Rocking Your World Friday - 30th of 2018

Hello lovely people - dashing by - tis Friday time for 

Well it is still scorchio here in the UK despite the threat of thunderstorms and rain although we've had the odd rumble of thunder and a brief downpour this morning it really is just unpleasantly warm.  I can't wait for a cool Autumn morning again and we've got August to do before that happens.  

Anyway I digress, with the weather as warm as it is at the moment we really don't really fancy doing an awful lot.  Friday evening we popped to Ikea for a wander, the air con was lovely if I'm honest, we also grabbed what I thought was tea but according to said 17 year old it was in his word 'light snack'.  

I  had had a lovely afternoon gelli plating and chatting to said 17 year old's girlfriend, we had great fun putting the world to rights. 

Saturday was just too hot, so we ended up making flowers for the installation at work, in answer to the question Lisca asked the other week, my workplace is a charity that does creative art courses as well as owning two narrowboats - hence the boat statement, I literally work in the office space in what was originally a boat house.  

On Saturday I wanted to do a giant origami flower, which literally took hours, but was very pleased with the effect afterwards. 

We also did some smaller ones on sticks, the little detail in the middle really finishes them off.  This is for an art installation that we will be showcasing at the end of August we need in excess of a thousand flowers to make it work so it is all hands on deck for the flowers. 

Hubby popped out to grab a few things from the supermarket and when he came back I'd made some giant tissue flowers.  I really loved making these. 

Said 17 year old went to his girlfriends on Sunday and we just chilled out. 

On Monday night we attended a pottery class including said 17 year old's girlfriend and learnt how to make a coil pot.  I think my pottery career is officially over but we had a giggle for a couple of hours which is always lovely.  The blue flower style one at the top is mine and the yellow one below said 17 year old's girlfriend. 

Said 17 year old made this pot

and hubby made this one complete with the cutest snake in the bottom

The rest of the week has been mighty busy with work, but great fun at the same time.  

I had a positive meeting with my diploma tutor on Wednesday and I'm nearing the end of the course, hopefully three more meetings and I will be done. 

And that my lovely people really is about all for this week, it has been far too hot to move! 

I hope you've had a fabulous week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, pop back and link up and we can come and visit. 

Rocking Your World Friday - 29th of 2018

Good Morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

Well last weekend we enjoyed hubbies birthday treat from February, a day away and an overnight stay in our old home town.  I booked the hotel that we had our first meal in and we had tickets for the matinee performance of Macbeth up at the castle.  

First up the view from our room was of the very beautiful St Chad's church.  A beautiful church that we occasionally popped in and had a look at and also enjoyed a Latin service many years ago. 

The reason for booking this particular hotel was due to the fact we could actually walk to the Castle, any of you remember the farce we had the last time we did this (two years ago), may recall the tale of no taxis back to the hotel which was simply miles away.  So this time I wasn't going to be scuppered.  We got up there in plenty of time and hubby tried the bargain ale that was on (last day meant price reductions).  Before the play

It was another scorching day, we were glad for the marquee to sit in before the show which proved a fabulous back drop to the play! 

I loved the bunting filled marquee - so very pretty and it was lovely to take a step back and just spend time together!

This was the view from our seats, unlike a lot of these outdoor plays where you have to take your own seating, Stafford has been holding an annual Shakespeare play for 28 years and they always provide 3 stands of seating where you book your seats.  We were on the third row, chosen in case of rain, however rain wasn't the issue this year, but the sun was.  Thankfully third row back we didn't get the sun directly on us until the last 15 minutes of the play - phew! 

The play was utterly brilliant, the actors awesome, the music element fantastic including bagpipe and Irish pipe players, drums, violinists etc.  Absolutely breathtaking, despite them having to stop the show at one point due to someone taking unwell, thankfully they did return later on.

