ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 37TH OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for

Friday and my first day off of the week, last week had been particularly mad and crazy so it was nice to stop.  We dropped our main car off for the MOT which is always a fingers crossed type activity. 

I forgot to share the wreath on the door that I did the other week, the base is the one I've been using all year but I added a bit of autumn colour and put the summer flowers away for now. 

We then headed off to Ikea, but we were very early so went for a coffee at McDonalds which was lovely before meeting up with my Mum and sister.  We enjoyed a breakfast together and put the world to rights before we headed off for a wander around the store.  My Mum had me in hysterics as she just kept arriving with new items to add to the basket.  

It was lovely to have a proper catch up with my Mum and sister. 

We headed home and watched the first rugby match of the world cup.

Saturday dawned and because we are insane, despite the heat we headed over to said 22 year old and d-in-law's to carry on wallpapering the stairs. 

We continued albeit at the bottom of the stairs rather than the landing (they both need doing) over a couple of hours with lots of additional paste (it was drying faster than we could get it on the walls), we managed to get the papering at the bottom of the stairs done, leaving only the landing area to resolve. 

Sunday was another overly warm day so we pottered around the house during the morning, some rugby watching later in the day and watched Fast X in the afternoon, hubby was disappointed that it was a 2 part film and that we have to wait until 2025 to see the conclusion! 

Monday arrived and blink and we were at Wednesday work being a little crazy mad at the moment it has to be said. 

Wednesday also marked my birthday albeit that I was working.  However in the evening family descended for a few hours which definitely made it more birthday like we drank tea, talked til we were hoarse and then they disappeared again.  A lovely birthday, I got lots of treats, new cardstock the Harry Potter advent calendar, a make up brush some Christmas reads, an anti-fatigue mat for my desk, a make your own gonk, all in all a fab birthday with some really thoughtful gifts and lots and lots of flowers.

Thursday and said 22 year old officially became said 23 year old but I'm fairly sure I've called him said 23 year old earlier in the year in my' 2023 he is 23 brain'.  

I thought I'd share an official photo from the wedding, genuinely the look of love makes my heart sing.

I hope you've had a great week too. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 36TH OF 2023

 Good Evening lovely people I am a tad late

Well last weekend we had a busy day on Friday we spent a couple of hours at said 22 year old and d-i-law's flat continuing with the wallpapering of the staircase.  Afterwards we headed home to shower as it was mighty warm and then we went out first to purchase a new mattress as I've been really struggling recently with our old one and also purchasing items for a picnic that we needed for Saturday before heading home and preparing the same. 

Saturday arrived and we were up at 6am and hubby set too and cooked bacon and sausage sandwiches which were wrapped up in foil and packed into an insulated bag.  We then packed the car up and set off in a little convoy of 3 cars and arrived at Chatsworth before 9am.  The cloud was low lying and they'd forecast it being cloudy until late afternoon. 

We had a wander amongst the stalls and then went to watch the mounted games, by the time we got there the grand stand was full, but we enjoyed the fun nonetheless watching the ponies race up and down with their riders bouncing on and off their ponies. 

We then had the parachutists land

and the spitfire close overhead

By lunchtime the clouds were clearing and blue skies dawning with a rather warm sun (so warm that we were caught on the hop and most of us caught the sun). 

The carousel always marks Chatsworth for me

and the helter skelter

We popped back to the cars at lunch and had a full blown picnic which was lovely and then headed back to the stall and then back for a teatime picnic as we had definitely overcatered. 

For us it always signals the start of autumn, there are a few trees at the bottom of the park that are already turning, but what it actually marked was the beginning of this ridiculous heatwave we are currently suffering. 

Sunday was needless to say a kickback day, but after a full family day on the Saturday my heart was full. 

The rest of the week has been made crazy as always, very very busy at work currently and I find myself on Friday.  This next week daughter-in-law has her neurology appointment positive vibes and prayers would be much appreciated. 

I hope you've had a lovely week.

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 35TH OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for

Well it has been another very very busy week it has to be said, last Thursday hubby had a day off from work and spent the day (over 12 hours) at my Mum's house creating a 'catio' - cat patio.  We both returned when I was off on Friday to complete the task.  We opened the catio officially on Friday afternoon and Murphy (my Mum's cat) obliged by having a wander around it.  He has subsequently enjoyed wandering in and out since it was opened.  It now provides my Mum with more fresh air in the kitchen (because she can have the window wide open).  Murphy still goes out on reins (my Mum lives on a stupidly busy main road) to enjoy the garden but is thoroughly thriving going in and out of the house and having his own outdoor space, so the time and effort were definitely worth it. 

