What I loved in August!

Where did August go? Another month that has flown over. Before we know it will be Christmas. lol We have had another busy month with a lot going on, I don't want to wish time away but will be glad when we're a couple of weeks into September and things have quietened down. I can't take all of this busyness and excitement.

In August I loved:

Eating out!

I keep saying we're going to save a bit of money by not eating out but we do love our Sunday lunches out and something to eat when we go to see my dad as there is an amazing little cafe 5 minutes from him. Usually we just have burgers but I fancied something different one day when it was so warm so I got a ham salad sandwich, it was amazing. The woman who made it got the ratio of everything just right and considering it was something so simple she made it better than I could. My girls and I also had an American breakfast out which we loved. I am sure Americans would laugh at it but we love these. Two fried eggs, two hash browns, maple-cured bacon, two sausages, four pancakes and maple flavour syrup. It's as American as I can get locally. lol

Some sunny days!

There has been a lot of rain but there has been some sunny days and we've made the most of them by getting out and about and spending time in the garden.

Movies! 

I finally got to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on Disney+ after missing it when it was shown in cinemas. I loved it, it was a fantastic ending to the trilogy. I cried way more than I thought I would at a Marvel movie but it was so sad in parts and other parts I cried because it was so nice.

My girls and I went to the cinema to see the Barbie movie after reading great reviews of it. When the movie was first announced my girls were not impressed and did not want to see it but after reading about it and seeing TikTok's they needed to see it. I am so glad we did, it was brilliant, way more than I was expecting and I have had the Just Ken song stuck in my head for most of August!

14 years since heart surgery!

In the middle of the month we celebrated 14 years since my girls both had open heart surgery. You can read our story but the short version is they had holes in their hearts which needed fixing and in 2009 our summer holiday was a week in hospital.

Amazon!

I love Amazon most months but this month they excelled themselves. I got all of Becky's birthday presents off Amazon which saved having to pay extra delivery costs shopping from different places and I tweeted about it and someone from the UK Amazon social media team got chatting and offered to send Becky a birthday gift. I expected a few sweets in a Amazon branded box or a £10 gift card not the beautiful necklace and jar of sweets. It was such a nice gesture.

Heartstopper!

We have been waiting a year to watch the 2nd series of Heartstopper and it arrived on Netflix early on in the month. Ellie watched it first, then me, then Becky and then we could all talk about it without spoiling it for each other. It is such sweet show and talks about so many issues which teenagers face.

Leys Crisps!

Years ago my favourite crisps were the Walkers Tomato Ketchup one's but they stopped making them and I have heard about Lays crisps which are the same but never saw them in any shops until this week when we went in a Romanian grocery store. I got one packet which didn't last long and I have been back for more, I am onto my 3rd packet now which doesn't seem too bad but they are massive bags. lol

Ready for college.

Ellie my now 16 year old is counting down the days for the start of college, she only has to wait until Monday. She had her enrolment day on Friday where she found out her timetable, got her bus pass and college ID. She has everything she needs and now all she needs to decide on is what she is going to wear on her first day. She wants to wear cargo pants but I think she is going to go for leggings as she will have her boiler suit/overalls to try on and she will struggle to get them over cargo pants.

Birthdays!

Stu, my fella had his birthday in the middle of the month and was very happy even though he didn't get many presents. I paid £70 for a football shirt which I think was overpriced but it was what he wanted and he loves it. He had to work on his birthday but we had an Indian takeaway when he got home. It was also Ellie's 16th birthday earlier this week which I of course will be blogging about at a later time, when I find some time. She had a great day!

The beer and cider festival.

I like to do what I can to support local businesses and events that are on. At the start of the month there was a beer and cider festival and I didn't need asking twice if I wanted to go. hehehe We went last year but thought it was a one off as it was over the The Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend but they decided to see how well it would go again this year. We went along and saw my dad's friend who was serving food so we knew it was going to be nice. I had the best pork, stuffing bun with apple sauce. We enjoyed a few different ciders before coming home. The rhubarb one was my favourite.

