ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 17TH OF 2022

 Good morning 

Tis Friday time for

A reflection of the positive moments and silver linings of the last seven days.

We realised as we headed into last weekend that we were most definitely burning the candle at both ends, which is quite honestly never a good thing.  So we decided not to make it a weekend full of pre-planned activities but instead to just go with the flow.  So Friday was very much of a stop and do little day, we just tootled around the house and had a nice day without anything planned. 

As we neared the end of the day we realised we might need a mini plan for the rest of the weekend to achieve balance.

We booked to go and see the Lost City film at the cinema and were very naughty and had a McDonald's breakfast before we headed into the cinema. 

The film was great, a proper action/romcom film a good laugh and great for a Sunday afternoon when it is released on DVD. 

We headed home and chilled for the rest of the day, book reading, tablet browsing and generally not doing a huge amount. 

On Sunday we booked for YSP, a good walk to blow off the cobwebs if that makes sense. 

The blue skies were awesome and the globe looked brilliant

Selfie with the bluebells which were looking particularly good

They really are the prettiest up close. 

Back at work on Monday, I worked from home than Tuesday and Wednesday I was in the office.  

Said 21 year old had his final hand in for his final year of his degree this week.  Weirdly because he has absolutely chipped away with it week on week, he really wasn't stressed and by Wednesday he had handed in, a full 24 hours early.  I cannot explain the pride in the fact that our son has finished his degree, something neither myself nor his Dad had the opportunity to do.  Being dyslexic the written word is not always easy for him, but he has persevered and despite this learning disability he absolutely nailed the dissertation.  We are incredibly proud, we just hope now that he gets the results we believe he deserves given his work ethic.  

The grand plan was to have a day of TOIL yesterday as I'd accumulated a lot of time to take back, but it didn't quite pan out so we ended up in the office until around 1.30pm.  

However, we did get home and with theatre booked for last night had time to grab a shower.  Hubby called to see if there was any availability for pre-theatre dining and we were pleased to find that they had availability so me, hubby and my Mum headed out for a 5.30pm sitting.

The food was absolutely amazing this was the main  which was pork belly

this was my dessert the ice cream was chocolate

Mum and hubby had a warmed bakewell with a raspberry sorbet 

The food and the company was excellent, I had a good natter with my Mum which was lovely and we put the world to rights as always and then we headed off to the theatre to watch Last of the Summer Wine which was excellent and gave us all a good giggle. 

And that my lovely people who don't visit these days because I've had to make my blog private which means it rarely appears to those, even those that have been invited lol.  Is that. 

I do wonder sometimes if I should revert it back to public in the (I should not be defeated), but to be honest.  The privacy it provides does give me some solace mentally so for now it will remain hidden. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 16TH OF 2022

 Morning time to clock the positives from the last seven days

First up my lovely desk from my childhood, which is looking particularly spring like at the moment

How happy are these violas

Next up a trip to Cannon Hall, it is many many years since we last went (said 21 year old eventually grew out of it if that makes sense).  But I spotted that they were doing a Wonderland trail for Easter and well anyone that knows me knows how much I love Alice so off we went.  The trail wasn't big and seemed to incorporate monsters as well, which initially didn't make sense, but it was great fun

Hubby sat having a story read to him by yours truly lol

The signage was fab

And the drink me bottles in the trees

The croquet 'lawn' not quite the same

But I loved the hedgehog sat in top 

and the mallets

The chessboard was large rather than giant

The Cheshire cat was definitely my favourite

Look at that smile

and the fantastic handbag it was made from -simply genius upcycling

I also loved the giant flowers, reusing old lamp shades

We also enjoyed a wander around the hall and came across this 'scrapbook' for the late 1800s with hand painted 'monsters' on it  - hence the original trail 

They'd recently re-interpreted the monsters with some new 3d printed ones

The rooms were very pretty

Upstairs there were some interesting art pieces - I spy me

Outside we came across some sculptures that we'd seen recently in Barnsley

I loved this wire sculpture in the walled garden

Then back to the Alice trail for a selfie with the flowers

The rest of the weekend was lovely, we did YSP on Sunday taking said future daughter-in-law as she is finishing her art degree and it is nice for her to see some new artwork in person if that makes sense.  It was a decent walk, afterwards we popped to see my Mum and caught up with my sister which was lovely. 

Monday and the sun shone again, so we headed to Wentworth Woodhouse for a wander around the garden which was fantastic as always, lots of new things flowering since the last time we visited.

And that was what turned out to be quite a busy Easter weekend, we went back to work on Tuesday a little on the tired side. 

Tuesday night we went to the City Hall in Sheffield to see Ed Gamble, he was really funny

and last night we went to Cineworld to see NT Live Henry V with my Mum

It was a really good adaptation, but with far too many subtitles, I had no idea that Shakespeare had written half a play in French - but there you go.

