ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 31ST OF 2025

 Good evening lovely people, I'm late but it is at least still Friday time for

Well last Friday hubby got his new car (new to us), our old Astra was starting to struggle so we'd taken the leap to find something newer and now have a Ford Fiesta, he is still getting used to the new car but it is nice to have finally sorted this fairly major job out. 

Last Friday he also dug out a ceanothus, I was sad to see it go, but it was a £2 buy from a local supermarket and to be honest I definitely planted it in the wrong place and it had gone mad, I had no idea how extensive the roots would be by now already, so note to self, don't plant shrubs into the garden because they soon grow and can become invasive.  We also managed to get rid of the debris to the tip before we got the new car (so the old astra took the strain phew). 

On Saturday we had a lovely visit from our son and d-in-law, who asked if she could come to Christmas dinner, which was such a lovely surprise.  The last two years despite being married, they have still gone to their respective family homes for dinner, but this year with a little one on the way they want to be together which is fine by us. 

We also got the TV room thoroughly deep cleaned, it was in need of a good fettle so we set too with hoover and dusters and set to work and the room feels so much better. 

Sunday we had book club, but no one had read the book (except me), so we chatted and art journalled and scrapbooked and junk journalled and whatever else we fancied doing which was lovely. 

Also hubby made bread which was great, a mix of white and granary, the house smelt amazing!

Monday through to Wednesday was work, but a huge shout out to hubby who drove the van for work three days running volunteering, moving 3 tonnes of food - he really is awesome. 

Wednesday was also an epic day as hubby managed to sell said 24 year old car that he'd stored on our drive for some time, because it was out of sight out of mind he kept forgetting to sort it so hubby finally took the reigns, got him a good price, got rid of it and then weeded the drive with his new flamethrower (it's not its a burner for weeds but I've referred to it as a flame thrower since he got it).  So when I got home there were now only 2 cars on the drive and no weeds definitely a happy day. 

Thursday we were at our son and d-in-laws home, hubby was sorting the cooker hood out for them and I was papering and touching up paint work that was looking tired.  Genuinely chuffed with what we got done yesterday and so were they (although hubby was a little knackered once done after his epic 4 days). 

 

Due to a lack of photos I thought I would share this, our son and his dog Poppy who really wanted to catch the toy as he whizzed it around and made us giggle a lot when we looked at the photos afterwards. 

And that my lovely people was my week. 

I hope yours has been beautiful and blessed with some fabulous silver linings through it. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 29TH OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

Well I'm sure you will have caught up on our escapades at the weekend as said 22 year old married the love of his life in the most beautiful of ceremonies. 

But let's start with last Friday, both me and hubby were off so we headed to the venue to assist and help on the preparation.  

We sorted table decorations and aisle decorations and sorted a giant flower ring and worked diligently until the whole room was sorted, it took us some hours.  

We then headed home and sorted out the sweets for the sweet table, initially with pretty papers on boxes before I changed my mind and started sterilising jars instead and then in the early evening we headed back to the venue to get things sorted. 

My now daughter in law arrived (as she'd been working all day) and was very emotional to see everything ready, she was really pleased and hadn't really been able to visualise it. 

The day of the wedding said 22 year old had stayed overnight with us, the first time he had since officially moving out when they got their flat back in February. 

We had an incredibly leisurely morning, he went shopping for a few things, collected his best man, visited both his Grandad's graves, dropped things at the venue and was still all ready for 1.15pm when the videographer turned up. 

We headed to the venue not long after, caught up with lots of family and then the ceremony itself. 

At this point, the nerves hadn't kicked in.  They had a violinist play their favourite music (Linkin Park, Bring me the Horizon etc) and then the bride arrived. 

I don't think I've ever been to such an emotional wedding, we genuinely were all crying tears of joy, the whole service was beautiful and soon they were posing as man and wife for their wedding photos. 

Here they are with my niece (the chief bridesmaid/maid of honour) and my niece's other half who was the best man. 

The weather was appalling but we had photographers and videographers who were used to fighting with the British weather and genuinely just made the most of the gaps in the clouds. 

Photo of my first cousin on the right, her daughter on my left and my Mum

The happy couple

Me and the hubster, we polished up OK

My fascinator genuinely didn't last very long

and the wedding cake

My sister, my Mum and me

My niece and my sister

We had the very best of days, so much love and laughter. 

We enjoyed a cream tea, then in the evening their was a hot buffet and a DJ with my sister and my new daughter in law dancing the night away with my niece and her other half. 

We finally headed home early into Sunday morning, got home, changed and ate warmed up pizza in bed as we genuinely couldn't remember eating that much during the day. 

Sunday my niece and sister came over for a pancake breakfast. 

We saw the newlyweds a couple of times before they headed off for their honeymoon in Cornwall.  

And we've been recovering from it all week, I hadn't realised just how stressed out I'd got before the big day, but it really was the very best of days. 

I hope you've all had a lovely week. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 9TH OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for

Ok so I know I touched on this last week but I thought I'd document it fully today.  So last Friday was the official moving day of said 22 year old, technically they'd had the keys

since Wednesday and slept on airbeds for two nights, but last Friday, me, hubby said 22 year old and from mid-morning my sister were available to move the items from the said family homes of son and fiancee to their new abode. 