The walk back into town wasn't quite as long as the walk up and we popped into the Wetherspoon's pub that holds such brilliant memories for us, we took my brother and sister to see Jurassic Park here when it first came back, we were in the top right hand side, the seats are still in situ where we sat - a nod back to its previous life.

They also still have the screen where the bar area is.

We then went and showered and got changed before we headed for our meal out. 

I had to giggle at my Fitbit that night, it gave me a rollercoaster badge (first time ever) which you get if you climb 125 flights of stairs in a day, obviously the walk up to the castle was a lot steeper than I remembered! 

Monday I was at the hospital for an echo cardiogram, they wanted to check my heart out before my op and this cancellation appointment came up so I went and had it done.  The lady that did it said it all looked fine (with the exception of my heart murmur, but we know about that anyway), so it looks like I'm good to go, just need to wait for operation date now.  

Wednesday saw birthday celebrations for my niece who reaches the grand old age of 19 (where do the years go).   We went out for a meal and they had put balloons on the table

My sister had been in and added more balloons and some little love hearts on the table. 

I ordered an orange and spice skinny mocktail, it was lush (so lush I had a second one). 

And managed to grab a selfie with the birthday girl

There was a little chalk sign on the table

These two were on fine form, this expression is the 'Mum are you really taking a photo without warning' expression!

So I said to sit closer together, which proved almost disastrous but resulted in much laughter - which always makes my heart sing!

And then the proper posed shot!

My sister and niece, both looking fabulous!

And the addition of my Mum who was definitely misbehaving that night - hence my sister winding her up!

Me and hubby, enough said I'm still losing weight although the pictures don't seem to be reflecting that story - I think the words - must try harder come to mind.  

And almost a whole group shot

Thursday night and we were off to the theatre on a pay what you want night seeing the play Stiffs.  We were a little confused by the pay what you want, even more confused with the 1 hour play plus Q&A afterwards, until a guy stood up before the show to explain, they were college students who had written and were performing the play, named Stiffs because they were playing two dead bodies in a morgue.  This was their debut performance prior to showing the same play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and they were wanting feedback!

They were quite honestly brilliant, we really enjoyed it, much laughter was had (always good for the soul) and although it was only an hour it really was exceptionally enjoyable and we were more than happy to hand over the pound notes at the end of the play!  

We stayed behind to complete the questionnaire (which was asking if they needed to tweak anything).

We also stayed for the Q&A session which also proved hilarious!  Brilliant to see brand new talent emerging and local colleges and venues working together to support artists.

And that my lovely people was the week that was.

I hope you've had a great week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, pop back and link up so we can come and visit. 

Rocking Your World Friday - 28th of 2018

Good morning lovely people tis time for Rocking your world - crikey where are the weeks going we are on week 28 of 2018 

First up is the garden party at Chatsworth, as members we get tickets to go as part of our membership so last Friday we headed over there, picnic in tow ready for an evening of food, music, good company and sunshine.  We were not disappointed. 

Here is my Mum, my sister and me all sat putting the world to rights

I spent the afternoon cooking gallbladder friendly picnic food - which means fat free.  The items went down a storm which was funny because I'd only taken a limited amount!  I will remember for next time though - they preferred the homemade to the shop bought! 

Me and said 17 year old had a good natter, the 'top knot' is done to his girlfriend, she did that to his hair whilst we were away and the penny dropped that it keeps him cooler, he's now growing his hair out even more so it is easier to manage with the band - Alex what have you done - LOL

The evening sunshine was stunning and it was really warm, so we got to enjoy the evening

Just to prove hubby was there too

The sunset was lovely

And whilst said 17 year old and hubby were off finding shots on the main camera, we grabbed a selfie - the sequence of photos was hysterical, this is the best of a bad bunch

Saturday was another hot day, we decided it would be 'cooler' to cook on the barbecue, but then hubby decided to do homemade pitta bread again so the oven ended up on anyway.  He has always denied his cooking genes (his Mum and Dad ran a fish and chip shop for many years), but he has a real flair for baking, you will be pleased to know he was wearing shorts, the shot made me giggle though because that wouldn't be apparent! 

