns out doing the play got you out of PE with a teacher he really disliked, and that was why he did the primary school productions.

However, after his passion for drama re-emerged, he has wanted to be involved, but has been on trips or ill when the auditions were on .... and a chorus part was not 'good enough'.

So in what was possibly his final year *until he decided to stay on the 6th form* he was determined to be in the Christmas play.

So on Thursday night (there were 2 other performances) we went to watch 'The Spirits and Scrooge'.

The tale was based on A Christmas Carol, but was from the viewpoint of the ghosts.  Jacob Marley was the main character, along with the other 3 ghosts.  But there were also some other famous ghosts from famous literature.

 


















He played the ghost of Hamlet's father.  He did it brilliantly - the show producer described it as a 'master class of comic timing'.  And he did it all in full Shakespearean voice, complete with accompanying mannerisms and expressions.

I know I'm biased but he was brilliant.  I'm doing (or trying to do) a Christmas Journal this year.  I'm hoping this may be the start of a new family tradition of appearing in a Christmas play/pantomime.

Merry Christmas,

Louise x

Me on Monday ....the very rainy weekend

Waving to Sian and all the 'Me on Monday' bloggers.

It was a weekend of braving the elements to do some shopping and put up the outside lights.  It was a weekend of trying to get the house straight before the Christmas rush.  It was a weekend of a sneaky Chinese takeaway, just because.  It was a weekend of having a proper roast dinner (lamb) and of finally getting all the decorations up (well almost all of them).  It was a weekend where I discovered I had forgotten to order some Christmas presents.  It was a weekend where I seemed to be busy-on-the-go but get very little done, other than more online shopping.  It was a weekend of the youngest child being excited about her upcoming birthday - a teenager at last!  And a weekend where it rained......again!

Hope you had a lovely weekend be it busy, relaxed, or somewhere in between.  Wishing you all the best for the week ahead

Louise x

Me on Monday .... the putting up the tree weekend

Hello and a very happy Monday to Sian and all the other Monday sharers out there.

What is it about weekends and storms?  I still haven't got my bulbs in the garden, or tidied it up. 

However when I see the havoc the weather has wreaked for some of you I will try not to grumble (too much).

It was a weekend of finally getting Christmas shopping underway (online), not managing to visit the Christmas tree festival, enjoying some mother-daughter time, starting to sort stash and giving up, getting a praise postcard, watching telly, watching a dance show but having to miss OH's carol concert, seeing family, completing the family set of Christmas jumpers, cups of tea in Tesco, chatting with an old 'friend/acquaintance', ironing and laundry, putting up the lounge tree and getting a little tired of wet and windy weekends. 

I have managed to actually purchase the older-by-one-minute son a few Christmas presents.  I've only been asking him what he would like for a month or two!

After this success I seemed to get carried away and bought quite a few more items.  Still not sure I've done it all yet.

I did some housework which led to me deciding to tidy, sort and hopefully get rid of some stash.  After spreading stuff everywhere I got distracted and came back later having lost the will to finish the task.

I stuffed it all into a back to sort at some other time.

The girl child and I headed into our local town for an hour or two.  I got some Christmas cards but managed to forget my nephew's birthday card.

We nearly got blown off our feet a couple of times by the gales.  We were checking out lipstick colours as the girl child has several on her Christmas list.  Guess she isn't so much of a child anymore!

I watched 'It's a Wonderful Life'.
 

 
It's one of those films I've seen parts of but on Saturday I managed to watch the whole film.
 
We then had a clash of events Saturday evening, with my OH singing as part of Torkard Ensemble, at a local church, and my daughter dancing at a Christmas show hosted by her dance school.

Since my daughter needed driving to the event in a neighbouring town, that is what I watched. 

My sister and parents also went, which gave me a chance to give them the Christmas cards I had bought earlier!

Sunday involved the usual food shop, however we found Christmas jumpers for the boys* (the rest of us have one already) a got a lovely cyclamen to grace the table.

*which they put on immediately!