Said 22 year old's fiancee hadn't actually seen the property in person before they moved in (work commitments simply did not allow), so I was concerned (because we had seen it), that she might not like it, however she sent me this picture post lots of tears of happiness, which genuinely made me smile

it didn't take long before they were cleaning

so on Friday we had a van booked for 11.30am (earliest they could do) and so we spent the first few hours at home moving furniture items and packing some more items.  One of the items was a Harley Davidson plastic toy, which his grandad had been given and which said 22 year old commandeered when his grandad passed away, it has buttons on it that play a revving engine and then the words 'ride to live, live to ride' which has been stuck in a cupboard for some time.  As he packed it he pressed the button and despite it not being used for years, the words came out and then the tears flowed.  I think it was like having a bit of his grandad here with him saying good luck on his moving day, so we all got a bit teary and as I was too far away (boxes in the way) hubby gave him a hug.  

Afterwards we continued moving the boxes downstairs, before the lads set off for the van, collecting ratchet straps on the way.  Once they'd got the van, they collected the bed settee they'd bought for the second bedroom (as a guest bed) from said fiancée's family home and dropped that at the flat before heading to us. 

We worked tirelessly stacking bed, headboard mattress, three bookcases and their doors, two sets of drawers and box after box until the van was full and then the three of us set off on our adventure to the start of said 22 year old's life as a fully fledged grown up. 

We then decanted the van and as there new place is up a flight of stairs this was hardwork, thankfully my sister came to help and soon the bed was in position, fastened back together with headboard and mattress on.   Chest of drawers in place and lots and lots of boxes in the flat.  

Then back to our place in the van and my sisters car for the next lot (we genuinely weren't sure how many trips it would take).   We were surprised that it actually only took one more load over to the flat and again my sister helped decant (we genuinely could not have managed without her).  

Now this sparked the second 'wobble' of the day by said 22 year old, in that the prepacked boxes filled the second bedroom and the living room which they'd made look quite homely when they'd got a sofa delivered now looked like a furniture shop.  I think if I was reading his mind correctly, he genuinely wanted it back to 'homely' state when his other half arrived home from uni, which alas that was not to be and I also think he thought he'd got too much stuff (which he might have) but the issue was that we had lots of empty furniture and full boxes and like I said to him, it wouldn't take long to make a dent. 

Then his other half arrived home having had a similarly difficult week at uni and I think she felt that the flat was full and a little overwhelmed.  She also said there were things at her family home still to collect.  So being the wise Mum that I am I sent them off in the van leaving me and my sister to have a 'fettle' a very strong Yorkshire term meaning to make things better through tidying and sorting. 

First of all, we managed to get fresh clean bedding on the bed, which meant we found lots of bags with pillows and duvets and sheets etc.  So that was the first positive, then we moved the clothes rail into the bedroom and made a walk way down the second bedroom which was great, because this meant that they could at least get in there.  This was purely down to restacking boxes rather than making a dent. 

Then we set to in the front room, we found a lamp, moved furniture laid out a rug etc and again we soon started to see it make a dent.  By the time they landed back with the remaining items it was looking homely and they were all smiles again. 

We headed home for a shower and hubby collected a Chinese, my sister had left but 30 minutes earlier, also picking up a Chinese and said 22 year old collected his all from the same Chinese 5 minutes after us, the man at the counter confused as their were two orders for the same surname, thankfully they didn't get the orders mixed up. 

Saturday we woke and our only goal was to return the van, which we did, but we were mighty broken, everything ached from head to toe and we were very sore and stiff.  We certainly aren't as young as we used to be and it definitely took it out of us, so you can imagine our giggle when we got the 'can you just' request on Saturday which was a firm 'no'.  We can Sunday but today we are staying put as we are broken.  So we enjoyed watching rugby and I got lots of much needed sleep and a slow day was had.  

In the meantime they had said 22 year old's future mum in law who came to help, you can see her sorting the cupboards in the background

they also completed the drinks trolley

Sunday we collected up a pile of things we'd found (I think this is going to go on for some time), collected my Mum (as she hadn't been over) and went to the flat.  Hubby fitted an additional front door lock and said 22 year old fitted a bathroom lock and we sat drinking tea and chatting. 

When they bought the flat, the boiler had zero pressure and they'd left a cooker, a fridge freezer and a washer. 

On Wednesday when they got in there they realised the cooker was no good, so when I was there on Sunday we pulled it out and I cleaned down the grease on the sides so they could transfer it next to the bin, I told said 22 year old that the scrap man would collect it (and low and behold I was right as it has now gone).  

On Thursday they discovered the light on the fridge freezer was the only thing that worked, so son's other half's step-Dad organised them a new fridge freezer and arranged for the old one to be taken. 

On Sunday morning said 22 year old discovered the washer had a major leak (all over the kitchen floor) and so they have a new washer being delivered tomorrow. 

Monday and they had a boiler man out who managed to get it up and running and remove the old gas fire, they also need one radiator replacing but apart from that all is good and they are now at least warm again. 

Whilst we were there on Sunday he also asked his Dad if he could help him break into the other door next to the front door.  Having walked the neighbourhood he had discovered that the cubby hole opposite the front door which he already knew was theirs was replicated in neighbouring properties but so too was the tall locked door for which he had no key.  So they managed to get into the space and what a space it was, well it will be when it is emptied as it is absolutely chock full of stuff.  Grumpy a little, but the joy of finding another space they didn't know they had and that it is sizeable that it can take things like lawnmowers and bikes and tools etc is going to make such a huge difference to their space. 

You can guess what our job is this weekend can't you - yep tomorrow is empty the cupboard day!

The rest of the week has flown by, lots of work if I'm honest and I suddenly find myself at Friday again, my beautiful niece sent me a photo of her world book day outfit from her going into school yesterday, as you can see she went as Cruella and the kids loved it!  

I hope you've had a grand week too, apologies for the length of the post, but genuinely wanted to document it in detail.