Share our Lives - How we express gratitude!

It's that time of the month again to share a little bit of my life and join in with the other Share Our Lives bloggers. This month the prompt is: How we express gratitude!

Gratitude is one of those words that seems to get used everywhere these days, it really has become a big thing! When I hear the word gratitude I always picture pretty notebooks, inspirational quotes and someone writing down five things they're grateful for every morning while sitting with a cup of herbal tea while I'm over here being grateful that I managed to put on matching socks this morning. Gratitude is more simple than that for me. It's seeing the little things that make life better, appreciating the people around me, being thankful when someone does something kind and giving myself a little pat on the back for getting through the day without wanting to scream into a cushion!

I definitely say thank you a lot and each time I mean it. To the bus driver, the person who held a door open, the lovely woman in the local cafe who remembers my order before I've even said what I want, the shop assistant who gives me a carrier bag when I'm struggling with far too much shopping, my girls when they do something without me having to ask and sometimes I'll add a little extra to it and say that really made my day or I really appreciate that. It might only take a few seconds but I think it matters.

I make a note every day of at least one thing I'm grateful for, you might have seen my grateful posts, there's one every month. Some days it's big, emotional stuff and other days it's my cup of tea stayed hot and that's enough. Writing it down makes me notice those little moments and the best part is looking back and realising how many good things happened on days I thought were rubbish at the time. There are things that I would have forgotten if I hadn't taken thirty seconds to write them down.

Food is another big one for me. There's something about feeding people that makes them feel looked after and makes me happy. I cook for my girls friends, I try new recipes to make my fella smile and even when they don't quite go to plan and we pretend it was meant to taste like. Sometimes I make myself a little snack just because I fancy it and because I deserve it too. Food is gratitude.

Time is another way I express gratitude. Life is busy, everyone is always tired and there is always something to do so pressing pause it all to give someone all of my attention feels like a big deal these days. Listening to someone even if it's a story I've heard a hundred times before shows them that I care, sitting down for a proper chat when someone needs to vent or listening to the girls talk about their day. That is my way of saying you matter to me and how I show I care.

Being grateful to myself hasn't come naturally. For a long time gratitude was something I showed to other people who deserved it and had earned it. Now I show gratitude to myself by scrolling on my phone without feeling guilty, resting and not feeling bad for not doing something productive and letting myself enjoy an episode of a TV show without needing to justify it first.

So that's how I express gratitude in my corner of the world. How do you express gratitude?

I am linking up with:

Adrienne from Mom Life with Adrienne.

Dara from Not In Jersey.

Jen from Show me & Sweet tea.

Joanne from Slices of Life.

Our weekly meal plan! 9th - 15th November! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! We had a good one here. We didn't get up to much which was fine with me. Most of my time over the last few days has been spent listening for the door, bringing parcels in and doing the delivery people's jobs when they keep dropping other peoples parcels here. I have quite a pile of parcels in the corner of the living room, which are mostly Christmas gifts. I really need to find somewhere to put them before somebody comes round and spots something they shouldn't.

Last week's meal plan went well. Of course we ended up moving a few things around but everything was eaten! My favourite meal was from the freezer dive. I found some chicken casserole and Stu and I had that with mashed potato while the girls were out with their people at the fireworks display eating hot dogs and pizza.

I have a few things on this week but the highlight is going to be the afternoon tea which was postponed from a couple of weeks ago. Also, this week I am planning on making a dent on what we have in the freezer. I need to get it emptied and defrosted ready to fill up with food for Christmas. I deliberately didn't get a Gousto box or much for the fridge so we have to eat out of the freezer.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Sausage pasta and garlic bread!

I don't know how but we seem to have a couple of bags of sausages in the freezer and a ton of garlic bread. I'm not complaining because both are things we enjoy and this is a nice easy meal to start the week. Sausage pasta is one of those meals that is always a winner here. It's filling and doesn't take too much effort to make

Tuesday - Pie, mashed potato and veg!