As the girl child had received a praise postcard from school she was given a treat.  She chose a box of praline chocolates - she takes after her mum!

We called in at Tesco's for a few Christmas mugs and some dishwasher salt.  We hit the café first, which has undergone an amazing transformation since the last time I used it, it serves Costa drinks and has couches and chairs rather than the work canteen style it used to be.  A very pleasant surprise.

I remembered the items I had gone in for ... my OH just had the dishwasher salt to collect, so you can guess what we didn't buy can't you!

It was an afternoon of catching up on missed Dr Who and I'm a celebrity, watching some more old films and fetching the trees and decorations from the loft.
 
This slipped into an evening of planning school work and watching Vicky become Queen of the Jungle.
 
During this time my OH kindly assembled the tree and put the lights on it - we are slowly adding decorations to it!
   


I'm definitely NOT ready for Christmas!

Louise x

Memories from a photo

Whether you're bothered or not, here's another 'Memories From A Photo' post. 

I wanted to choose a slightly more recent photo.

Or should I say I didn't want it to be of a similar age to the last one... I'm not fooling anyone that this one is in any way shape or form recent.

If you're wondering ...and I know I would be...I'm the one with shocking hairstyle and terrible jumper - fashion was never one of my strong points!

Actually I have photos of worse outfits and hairstyles than this.

I may NOT being sharing those ones!

I have no idea where this photo was taken ... what I do know is that it must have been a Sunday afternoon.

I know this because my parents had a 'corner shop'.  It was open 7 days a week but we shut at noon on a Sunday so that we could have some family time.

If the weather allowed we all piled into my Dad's work van - these were always red Ford Escorts.  Us kids sat in the back.

No seat belts ... *yep I shudder to think about it now*.

In fact there were no seats!  We had cushions, blankets and as we got older sometimes a beanbag.

This isn't me - it's my sister.

We didn't have another car.  We went everywhere in the back of that van.  Even to posh restaurants!

A lot of those Sunday journeys involved water.  We usually found a stream to paddle in or a ford to drive through.  Sometimes we took a walk alongside a river.

Most of these were in Derbyshire.  We lived just in Derbyshire but these trips took us into a more attractive part and usually took between 30 and 45 minutes to reach.

Sometimes we took friends along with us - 5 or 6 of us sat in the back of a van!

My brother is on the right

In the summer we might call into a pub for a drink.  Children didn't go into pubs back then so we used to sit in the beer garden ... or sometimes we'd sit in the van with the doors open.  And if you were hungry all that was on offer was a packet of crisps, salted peanuts or pork scratchings (yak to the latter).

And we would have a bottle of pop - with a paper straw.  Which collapsed after a few minutes or so.  You had to keep tearing the soggy bit off.

If you weren't careful the straw got too short to reach the drink!

In winter we often went to Clumber Park and walked through the conifer woodland.  We could walk for hours and we very rarely saw anyone else.  I loved those walks.

I remember those red shoes - they gave me terrible blisters.  That is when I learnt that if you have wide feet you need a good fitting shoe.


When I got older I appreciated that my Mum had always made me wear 'proper' fitted shoes for school.  And had refused to buy me heeled shoes ... I realise now how awful young girls can look in them.

There are a lot of other things my Mum didn't allow me to do, that I may have begrudged at the time but am now very thankful for.

You only realise these things as you grow up and sometimes only when you have your own kids...

...or am I thinking of that moment when you hear your parents sayings coming out of your mouth?

Well you wouldn't know I'd struggled to think of what to write would you?  I do ramble on sometimes...

I heard that comment of 'only sometimes?'

Thanks for popping by,

Louise x

Winter Photo Hunt

Maggie mentioned this Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt co-hosted by Eileen and Joy.

I managed to complete the Summertime version hosted by Rinda so am looking forward to doing this one.

