ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 52ND OF 2022

 Good morning and here we are once more at the 52nd Rocking post of the year so let's see what silver lining and positive moments I have to share this week. 

So last Friday was our second full day off and is officially my 'better sort the Christmas table' day.  This year I went for a red and green theme for the table, with a little bit of tweaking and a few small additions it looked very festive all set out.  

as you can see

Christmas morning and we weren't up too early I got this lovely shot of said 22 year old on Christmas morning. 

Me and hubby managed an antler shot before everyone arrived. 

Said 22 year old helped in the kitchen including making his own version of pigs in blankets (these are made with normal sausages and bacon and are huge and very very tasty). 

The table looked even better lit and the food went absolutely according to plan, in fact we could not have planned it better.  It was definitely helped by said 22 year old assisting. 

The queue for Christmas dinner, I never put food out for anyone and so everyone comes to help themselves, that way they can get exactly what they want and not feel over full afterwards.  My sister who is second from the right in the photo had to go and do a 3pm - 7pm shift which with travel time and handover was more like 2.20pm - 8pm shift but we had her company before and after her shift and I got her main meal served up before she headed to work which was definitely a plus. 

Hubby flamed the homemade Christmas pudding as is tradition in our house

once my sister had returned we had a mass present unwrapping session and had been joined by my niece's other half and said 22 year old's fiancee. 

We had a lovely time unwrapping presents and me and hubby have amply added to our reading pile. 

Boxing day is always 'pig table' day at my Mum's duly named for the quantity of pork products on the same, hot roast pork sandwiches, pork pie, sausage rolls, she kept the quiche pig free this year making a cheese and onion quiche and to finish she had made her homemade trifle which was quite honestly divine.  We had a lovely catch up again with family and my brother brought me a gift he has been working on for quite some time (I won't mention the number of years), this is Audrey II from the Little Shop of Horror and its jaw genuinely opens and closes, I genuinely love it. 

My sister managed to get a shot of some of us on Boxing day which was great. 

We were due to go to Chatsworth on Tuesday but to be honest me and hubby were genuinely shattered, so we had a true kick back day, we just sat reading, watched some TV and generally had a lovely day doing very little. 

Wednesday we hadn't scheduled anything in as we were expecting to potentially go in for foodbank but thankfully we'd doubled up last week so that hasn't been necessary, so we had another relatively chilled day, although we had to take my Mum to the hospital for her blood test prior to her treatment.  

We had a cuppa when we got back to hers and caught up with my sister, we put the world to rights for a couple of hours which was lovely. 

Then headed home for a simple tea (cheese and biscuits) and watching a rugby match followed by the Glass Onion film on Netflix, which was really good. 

Today (Thursday), we've finally blown off the post-Christmas cobwebs by going for a walk around YSP and tonight we are heading out to Yorkshire Wildlife Park (again). 

I hope your Christmas has been lovely and that you've enjoyed the festive season and had time for yourself, time with family and time with friends. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 51ST OF 2022

 Morning all, tis Friday time for 

Well it has been a funny old week if I'm honest and sometimes life throws a few curve balls, I find given my personal history I'm a bit naughty in catastrophizing situations (walking worst case scenario), which is a really bad habit.  I'm trying really hard to live in the here and now rather than dwelling on the past of or on making assumptions for the future.  So here I am reflecting only on the last week before I get back into my world of being in the moment. 

We got said 22 year old's digital graduation photos through recently,  which I don't think I've shared (apologies if I have).  

We've also received the last one as an actual framed photo in a lovely frame, I need to get some frames for them but they are really lovely. 

We discovered last year that hubby loves making Christmas cake but hates decorating them in any way shape or form, so we've come up with a cunning plan, hubby makes the cake, I marzipan and ice the cake and said 22 year old decorates them, so he will be on with them in the next day or so. 

We went out for our works do last week, it was a really lovely evening and a lovely meal and I think we scrub up OK don't we. 

Here is the crew

from both ends of the table, including partners

We've enjoyed sitting in front of a toasty fire a few nights this week which has been lovely. 

Now I've given these out to work colleagues I made these for a Christmas gift, a chocolate orange covered in maltesers with white chocolate on the same and some icing, I wrapped them in cellophane and handed them out.  I genuinely struggled to find things to make on my pinterest board, everything seems to be food related.  