Here he is at the bottom

and here he is wandering down the ramps. 

On Saturday we headed over to said 23 year old and d-i-law to continue stripping the staircase and start the repapering. 

As you can see it is a particularly high staircase space but hubby and said 23 year old managed to get some paper on the walls whilst me and d-i-law managed to complete the stripping of the wallpaper at the top of the stairs.  We didn't get it completed (unsurprisingly) but we definitely made some good headway. 

Sunday and we had a day to stop, utterly shattered from the previous two days, well stop - erm I did catch up on washing and clean through the house and hubby put away lots of the tools he had had out. 

Monday was another 'rest' day, we went food shopping and I treated myself to some flowers I love the colourway

then I spent a couple of hours putting some new bedding plants in the back garden in readiness for autumn.  

We enjoyed watching a few programmes in the evening and then we were suddenly back at work as tuesday had arrived. 

The rest of the work was very very busy (as usual), but I made headway on some long term things that needed sorting so that is always a positive. 

I hope you've all had a grand week as well. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 34TH OF 2023

 Good morning all

Tis Friday time for

Well it has been a mighty busy week, last Friday unusually for us we were in work, preparing for our Summer Open Day on the Saturday and whilst we didn't rock up until around 10am, we left gone 4.30pm so it really was a full on work day, but we were as prepared as we could be. 

Saturday dawned and unusually for us this summer there were blue skies, which meant it was going to be a good day.  The open day kicked off at 10am and we had a steady flow of people throughout the day and managed to raise much needed funds.  I also got some additional information in the form of feedback which will help with future funding bids, so a win win. 

Sunday and as you can imagine we were all absolutely shattered so we had something of a kick back day. 

We enjoyed watching Heart of Stone on Netflix, a good old fashioned action movie. 

Monday arrived and we'd had the foresight to book 2 extra days off thus technically moving our weekend from Friday Saturday Sunday to Sunday Monday Tuesday. 

Never ones to shirk things that need doing we headed over to my Mum's house as her front garden needed some TLC.  We'd cleared it of rubbish a few weeks ago, but the weeds were now rampant so we got some pebbles picked up and set too.  Hubby trimmed the hedge with help of my Mum's hubby and then we tidied the trimmings up before weeding the garden.  Then we put down several layers of newspaper and then cardboard watering them as we went so they didn't fly away (the neighbours must have thought us completely crackers).  Then we put down weed suppressant fabric before finishing with what turned out to be 22 bags of Oxford grey stone. 

We didn't get any 'before' photos but the after photos look sooooooooooo much better 

My Mum's hubby picked up some fence paint in a rosemary colour which is a pale greeny grey which should look fabulous and since we've completed this job he has also pressure washed the paving 

Tuesday and we were gearing up for the working week again, however hubby collected some wood he needs for the next project at my Mum's house which is another job done. 

We also went to Ikea to return 4 table legs before having a browse, I bought a new step stool to aid me with my new indoor drying racks which hubby has installed, I also bought 2 white frames to 'disguise' the racks as well as the usual assorted items I always end up buying in Ikea.  

The rest of the week has tripped along at a merry old pace as normal, lots and lots of work and I find myself landing here on the 34th Friday of 2023, time really does fly.

I hope you've had a grand week.  

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 33RD OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

Well last Friday we had a busy day which included a trip to Ikea for a few much needed items as you know we've been moving the universe around the house since said 22 year old moved out but I came to realise recently that I definitely needed another chair downstairs to craft at my original table.  Whilst it isn't my main crafting space, there is time when I want to craft downstairs and our dining chairs are simply not up to the job. 

Hubby also managed to sort some of his silversmithing items as well so we had a productive day and I finished off some more Christmas cards, I have 22 cards to go at the moment to meet the required 100 cards, I must admit they are not up to my usual standard, but do you know what they will do. 

Saturday we went over to son and d-i-laws place, hubby and son spent several hours cutting down the oversized privet around the property whilst me and d-i-law set too stripping wall paper off the stairs.  We managed to get the entrance and staircase stripped, we need to do the hallway next. 