 

The items to find are

 

1.   A robin redbreast

2.   Tinsel

3.   Outside lighting

4.   A star

5.   A snowman

6.   A puddle

7.   Berries and/or nuts

8.   A wreath

9.   A tree that has lost all its leaves

10.  A windy day

11.  Your favourite pudding

12.  A fancy button

13.  Street art

14.  Afternoon tea

15.  Candle light

16.  A chimney

17.  A ladder

18.  An arrow

19.  A fountain

20.  Cutlery

21.  Your own handwriting (this one is compulsory and cannot be substituted)

If you find any of the above hard to get you may substitute with one of the subjects below, except No. 21 which is compulsory.

Alt A  A supermarket trolley or basket, filled with shopping

Alt B  An animal statue

Alt C  Metal railings  

 

Now I am also planning on doing a Christmas journal and am trying to take some photos each day.  On Tuesday I took some of the tree my daughter has in her room.

 

 

 

 

I think that nicely ticks '#2 Tinsel' off the list.

 

And last night was the Hucknall Christmas Carnival so here is a photo of #3 Outside Lighting.

 

 

 

 

Santa's sleigh was an extra :)

 

I may add other ones for this as there are some very 'dressed up' houses around ... and I do like to have a few icicle lights and some fairy lights in my hedge.

Thanks for popping by

Louise x

Me on Monday .... a weekend of whoosh and you missed it.

Hello to Sian and all the other Monday-ers.   Well it was a weekend of not much, that went in a flash and where it was Sunday night before Saturday morning had sunk in.

I normally write my post on said Sunday evening but I just didn't have the oomph to write it.

So I feel a bit late but it is still Monday so here goes.

Taken in bad light but it's me on Monday :)

It was a Saturday of nice sunshine and getting some laundry done to peg outside. 

It then became a wet and grey Saturday as soon as the washer finished. 

Whilst waiting for the washing machine I did a little more work on my December mini-book.  I really need to get it finished tonight since I need to start filling it tomorrow! 

It was nearly 1pm before I knew, which meant a quick trip to a Christmas Fayre being held by the girl child's dance school. 

It had to be a quick trip because we had hair appointments in Chesterfield (about a 30 minute drive away) at 3pm, but needed to
(a) park - always a nightmare later in the day on Saturdays - and
(b) do some pre-cut shopping.


Parking was threatening to be the predicted nightmare.  Normally we park in an open car park but it was pouring with rain so we headed to the nearest multi-story.  It seemed most of Derbyshire had the same idea as the queue was enormous.

So I turned left with the intention of heading to the original car park ... and spotted that there was on street parking with pay meters and at £3 for 4 hours not to ridiculous a price.   Job done!

Not taken on Saturday - too much rain then!

The girl child perused New Look, trying on several pairs of boots before disappearing from view.  She does this frequently on shopping trips.  She did it once in Tesco's when she was 2 or 3.... turns out she was playing hide and seek in the clothes rails.  Security was stopping anyone with children from leaving (just in case) before I found her - oh the embarrassment of it all.

Anyway New Look was swapped for Primark, from which she never leaves without at least one item.  This time it was a pair of boots, socks, some Christmas baubles for her tree and matching tinsel. I got a table cloth and Christmas runner.  Not bad for a quick look around.

We both looked stunning after the hairdressers .... until we went out into the howling wind and rain.  The umbrella did little to stop us from looking like drowned rats by the time we reached the car.  My hairdresser recently won Midlands Hairdresser of the Year, he is wonderful .... so it was really annoying to get home looking bedraggled.

The evening consisted of lots of TV watching - Strictly, Dr Who, Casualty and I'm a Celebrity - which fitted together without too much clashing.

Sunday involved the usual food shop and then the day just disappeared.  I did some worksheets for using with students today ... but the internet was down at work so I couldn't access them. 

Note to self - take in a back up on a memory stick!

It was also a making mincemeat Sunday ... although my OH takes the credit for that and for the scrummy mince pies.  He's now used half of it for the Christmas puds, which he has steaming on the hob as I type.

 

 

Anyway that was my weekend - hope you had a good one and thanks for popping by

Louise x

Me on Monday ... the very cold weekend one

Hello everyone and a big thank you to Sian for kindly hosting Me On Monday.