What did you love in August?

5 reasons that I love to play The Sims!

The Sims, a popular life simulation video game series developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts has captured the hearts of millions around the world. It has unique blend of creativity, storytelling and virtual escapism. You can be the master of your own universe. Who doesn't want to create their dream home, design quirky characters and control someone's life?

I have been playing The Sims since I was pregnant with Becky and she's 21 now! I got it for my birthday on CD that I had to install onto my computer. I got Sims 2 which I don't really remember, I loved Sims 3 and now we're on Sims 4 with talk about Sims 5 coming in the future.

Here are 5 reasons that I love to play The Sims:

It is an escape from Reality!

The Sims offers a temporary escape from the challenges and monotony of everyday life. You can step into a virtual world where they can explore new possibilities and experiences. It provides a sense of control that is often missing from real life. You have the power to shape every aspect of you Sims lives including career choices, relationships, hobbies and even mundane tasks like eating and sleeping. Watching your Sim finally master the piano after countless hours of practice is so satisfying, witnessing a budding romance blossom into a full blown love story is so sweet and laughing uncontrollably as your Sim tries to cook for the first time and ends up setting the kitchen on fire are the things which make it fun and a great escape. If I can't control my own life at least I can control my Sims, mostly!

I can be creative!

The Sims gives you a chance to express your creativity. You can design homes, create unique characters and customize every detail. 

There are options to fully customise your Sim: their skin colour, hair length and colour, you can have false nails, scars, tattoos and even hearing aids now.

Whether you're an architect in the making or someone who just loves arranging furniture, The Sims provides the perfect canvas for you to unleash your inner designer. It's like a dolls house on a screen. Where else can create a house with a pool in the living room or a bathroom that's more luxurious than the master bedroom.

Personally love downloading pre-built houses and decorating them with all of the furniture which available. I have decorated my dream house many times and yes, I do need an en-suit bathroom in every bedroom, a workout room, a huge kitchen with a lot of pretty clutter and a pretty garden.

There is a sense of achievement!

The Sims have various goals and achievements that you can strive to accomplish, painting masterpieces, becoming a celebrity, keeping your house clean and dirty, being a good parent, cooking the perfect meal and many more.

Even though I have achieved most of the aspirations with lots of different Sims I always feel chuffed when I have completed a set of aspirations and get those points to make the game a little easier. 

It is a challenge!

Managing a Sim's life requires decision making and strategic thinking. Balancing work, relationships and personal needs gives you challenges to overcome. You have to decide what is more important, sleeping or going to work to earn money. Showering or going to the bathroom. Unfortunately Sims cannot pee in the shower, I sometimes think that would be helpful! 

There is a lot of challenges online that you can do to make the game more interesting. Have 100 babies! The Rags to Riches Challenge where you start on an empty lot with 0 Simoleons and you have to work for everything and the Black Widow Challenge which is a little bit evil. The goal is you have to marry at least 10 rich spouses, kill them, and inherit their wealth. Eek!

The Expansion Packs!

Every so often there is a new expansion or stuff pack released! You don't have to buy them to enjoy the game but they do add something new. It's like unwrapping presents on your birthday whenever a new one comes out. Suddenly your Sims can embark on wild adventures skiing, going on holiday or training horses, your Sim can run their own businesses, or even explore supernatural realms.

Do you play The Sims? What is your favourite thing about it?

My youngest is 16 today!

My baby, is 16 years old today. Like seriously, how did that happen? She will not appreciate me calling her a baby but she will always be my baby. hehehe

For the past few years there hasn't been much to write about Ellie but this past year has been different! She has been through so many changes and challenging times but here we are she's found herself, worked hard and I am so proud of her!

I can't even decide what the biggest thing is to happen over the last year in Ellie's life as the things I can think of have been big things and have made her who she is today.

