Rocking Your World Friday - 9th of 2020

Good morning lovely people tis Friday and time for 

Well last Friday we had my Mum's 70th birthday party planned and what a lovely evening it was with family and friends travelling from far and wide to come and celebrate

Here is the birthday girl chatting with her brother on the left and a family friend in the centre

One of my Uncle's and two Aunty's in this photo

Then a fab group shot with lots and lots of cousins and family members. 

Just cousins on this one, we weren't all there but it was fab to have a fair few that could pose for a photo

The rest of the weekend was relatively normal.  We had a catch up with my Mum on the Saturday and brought home cake (which was nom). 

We watched Six Nations Rugby and just chilled for the rest of Saturday.

Sunday we managed a trip to YSP (always a favourite) and popped for more cake from my Mums, (it was two layers and each layer was a different flavour, chocolate orange on the top and Victoria sponge at the bottom). 

And made a super speedy roast dinner.

All together a really lovely weekend and much needed with the essential walk in the middle as I've really missed them. 

The rest of the week has been mighty busy and a little on the quiet side of an evening, my iron reserves are low (again) and I'm finding that I'm dosing earlier in the evening because I'm so tired, but its been a good week.  Said 19 year old visited his girlfriend for a few days at her uni.

I've also officially finished 2017 scrapbook layouts (so many) 

So am now frantically sorting photos so I can sort the next lot that need scrapping. 

And that my lovely people was my week. 

If you fancy joining in pop a post together come back and link up and we can come and visit. 

Rocking Your world Friday - 8th of 2020

Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for

Well it has been a very very quiet week overall, we went from the craziness of Storm Ciara to the equally awful Storm Dennis, I'm not so sure about naming these storm as they really aren't nice, high winds lots and lots of rain and to be honest we really didn't want to move much.

Hubby took last Friday off given that it was Valentine's day, but more so that it was his birthday (and my Mums).  We had arranged an impromptu breakfast catch up at Ikea to start the day off right.

So photo of the birthday girl with lil bro, as she reached a milestone birthday

We had a lovely catch up and my sister had kept it a surprise so my Mum was a little overwhelmed and teary at first, there was a present exchange given that we had two birthday people around the table and we had a thoroughly good catch up. 

At home hubby had treated me to the most exquisite flowers and I used them in a red vase to make a change. 

They really are beautiful and are still going strong at the moment.  

The rest of the weekend was quiet, we shared a meal from the Chinese takeaway on hubby's birthday and had a meal deal for two on Saturday night rather than going out. 

Hubby got some new films for his birthday and with no six nation's rugby being played he had time to watch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Ad Astra, I used the time to scrapbook, still ploughing through 2017 photos I'm now up to around July, so I'm doing well all things considered, I am going to have to consider the next photo order at this rate which will be hard work because the photo folders are quite honestly in a mess, but it's of my own doing, so I'll just keep on plodding with them.  I therefore sort of half watched the films, both very strange and very thought provoking if truth be told.

Work has been technically quiet due to half term but that has just meant more intensive days which means I come home feeling very tired albeit mental tiredness. 

I am enjoying scrapbooking again but I am irritated that the weather is scuppering plans to go out and do things at weekends and we have another front of high winds for this weekend.  

And that my lovely people is the week that was, if you fancy joining in pop a post together come back and link up so we can come and visit.  

Rocking Your world Friday - 7th of 2020

Crikey the weeks are fair tripping along and with storm Ciara I have to be brutally honest and tell you that my photo taking this last week has been none existant as we battened the hatches at what feels like a curious time of year for storms, added to which we have the delight of Storm Dennis this weekend, why do these storms always pick the weekends to be problematic anyway without further ado it's time for

On a positive, we haven't suffered any damage and neither have our neighbours and we haven't had any snow unlike others slightly further south and slightly further north of us. 

So what have we been doing this last week, well Friday and Saturday were monumental days spent clearing my mother in laws house, hubby had managed to get a skip ordered and so we headed over there first thing Friday and set too.  We were methodical, he had already cleared the loft, so we started in the first bedroom and worked our way through the house  To say it was so tiny there was so much stuff to sort through and it wasn't just a matter of getting rid of everything, we needed to check to make sure there wasn't anything sentimental that hubby or said 19 year old wanted to keep and I can tell you we were at it all day Friday and by tea time, the skip (which was huge) was full and the upstairs was completely cleared - no mean feat.  We could not have done it without my sister, my Mum and said 19 year old's help, so I am immensely grateful for such an awesome family. 

Saturday we returned, a brand new empty skip on the drive and set too on the downstairs, working our way through the porch and then the living room before finally sorting the kitchen.  Along the way said 19 year old mowed the front and back lawns, sorted out some borders and cleared the path and driveway, so not only was the house completely empty (and clean) but so was the external part of the property.  The next task is to put it on the market, but it marked a turning point for us as a family and hubby heaved a sigh of relief when it was done.  Thankfully the return journey on Saturday meant that we weren't there all day and managed to get home, showered and changed in time for the six nations rugby. 

Six nations always means scrapbooking time and for those that have been following my blog you will know I'm on a mission to try and get up to date with my scrapbooking, no mean feat when you realise that my last filed scrapbook layouts were 2015.  Thankfully I'm now up to the summer of 2017 so I'm making great progress.  Thankfully I've had a few inspirations when it has come to putting kits together recently which makes a big difference.  I put huge kits together and then work through them until I'm left with only enough to create either embellishments to use in the future or birthday cards.  So I had a lovely afternoon working through the papers and making some serious headway.  I'm hoping to complete what I've done within the next couple of weeks and then believe it or not I'll be looking at my next photo order and I'm going to be ruthless because I always have printed far too many prints to use and then because I hate disposing of photos I keep the spares which obviously take up room.