A little while ago my dad brought us quite a few boxes of meat and vegetable pies and chicken and vegetable pies. They've been sitting in the freezer so this week I'm going to get a few of them used up. Using these will free up half a shelf in the tall freezer which is quite exciting when you're trying to make room for Christmas food! We'll have the pies with mashed potato, carrots, peas and of course lots of gravy.

Wednesday - Chinese style pork rib steaks and rice!

We love these Chinese style pork ribs and I actually forgot they were in the freezer. I came across them while having a rummage and decided we need to eat them this week. We'll have them with microwave egg fried rice, which makes it an easy meal. I'll also make some homemade sweet and sour sauce to go with them because my family love it.

Thursday - Honey soy chicken and sweet potato fries!

This is a meal I'm looking forward to trying. I found a couple of bags of chicken in the freezer and thought I'd do something a little different with them rather than making another chicken and potato meal. Honey soy chicken sounds like a great way to add some flavour to the chicken. I have a couple of bags of sweet potato fries in the freezer too and I think they will go with the chicken.

Friday - A takeaway of some sort!

Friday night is an easy night for me. I don't cook and we order takeaway. It could be Chinese or Indian food or even ordering from the fish and chip shop. We will decide on the day what we fancy.

Saturday - Freezer tapas!

Saturday is going to be freezer tapas. We'll be having all the random finger foods that have been taking up space in the freezer. I know there's chicken nuggets, onion rings, spring rolls and some breaded garlic mushrooms. I think there are also mini pizzas hiding in there somewhere. I'll have a proper look through everything and see what else we can find.

Sunday - Minced beef & tatties!

We're finishing the week with a proper comfort food favourite. Minced beef and tatties! This is one of those meals that doesn't need much explaining. Minced beef cooked in gravy with plenty of flavour, served with potatoes. Simple, filling and just what I fancy on a Sunday.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 1st - 7th November Week 45 of #Project365

Happy Sunday!! I hope you are having a great weekend! We're having a good weekend so far. It has been a quiet one, which was just what I needed after last weekend when we were out gallivanting. hehehe It's been another week with little bits and pieces going on and it has been nice.

I said yesterday in my Word of the Week post about Ellie having a job interview. Well, it didn't happen. They emailed just before she was due to leave saying the interview was cancelled as the job position was filled. Ugh! It's a good job she double checked the name of the person she was asking for or else she wouldn't have seen the email. They must have seen something in her CV to give her the interview but then didn't give her a chance to prove herself in person! I thought it was very unfair and I helped Ellie write an email to the hiring people. I understand that things change during recruitment and nobody is entitled to a job just because they've been invited for an interview but I don't think they handled it right. I think candidates deserve a little more consideration than a last minute cancellation by email. A phone call is the least they could have done, especially when someone has been preparing for an interview.

Today we don't have much planned. A bit of housework, nice food and I am thinking about starting to watch Christmas movies. Years ago I used to fit watching all my favourites into December but now there are too many, I need to start earlier!

Now for a photo every day!

305/365 1st November

This drainer beside the sink causes so many arguments in my family. Stu and Becky love it but Ellie and I refuse to use it as we struggle to reach around it and the cutlery sticks far too far out of the front. Ellie and I use the old plastic one which has seen better days. lol Stu washed the dishes on Sunday and as much as I hate to say it, this does look much tidier.

306/365 2nd November

Ellie is cracking on with her English course. She was given a booklet of work that they will all be working through. Some of it homework and some to do in class. She is doing this course because she never got the pass in English from school or the resits in college. Someone, somewhere said to get a good job you have to have GCSE's or equivalent so now a lot of jobs ask for them. All the apprenticeships she sees, that she would love to do need an English pass, so she's working on it.