Some purchased floral cheer.

 

It was a fairly quiet weekend, with too much time spent on paperwork and not enough spent on housework!  Saturday saw us wake up to a smattering of snow - it was only really present around the edge of the garden and on car windscreens.  I was going to take a photo but there wasn't enough to really show up (and I certainly wasn't venturing out into the biting cold!).

I did have to dash out eventually in order to post some happy mail and stock up on bread and milk.  Somehow we ended up popping into the local church - Saint Mary Magdalene's for a spot of bell ringing.

Not my photo - I didn't have my camera of course - this is from The Dispatch, our local paper.

I was rather traumatised by the 23 steps that were very steep, narrow and spiralled dizzyingly up to the bell ringing area. 

It was worse going down - I had to turn around and almost crawl down... so embarrassing!

But it was very interesting to listen to the above gentleman tell us all about the bells and how they are rung.  They are looking for people to join so that the bells can be rung more frequently.  If it wasn't for the steps up and down I would be tempted.

I watched an old Denzil Washington film whilst the youngest child was at a Guides crafting event and caught up on some 'I'm a celebrity...' that I had missed the night before.

I also got some washing pegged out AND dried, despite it being very ,very cold outside. 

Before I knew it was time for Strictly, Dr Who (I really wasn't expecting that!) and Casualty.  I watched most of Celebrity and then went to bed.

When I woke up on Sunday I thought it was Saturday for a few minutes and was then very disappointed when I realised it wasn't. 

It was a getting the jobs done day, having Sunday Dinner early rather than late, watching an Eddie Murphy film, planning lessons and trying to write a test (and failing) Sunday. 

It was also a buying some Christmas cups Sunday.

There are two more similar to this - the picture was too blurry!

Normally I would have bought identical cups, because cups should match and be coordinated.

But of course cups are fragile, especially when handled by my husband when he doesn't want to be loading the dishwasher.

So we have lots of un-matching cups.  It is my intention to buy 2 or 3 more cups (which will be the same as some of these) but my hope is that by having a mix and match collection it won't be quite so annoying when one of them gets broken....

....or chipped by someone grumpily loading the dishwasher.

I hope you have had a good week and a weekend of note.  I am hoping to have time tonight to get around and visit you all ... but I do have some marking to do that has been hanging like a millstone around my neck for a week.  If I don't see you today I promise I'll be round tomorrow!  We have another big union meeting at work (also one at ACAS) today, it seems to be two steps forward and one step back.  I think today is going to be make or break but I've reached the stage of 'whatever will be will be'....

...which makes me think of Doris Day singing 'Que Cera, Cera' and you can not help but smile with that thought in your head.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by

Louise x

Recording December and day #16

I started to write this post this morning.  I knew clearly what I was going to write and the message I wanted to share.  This dissolved into mist as I actually committed thought to paper.  This is nothing like the post I was meaning to write.



I read a lovely post by Sian, where she shared with us her plans for recording a very special time for her family.

Well it made me wonder whether I should try to complete my own mini-book/album.

The two popular courses to follow seem to be December Daily and Journal Your Christmas.  To be honest I'm not keen on paying for a course because I
am not confident that I would 'use' it.

Although perhaps the fact that I had shelled out cold hard cash would make me more focused and determined to 'keep up'. 

But then this ties into the fact that I don't want to feel pressured into making, recording and completing a Christmas album/journal during such a busy time of year.

On the other hand I can feel time and precious memories slipping away from me. 

I don't want to regret not recording these in some way either! 




I've admired some stampin' up project life cards on Fiona's blog.  And this led to me seeing other goodies to hang my nose over. 

But I am on a stash diet.............and.............

......... I have a rather large American Crafts Christmas papers and feel that perhaps I ought to use these up first!

Somewhere I have an old mini-album from a QVC kit.  So I am going to challenge myself to make this into a Christmas album and use it to document December 2015.