A few of the layouts I've done recently 

Sunday was definitely a day of rest on the whole, we bought some food but once home we settled into TV/film watching, rugby and scrapbooking and it was thoroughly lovely, particularly given how awful it was outside. 

I've caught up with said 19 year old's girlfriend this week as well so that's another positive, as you know she is away at university but her sister has just had a baby and she had a family birthday so came back for a few days, her and said 19 year old have spent as much time as possible together which has been lovely for them and I've enjoyed catching up, she is just so very lovely.

Work has been hard work but I'm making some good solid progress, I had a bit of a wobble on Tuesday which I think was mainly down to being unwell with a cold from hell that I can't shake off, if I'm honest by the time I got home I was very teary and maxed out and ended up having a good bawl and curling up on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, however, I dusted myself off on Wednesday and had a focus and a much better day.  I caught up with said 19 year old as his girlfriend had headed back to uni and hubby went to silversmithing class and hubby bought me a bar of chocolate to cheer me up so that was naughty but also very nice, sometimes I think you need a down in the dumps day to then come back up if that makes sense, don't get me wrong the cold is still here but my focus shifted slightly which improved things. 

And then we find ourselves at thursday, a thursday where I will be attempting (and possibly failing) to sort some birthday gifts out for said hubby, I've sorted main present but there isn't anything to open per se, so I'm off for a venture around the local shopping centre - wish me luck because I'm not one for shopping centre's at the best of times!

If you fancy joining in pop a post together come back and link up and we can come and visit.

Rocking Your World Friday - 6th of 2020

Good morning tis Friday time for

So last Friday I had a lovely catch up with my sister, she has been having a rough time of it recently and so it was good to catch up and put the world to rights.  She is making progress albeit very slowly.  

Saturday found us up and out of bed early as we had planned to head to York for their Ice Trail which was held over the weekend.  Unlike last year when we had had a touch of snow and were still suffering an amount of ice, this years was very windy and warm and obviously warm isn't something that you want for ice sculptures.  However, we got up their early and set too with the trail, slightly fewer this year than last year but still 40 to find spread all over the city.  

The level of detail always amazes me, such skill.  We had a lovely day together and by the time we'd finished the trail we had clocked in excess of 19,000 steps on my fitbit, so we went home happy but exhausted.  

My favourite sculptures from the day were probably the one that encased the white rose, which was stunning and Luna Lovegood's spectacles (from Harry Potter) outside an optician. 

This was the first one we found

Grouch was definitely melting fast, his bin was full of water

Luna Lovegood's spectacles

The rose

The city was buzzing at the end of the trail and we headed to the Castle Museum cafe when we came fully circle to our starting point, a bowl of leek and potato soup followed by a cup of tea were very welcome as you can imagine.  

We then decided (as we'd done the trail at a fair old pace) to head back and have a wander up and down the Shambles in York.  Obviously the Shambles is famous throughout the world but it definitely makes me giggle these days there are more and more shops selling all things Harry Potter that it has a real feel of Diagon Alley these days, including a new potions shop where you can get a hot chocolate with a chocolate frog on top.

It was busy as always

Our last stopping point had ice sculptures and this fabulous Gryffindor flag

We also came across a couple supporting their artist son and selling his prints, he trained as an architect but is now an artist and sells the most amazing prints/cards/coasters etc with a different take on a cityscape here is the link if fancy a look.  Needless to say I bought some of the cards as I'm still filling in gaps on the stairs, so will be on the look out for frames in the next couple of weeks.

We started the trail at Clifford's tower, always a site to behold in the middle of such an iconic city. 

Ended up on the edge of the river admiring the apartments across the way in the all mill building. 

And found this on our travels - it reminded us of Saltaire. 

Sunday was apparently a day of rest after our epic walk on Saturday, but to be honest we spent so long preparing foodstuffs for Sunday and the rest of the week, it didn't feel like we had too much time on our hands.  Hubby watched the rugby, catching up on the two games from Saturday and watching the England match live, he was frustrated with the England match to say the very least, but with final places at the Rugby world Cup, the issue with the Saracens pay cap and relegation and the supporters expectations it was obviously too much for them.  All I can say is thank goodness for Johnny May.

I've thoroughly enjoyed getting back into my scrapbooking recently, I'm churning layouts out at a merry old pace, having completed 2016 photos, I'm now ploughing on at a good rate of pace with 2017 photos, once they are done (and there are about 80 that need doing), I will set too on the 2018 photos and have the task of starting to sort the photos from that year, when I let everything go to pot and didn't sort my photo folders out.  More fool me for causing this issue if I'm honest, because it is going to take some sorting.  However on the plus side I will be happy to get everything ship shape on that front, being one of my new year resolutions, I do actually feel like I'm making good progress, so go me. 

Other positives this week, my gorgeous flowers that I picked up at the beginning of the week, hubby helping with an epic food shop.  Volunteers to help empty my Mum-in-laws house as we need to get it on the market and it isn't going to empty itself!

And that my lovely people is my lot from this week, I hope you've had a grand week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together come back and link up and we can come and visit.