This week has been a little mad, we've been in work for 3 days solid, working on creating 50 Christmas hampers, for families, the elderly and the disabled.  It was an epic task spending a large amount of grant money to create a hamper that will provide a Christmas meal for people and the outpouring of positivity has been quite overwhelming if I'm honest and made all the hard work (and it was definitely hard work), worthwhile.

and then I find myself on Friday, Christmas Eve Eve as my sister likes to call it.

I hope you have a beautiful and blessed Christmas if you celebrate.

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 50TH OF 2022

 Morning all tis Friday time for

Well we had a lovely day on Friday we headed to NT Nostell for a day of slowing the season down and enjoying some time together. 

First stop was the coffee shop, with its beautiful decorations, we enjoyed a breakfast butty and a cuppa. 

We saw the beautiful gingerbread village 

and explored the house

we even saw the man himself

and enjoyed seeing the dolls house decorated with festive trimmings

I enjoyed reading by the fire over the weekend, even thought it is a children's book it was pure escapism which I read in one sitting. 

the fire has been a true blessing

particularly when you wake to a winter wonderland

I made gifts for staff at work

and Saturday I went and did a wreath class with my Mum and my future daughter-in-laws Mum (it should also have been my sister but she was poorly). 

I loved making my wreath

and also managed (with the help of Sue who ran the class) to make my sisters too

My Mum is doing amazing at the moment, look at that smile! 

The rest of the week has tripped along at a merry old pace, we are ridiculously busy at work and despite it technically being our last week in before the festive break, most staff are of the view we will be in for some of next week. 

I hope you've had a lovely week

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 49TH OF 2022

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for

Well first up is my crazy 22 year old and his fiancee got handed the task of putting activity packs together for work, they changed the brown bags to reindeers and wrapped every single item inside, which was mad but they really wanted to make them special, apparently they wrapped in excess of 900 items! 

We had a whole day in work on Saturday doing Santa boat trips, he is the man himself with his two elves 'Elf and Safety'

We had a brilliant day albeit that it was really tiring. 

When we got home we walked around the corner to the Christmas market and Christmas tree festival which was lovely. 

The trees were all country related, the Irish Leprechaun was cute

and I loved the flemenco dancer made from a dolly peg, pipe cleaner and muffin cases

outside the large nativity set is fully set up, in previous years, they've had Mary on a donkey until Christmas eve but this year they've put the whole thing out which looks amazing next to the church. 

Sunday was a rest day, plus it was raining so we made the most of being in the house. 

Monday I had the day off and we bottomed out some of the major jobs that needed doing, finishing off the decorations, inside and out, sending my Christmas cards and a parcel that needed to go, getting the Christmas boxes back in the loft and a food shop, it was a busy day but it means we have little left on the list still to do. 

The rest of the week has tripped along at a merry old pace as normal and I find myself at Friday already.  I hope you've had a good week. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 48TH OF 2022

 Good morning lovely people tis time for 

So last Friday we had a tootling day around the house, catching up with jobs etc, which is always therapeutic and in the evening we headed out to Barnsley to their Bright Nights, they'd switch the lights on the night before but still had lots of things to wander around and enjoy but first of all we enjoyed a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte which was lovely 

the square outside was sporting this pretty amazing LED Christmas tree

Inside one of the main shopping centres had these beautiful lights inside which were stunning

We wandered into the library to see some geometric artwork lit by a blacklight

The Cooper gallery had a brain imaging artwork made from glass

then down to the college to see Luma and interactive giant snail that the kids were absolutely loving. 

Saturday we went to Yorkshire Wildlife Park, me hubby, said 22 year old and his fiancee.  The weather held and we had a fabulous walk around

Loving the green artwork

this was a fun activity

and I loved this sculpture

The rainbow of hearts was awesome

and the dinosaurs were really fun

the whale

and the light tunnel were stunning

we managed to grab a selfie in the lit tunnel

I loved the colours

we had such a lovely evening,  Sunday was more of a kickback day which we really enjoyed and had a walk around the locality and enjoyed a pint in the pub which hubby enjoyed (I don't drink). 

I really enjoyed I'm a Celebrity, goodness knows what I'm going to watch now it has finished, but it has been fun. 

The rest of the week has been busy busy with work, we popped to my Mum's and sisters to retrieve decorations out of the loft for both of them so they can get their trees up.  We also started to put our decorations up as it always takes so long, and we have been continuing all week. 

I hope you've had a good week. 

Hugs