307/365 3rd November

Looking at the sky, it could have passed for a summer's day but the temperature said different! It sure has got colder over the last week or so. I now have two blankets over me if I am sat in my armchair during the day and there has been a lot of me shouting shut the door to the girls. We have to keep the heat in. lol

308/365 4th November

The washing was all folded as soon as it came out of the dryer! I'm not getting much out on the line to dry now as it has been quite damp and cold. The tumble dryer is getting a lot more use now and at least it warms the kitchen up.

309/365 5th November

I borrowed this photo from Ellie. Becky, her and their people went off to the firework display to celebrate Bonfire Night. I stayed home but they managed to keep warm in front of the huge bonfire. They had a great time with lots of delicious food, fairground rides and seeing the fireworks.

310/365 6th November

Just a month or so ago, the hedge was full of leaves but now it's looking pretty bare apart from the berries. It's amazing how quickly everything changes at this time of year. I do like this stage of autumn, even though it means winter is getting closer.

311/365 7th November

The Christmas gifts I bought online this week are starting to be delivered. Now I just have to find somewhere to put them until I get around to wrapping them. The problem with shopping early is finding somewhere to hide everything.

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This week my Word of the Week is: Happenings!! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

Ahh! Saturday again. Why do the weeks always seem to fly over at this time of year? I've been thinking about what word sums up the last seven days. It's been one of those weeks where when I look back nothing exciting has happened but at the same time there have been lots of little things going on. Family plans, Halloween celebrations, bonfires, job interviews, Christmas thoughts and general happenings!

Ellie has of course had another job interview, they seem like a weekly thing at the moment. We were speaking to someone who is also looking for work and they said Ellie must be doing something right as at least she is getting the interviews. The person we know has been looking for a job a lot longer than Ellie and has only had 1 interview so far. It's so hard for youngsters trying to get a job at the moment. Everyone seems to want people with experience but you can't get experience unless you do the job! It's frustrating but getting through to the interview stage is still a positive thing! She will keep plodding on, applying, going to interviews and hopefully get a permanent job soon.

Anyway, on to better things! Last week I said I was dressing up for Halloween and surprising Stu. Well he was surprised and actually lost for words. I don't think he quite knew what to say when he saw me. He was so shocked that I dressed up for Halloween as I am not the dressy up type. We had a fantastic evening and just as Stu predicted I lost my horns, last time I remember seeing them a friend had them on and I am pretty sure Ellie's "friend" claimed my wings and took them home. lol Just in case anyone is offended by my devil horns in the Halloween photos, they are just a bit of Halloween fun and no offence is intended.

On Thursday the girls and their people went off to the bonfire and firework display local to us and had a fantastic time. They all had good food, hot chocolate, rode on fairground rides and were right in front of the fire when it was lit. Stu and I stayed home in the warm. It seems people were pretty sensible with fireworks this year as they had all stopped by about 9pm! My dad had his bonfire, Stu saw it when he was going past on the bus and said it looked huge! Eek! It was fine though, it was all under control. Phew!

Now Halloween and Bonfire night are done with we can think more about Christmas and I certainly have been. I have just about all the Christmas gifts bought and those I haven't got yet will be bought in the Black Friday sales, hopefully! Then there is my birthday in a couple of weeks and I can't settle on a plan. I thought I had settled on something but then I've changed my mind and now I don't know what to do. lol It's a total first world problem deciding which Christmas market I want to go to. I said I wanted a change from going to York Christmas market but now the time is getting closer I feel like it's a tradition I don't want to give up. I know what to expect and I have happy memories of going there but then another part of me thinks that doing something different would be lovely too.

I am writing this after just getting back from my dad's, I do love our Friday's together. It's become one of those little routines in my week that I always look forward to. He made lunch, bacon, black pudding and fried egg sandwiches. They were so good. I helped a little with some admin which needed doing and he's coming back this afternoon to drop Ellie at her job interview. He's going into town anyway so it seemed daft her getting the bus.

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one! I am of course linking up with Anne who blogs at Raisie Bay to join in with her Word of the Week linky!