If anyone happens by, hope you've had a grand week. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 15TH OF 2022

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

So first up on my list last Thursday night we went out for pre-theatre dining and the theatre, with my Mum (Mother's day gift) and my sister.  I wrote a poem after the event - please feel free to scroll on down, if it isn't for you.

Guys and Dolls

We set off at ten to five as promised

Arrived to find Mum all ready

Melanie nowhere to be seen

Apparently this 'out' thing isn't her these days

More comfy in gym wear than make up and a dress

"I'm going to give her back the leather jacket"

Mum declares

I nod like it makes sense,

She's walking around now 

(She's not I think in my head, I would have seen her)

Eventually Mum retrieves the leather jacket

and we wander out

Melanie appears just after I've helped Mum in the car

Minus a jacket which technically I'm holding

She looks lovely, they both do, 

Dressed up for a night out 

We park up in a disabled bay and use Mum's blue badge

Across the road the restaurant awaits

I wonder which table we'll get 

As normally it is just us two

We get the corner one which is lovely

Water appears and bread fairly quickly

Mum and Melanie seeking recommendations 

Mum spots the wine list

"Oooooh wine" she declares

After a while of perusing she says she wants the malbec

but it only comes in bottles not glasses

I have visions of us trying to stuff the other half of the bottle in a bag

She orders cabernet sauvignon and let's the waiter know to keep an eye open for her empty glass

Which makes us giggle 

We sit and chat

Melanie plays out the pretty woman scene when she sees far too many knives and forks on the table

We chat and catch up 

Talking Holly Willow-booby curtains and boocle woolly ones of all things

And Melanie sledding two bins through Dunelms

Provides mental images like no other 

Starter arrives

Cod and chorizo fishcake for Craig and Mum on a bed of roasted red pepper sauce

Melanie and I have gone for sourdough stilton rarebit with wild mushrooms and red wine jus 

We munch our way through and soon the plates are getting empty

Melanie tucks into her bread as they come to remove starters

"Are we done"

We obviously aren't as Melanie is eating her bread

The water waitress wanders past again

But our glasses are still full

Eventually we are finished and they clear the plates 

The restaurant has filled and it is lovely to sit and relax

Melanie has been to the hairdressers 

So for once her new 'do' gets an outing that doesn't involve the gym or work

Even her hairdresser celebrated apparently 

Main is lamb for all of us with fondant potato and black olive tapanade and green beans which I would have cooked longer

We soon polish off the food 

Melanie concerned she finished her's too fast but Craig is finished at the same time 

Pudding is a strange choice and even weirder when it arrived

We all ignore the overly sweet sticky toffee pudding with a syrup

Mum and Craig plump for apple tart, custard and ice cream

Yes and ice cream

Melanie and I go for the dessert with the longest name but we picked up the words chocolate so in our words

"It'll do" 

The fork and spoon are placed on the table in a knife and fork kind of way

Mum immediately places them together above the invisible plate

"That's not right" she says

We giggle

Mum was spending her time trying to get the eye of the wine waiter

The dessert waitress gets told to tell him her glass is empty

He comes over

Takes the order

And then arrives back with dessert 

"I haven't forgotten your wine" he states

Placing down their dessert

We can't see the apple tart as it has been drowned in custard

A blob of rapidly melting ice cream on top

But Melanie and I are far too engrossed in our plate of chocolatey goodness 

The wine appears

"Will you be wanting any more madam?" he asks

We tell him no although I think she's tempted. 

It's heading up 7 we know we shouldn't order coffees but decide what the hell and go for it

Mum is still drinking her wine so declines the hot drink offer 

Craig pays the bill

A few breaks to the toilet and the clock is almost at 7.15

We hurry over the road but there are still plenty milling around

Guys and Dolls a musical

"I wonder if we will know many of the songs" my Mum asks

I spot the 'end time' clock on entrance and inwardly groan

10.15pm - I mean that's three hours of being sung at. 

I hope they are good. 

It has to be said that the stage set is very good

I quite liked some of the outfits even the pink tartan suit one of the chaps is wearing

It turns out there is varying degrees of singing ability 

I daren't look at Mum

I know she keeps peering at Melanie in a WTF kind of way

Melanie tries not to be drawn into it

As a row of 4 we realise that the actors can probably see our faces

and our frowns

So after 20 minutes of sheer bewilderment

We attempt to change our facial features to something resembling enjoyment

That proves challenging 

All of the chaps seem to have decent voices

However, Guys and Dolls is set in New York

So a twangy New York Yorkshire accent with the odd blast of Barnsley keeps appearing

They sing in the same twangy New York accent 

Which I think should involve the chewing of gum

One of the characters is a hefty chap who appears on stage eating

In every scene, 

We clock the donut, the wrap, the muffin, an apple and the strudle 

After we wonder if the weight gain has occurred this week only 

after all there are 6 performances. 