I'll be back to let you know how it is going. 

And now I have written it here I am hopefully little more committed to getting it done!

All about Me... and post #15 half way there!

One recent prompt on the 30 day blogging challenge (which is more for business blogs) was about improving your 'About' page. 

Well I have the short profile on the sidebar but decided to write a little lot more an, give it a proper page all of its own. 

You can find it as a tab just above the post title.

Feel free to visit.  I did go on a bit so you might want to make a cup of tea and go to the bathroom first :)

Writing it also inspired the LAST post I wrote, garnered from looking through old photos ... which I love to do. 

And haven't mentioned on my 'About' page so there is something to add - some random likes and dislikes.

Or I could do a post and link it to the page. 

I'm going to stop there before I have created myself a dozen new things to do - I've got the laundry and pots to sort out before that!

Louise x

Memories From A Photo....

So on Sunday I wrote this post, and included this photo of my brother and I at my Grandparents' house (paternal).
 

 
 
I mentioned that there were quite a few stories/memories contained in just that one photo.
 
Some of them are more anecdotal and some are tied to my emotions.
 
So in no particular order here are some of them...
 
#1  The Caterpillar Ride-On Toy
 

One of my earliest memories is of waking up on Christmas Day and finding this wonderful toy next to my bed. 
 
Although I occasionally wonder if I am making that up or if I insisted on sleeping with it in my room because I don't remember it being wrapped up.
 
My sister is four years younger than me and I'm not sure if I am 3 or 4 in that photo.  But I do seem to remember adults suggesting that she could inherit the toy when I grew too old for it.
 
My mental response was along the lines of 'over my dead body'... but I was too well brought up to protest the fact.  I do remember insisting on using it when I was probably far too big - probably to prevent it being passed to said sister. 

We are now the sort of sisters who would share our last bean, so I do feel guilty.  But she had got MY bedroom when she was born and that takes a lot of forgiving!

You rested your feet on the front 'axel' and bounced up and down.  This made the caterpillar flex and contract and so you moved forward (or backwards if you got the timing wrong!)



#2 The silver and white Christmas tree

 
At the time I honestly thought that this white (with bits of silver) Christmas tree was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. 
 
I seem to remember us having a silver tree (rather like tinsel).  Compared to todays thick, luxurious and realistic trees these seem so, so ... sad.  But that tree came out for years and years and I loved it.

 

 

And talking of years and years..
 
 
 
#3 The carpet
 
You may be shaking your head in wonder now and wondering how a carpet can be an important memory.
 
Perhaps the fact that the carpet was bought by my grandparents at about the same time as my brother was born... and they still had it over 30 years later. 
 
It was worn through in places, probably where we as children had danced up and down to 'The Monster Mash' and 'March of the Mods'.  Where we had twirled and tumbled and done 'shows' for the adults.
 
It ended its life as a method to stop weeds at the bottom of our very (then) overgrown garden.
 
 
#4 Texaco Tanker
 
I remember riding on this down our garden path.  If you made an 'aaa' sound the vibrations of traveling along the path made your voice sound funny.
 
 

 

 
I also remember falling out and fighting with my brother to be able to play with this.
 
 
My mum still has the orange jeep and trailer - I think it was a Tonka toy.
 
 
#5 The recliner chair
 
This had a big handle on the side that allowed you to recline the chair. 
 

I am not sure if this is the recliner chair or not,
it used to get moved around.

 
Of course there were either 3 of us (and 5 if my cousin's were also visiting) so you can imagine the fall-outs we had. 
 
And yes sometimes it WAS falling out of it - or being dragged off it.
 
But it reclined!!!!!  

I think my Nana used to set her kitchen timer and we would each have a 'turn'. 

We usually got bored and climbed off long before our turn was up. 
 
Isn't that always the way with children?

There are other stories that spring to mind - but I shall save those for another 'Memories from a photo...' post.
 
Feel free to join in - and add a link to your blog if you wish.  If you do add a link I will visit and leave a comment.

See you soon

Louise x