I've been trialling making flowers recently, as we have a potential event happening at the end of summer at work.  These are my very first origami flowers, I really enjoyed making them, they weren't quite as difficult as I had expected.

I also made some fabric ones which were good fun, but very time consuming, strangely I seem to have omitted taking photos of them! 

I was supposed to be off on Monday, but said 17 year old had volunteered to crew a boat trip so I ended up in work, I had a very busy day Tuesday.

Wednesday I was on a course, which was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to lots of people about their respective charity work and made some good contacts, so lets see where that takes me. 

Thursday was a day 'off' but I ended up working it albeit that I was at home, mind you it was worth it for what I got done.  I also had to drop my car at the garage as she failed her MOT and needs some work, please keep your fingers crossed that I get her back today - I'm feeling relatively stranded at home at the moment, my grateful for this - hubby bringing me back home afterwards before he headed into work it would have been a mighty long walk home otherwise! 

And that brings me back to Friday, I hope you've had a fabulous week, if you fancy joining in, pop a post together, pop back and link up. 

Rocking Your World Friday - 27th of 2018

Good Afternoon I'm running late - sorry time for 

So first up hubby taking a couple of days off and us deciding to put our Chatsworth tickets through their paces.  For an absolute age we've spoken about just going with a picnic and setting up and painting/reading etc, rather than rushing around the house and garden (which is what we normally do). 

We tootled down on Friday, going past my favourite view (I always feel like I'm at the top of the world)

And as you can see gorgeous blue skies and rather hot, but we found a lovely tree to be shaded from the sun and were soon set up and ready. 

This was our view

Me and said 17 year old set too with the watercolours (bear in mind I don't technically paint - well not that sort of painting) 

I was pleasantly pleased with my finished piece - I literally beat it into submission

As usual loads of time left so I set too on the Belvedere, alas I made it too narrow and did away with a large quantity of bricks, they could have saved a fortune if I'd built it! 

Before pointing myself at the green vista

All in all I had a grand time painting on the day and definitely fancy a repeat. 

When I looked up from my seat this was my view

And as the day progressed the sun moved around

The weekend was quiet (the heat has been a tad unbearable for me if I'm honest), we had a lovely weekend overall albeit quiet. 

I'm loving all the gorgeous fruits at the moment and am enjoying a mix of fruit with Greek yogurt, honey and seeds.  I'm still following the low fat diet due to the back pain with my gallbladder, so its nice to have something sweet to eat. 

Me and hubby had a night on our own on Saturday, we were going to go out for a meal, but decided to do a banquet style meal (which usually does us for a couple of meals).  It was our take on Nandos and was lush, homemade houmous, chicken, some little potatoes and homemade pitta bread that hubby popped together - bliss! 

I managed to pick up some new trousers over the weekend, but they needed taking up (trying to keep my legs cool in this weather) so I dragged the machine out, they didn't take too long and the stretch stitch was a blessing.  

I was in work on Monday (unusually) and I've been mighty busy.  Wednesday I had my pre-assessment at the hospital, there are a couple of potential complications (blame the heart history in the family) which might mean open surgery rather than key hole but that's not a definite.  I'm now on a 6 week waiting list for an echo cardiogram and the surgery for my gallbladder will be any time after that up to 18 weeks.  In the meantime I'm going to try and shift some weight because I'm sure that will help on my recovery time and it has been on my 'to do' list for far too long.  The nurse was fabulous and really lovely, so I felt very blessed to be so well looked after which is lovely as our NHS celebrates its 70th birthday this week. 

And that my lovely people was the week that was, I hope yours has been grand, if you fancy joining in, pop a post together pop back and link up so we can come and visit.  I'm having issues with some of my comments not appearing (gremlins in the system), so I will check back to make sure they are appearing (Kate I apologise I promise faithfully that I commented).