Overall things are doing great,

Until we hit the mission hall

Sarah the lead character and one of the love interests proves to have an unusual voice

the kind that shatters glasses and makes dogs howl and cats on edge

At one point we do wonder if she is going to stop singing

Mum considers turning down her hearing aid

We wondered if she might consider turning it off

It doesn't help that the row in front have started to giggle

We can tell from the general up and down nature of the shoulder shake 

Eventually they must realise Mum needs more wine

So they stop singing and the curtains close

We escape for a while

Me and Melanie need the toilet

Apparently Mum needs the bar 

We buy coffee 

Although to be honest there will be no sleeping in this performance

Not with that noise

I buy maltesers

We find Mum nursing a glass of wine. 

And then off we go for part two

We inwardly groan when the woman from the mission comes on

We know she's going to sing again

Mum did wonder whether she realised she was tone deaf during the interval. 

The best part of the musical is when the finale song appears at 10.01pm 

They manage to finish early, 

Does that mean they sang faster.

This is the stage set which was very good and made use of the space they had. 

On Friday we booked to go to see the new Fantastic Beasts film at one of the early showings, it is a great film which I really enjoyed Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne are superb actors in their respective roles, but it will never beat my favourite Harry Potter. 

On Saturday I had been invited by my future daughter-in-law to go with her and her Mum and Nan wedding dress shopping in Holmfirth, she had booked a specific appointment so we had a couple of hours of her trying on dresses, she looked amazing in all of them but there was a definite 'one' that made us all teary and needless to say that was the one that left the shop with us.  I felt very honoured and privileged to be asked to go along for such a special occasion. 

The scenery on the way there and back was beautiful, Yorkshire is often referred to as God's own country 

Afterwards we had a wander around Holmfirth, the home of the TV series Last of the Summer Wine

Sunday I had a spring wreath class booked with my Mum, my sister and my future daughter-in-laws Mum. 

This was my Mum in the session

this is my finished wreath hung on my door. 

 

my sister got a photo taken of the four of us 

So as you can tell I had an amazing weekend which I really enjoyed.  The rest of the week has been a bit of a blur it has to be honest. 

However, I have to give thanks for the positives of yesterday our business planning day.  It is something that I lead on, which means I can feel very stressed about the potential success/failure of the day before hand and try as I might I just didn't seem to be able to get the agenda together until the 11th hour (also known as 8.25pm on Wednesday evening).  However, it was a fantastic day which I really enjoyed, everyone seemed to get something positive from the day, we had some fantastic contributions and overall I have to say I think it was the best business planning day. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend, Easter and week ahead. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 14TH OF 2022

 Morning all tis Friday time for

Well let's note the positives from the last 7 days, first up is catching up on scrapbooking, I'm determined to catch up which involves in the first instance catching up on 2021 to begin with, I've had great fun doing layouts recently. 

I was unsure about this one but it turned out to be one of my favourites. 

and this is the current stack of 2021 I have about 13 layouts still to complete and then I can get them put away in albums and make a start on 2022. 

Strangely last weekend we had nothing planned (I know most unlike us), we spent a few hours at my Mum's on Friday catching up and putting the world to rights and caught up with my sister. 

On Saturday we decided to have a split day of jobs around the house and garden and then a chilled out afternoon. 

Hubby cleared the moss off the extension room and cleaned out the guttering, I cleared out the garden store, he also trimmed the little conifers on the front and we both tidied up afterwards. 

In the afternoon I made some scrapbook layouts. 

Hubby made a very very naughty dessert of a bread and butter pudding but made with hot cross buns and we had it with vanilla ice cream. 

Sunday we woke and had booked to go to YSP, we did the long route despite the fact that there is nothing in the long gallery which we recently learned is actually owned by the Arts Council. 

Selfie with the Love sculpture 

The lake looked beautiful with the blue skies, but the wind was decidedly bracing. 

We stopped for a rest at the top of the David Nash steps and enjoyed the sky above us

We saw the original Andy Goldsworthy hanging trees

and came across one of the felled trees from recent storm damage

The man is still up on the hill 

The highland cows said hello

We could see the new Andy Goldsworthy piece from a fair distance

and we were pleased to find it wasn't fully enclosed (he has another piece in the park that is and it drives hubby nuts). 

Other happy moments is just having time with hubby we genuinely have spent a huge amount of time recently laughing and it makes my heart sing. 

Spending time with my future daughter in law also makes me feel very blessed

Said 21 year old still grafting really hard with his final brief for Uni and holding down 2 jobs - I really could not be prouder of him. 

I hope you have had a lovely week.