Sunday was definitely a day of recovery and we had a tootly day not doing a huge amount if I'm honest, I did make a banana loaf in the slow cooker which was a first - 3 ingredients, a tin of evaporating milk, 3 mashed bananas and 250g of self raising flour.  

It came out OK, I think it was overcooked if I'm honest and have discovered a 'hot spot' on my slow cooker, so that looks like something I will need to replace soon, but the banana loaf was tasty. 

The rest of the week has been mighty busy with work as usual I'm hoping things might ease off from next week a little.

I hope you've had a fab week. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 32ND OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

so last Friday was the 33rd anniversary of when me and hubby met and being  a Friday meant we weren't working which meant a day for the two of us which was lovely. 

We headed out to Ikea first thing for a wander, I had a few items that I needed to pick up and then we popped to Tapas Revolution for a lunch, which was lovely.

Then we headed to purchase goodies for a picnic for Friday evening we had tickets to see Twelfth Night with the Dukes Theatre company. 

We had thought we might have to cry off with the forecast, but come Friday morning it looked like we might get away with it.

We had a leisurely afternoon book reading and then packed the car with hiking chairs, picnic and blankets and set off for NT Nostell. 

There were already quite a few people there when we set up and they'd spun the set around this year so we were on a slight slope which meant excellent views. 

The play was great and we had a lovely evening together watching all things Shakespeare and the forecast dry spell (for the evening) was completely correct. 

Hubby bought me flowers for our anniversary 

and we grabbed a selfie at the end of the night. 

Saturday we had a chilled day, we did a bit of sorting in the morning, then did some crafting (silversmithing for hubby) in the afternoon and then settled down to an evening of rugby. 

Sunday and I definitely needed a decent walk and we were aware there were several things at YSP that we hadn't seen. 

A new exhibition in the upper space, a collaboration between a turner/carver and a printer, we both liked this bowl

and the work in this was extreme

We walked down to the Weston to see a new exhibition which was an art installation based on the short story 'A Tell Tale Heart' by Edgar Allen Poe and the 1990's storyline in Brookside digging up the body under the patio.  There was a huge amount of art that had been created for the installation, from large stained glass, to 3 dimensional ceramic and stained glass pieces and everything in between, which is unusual as often installations we've seen have been staging of everyday objects.  The installation was rather gruesome but we enjoyed it nevertheless. 

The rest of the week has been busy busy busy but on Wednesday and Thursday I attended a boat training course at work (I've only been there almost 10 years) and am now a qualified Community Crew member which means I can technically help out on trips.  I'm not sure I found it enjoyable, it is a lot to do in such a short period of time, but I survived it (the back not so much).  

Overall a fine week, I hope yours has been good too. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 31ST OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people, tis Friday time for 

Well it has been a fairly quiet week overall, hindered a little by excessive work and rainy days, so we haven't really fancied venturing anywhere if I'm honest. 

Last Friday we had a day with son and d-i-law painting doors and planning their next home project which was fun. 

Saturday we headed to Wentworth Woodhouse, they have a Grayson Perry exhibition on at the moment and whilst I've seen odd pieces of his work I haven't seen a series.  These pieces were all large embroideries, which have to be seen up close to appreciate the detail. 

 There was lots of hidden elements too which thankfully the guides were able to point out, I hadn't appreciated just how many hidden words there were among the squiggles of detail.  In fact I enjoyed it so much that I bought the book that accompanies the series of embroideries.  

We stopped for a bite to eat, we were spoilt for choice and bumped into my cousin who I haven't seen in an age, so we had a little catch up which was fab.

My sister also had great fun (my Mum and sister came too) as she enjoyed the second hand book sale, she is an avid reader and 15 books later she was a happy individual. 

Sunday was more of a kickback day and we enjoyed book reading and watched the film Kinky Boots and the Full Monty both of which we really enjoyed. 

Monday arrived and I was in work, busy busy with no young people in we are making the most of getting things sorted, which meant scanning and soft filing for me, as well as sorting out the stationery cupboard.  I'm planning on sorting the activity cupboards this next week.  

And I find myself on Friday officially 33 years to the day since I met hubby, time really does fly but my world changed forever that day and 33 years later we still live an incredibly happy life, we have similar interests, have an amazing son who has already achieved so much, a wonderful daughter in law.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful family so for today I will sit in my bubble of contentment taking in all the things in my life that enrich it, that make me happy and that I genuinely love so much. 

I hope you've had a grand week too 

Hugs