This time last year Ellie was a little confused about her gender. She was going by they/them but feeling more towards he/him but told me not to say anything on here until she had decided for sure. Over the past year she has decided being he/him or they/them isn't for her. She is definitely a she/her! I think what made her mind up about her gender was what she was going to wear for prom. She really surprised me and said she wanted to buy a dress and since then she has turned into such a girly girl. She's all about shopping trips, dresses, false nails, pretty hair and make up. I know those things don't make you a girl but it's hard to explain. Ellie has taken more pride in her appearance instead of just wearing tracksuits, t-shirts and hoodies she loves to plan her outfits now. It has been so strange for me, my girls have never been into girly things since they were little and I said to Ellie when we were out shopping, you're a real girl now, all in jest. hehehe The majority of her birthday presents are clothes and make up. Ellie even got her ears pierced a few months ago but she decided they were not for her after going a couple of months with earrings.

Ellie has a boyfriend now, he is a year younger than her but they've been together about 11 months and he is such a lovely lad. He's coming for a day out with us today so that should be fun.

Ellie has grown in confidence and I am putting that down to her hearing more! Just before Christmas she finally got some hearing aids and they have changed her life. I still have to prompt her to wear them every day but when she has got them in she is definitely hearing more.

This past year has been a huge year for Ellie at school. It was her GCSE year! She has worked so, so hard and I couldn't have asked for more. I am writing this last week before we picked up her GCSE results as we are so busy this week so I am guessing I have mentioned her results in my Word of the Week blog post a few days ago. Ellie was given extra time in her exams due to her hearing loss which still doesn't make sense to me as it didn't effect her reading, writing or understanding the exam but she took the extra time and used it well.

After her GCSE's there was the prom and time for her to show off her new girly look at everyone at school. We went all out with her hair and make up and everyone was so shocked that Ellie was wearing a dress. hehehe She had the best evening!

Ellie applied for college while she was at school which I was a little annoyed about although she has always had her heart set on doing engineering I would have liked to have had a chat about what engineering course she would actually be doing. It didn't really matter as when we went for her college interview the course she had chosen was the right one for her. There were a lot of I told you so's from her. hehehe

Since Ellie left school in the middle of June (it has been a long summer) I have spent so much time with her and it has been lovely and needed. It feels like we've got to know each other better with all of this one on one time. We haven't really done anything special apart from the odd meal out, shopping trips and watched a lot of TV. Heartstopper and Doctor Who have been our favourites.

Ellie still loves anything Japanese and all of the anime's which she watches. She is obsessed with Taylor Swift, no she doesn't have tickets to see her in concert which has been a huge disappointment. She still spends too much time on her phone watching TikTok and playing on Duolingo which I can't really complain about. Ellie has always been a bit of a fussy eater but she is eating more vegetables and out of the ordinary things for her.

So here we are, my baby is 16 years old and we have a busy day of celebrating. We're off out as a family with Ellie's boyfriend in tow to do something fun and then for a meal and when we come home there will be cake! This time next week she will have started college and that for sure is going to be strange. Why do they have to grow up so quickly?

Our weekly meal plan! 28th August - 3rd September. #MealPlanningMonday

Last weeks meal plan was a bit hit and miss, mostly miss. We had the Kung Pao chicken and quiche, the pork and apple sausages were moved to Saturday and on Thursday we have one of those evenings where we wanted something nice but easy so we had cereal, everyone helped themselves so everyone was happy. We were out all day on Friday and forgot to buy bread so the fish finger sandwiches were off the menu and we ended up with chips and curry ready meals out of the freezer. We had a lovely weekend and spent Sunday doing nothing. We all had different things to eat and it was nice. We did have plans, going to a local family fun day but we couldn't really be bothered. I'm glad, the weather wasn't great and my dad popped round between watching football matches. His Sunday's are always busy in front of the TV. hehehe

This week is going to be a strange and fun one when it comes to food. It's Ellie's birthday and there will be a lot of eating out. Stu and Becky have the whole week off work with them not going back until next Tuesday so we're going to have a lot of family time. I am so looking forward to almost a week of not having to cook. 

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Burgers in buns with fries might be on the BBQ if the weather is nice.

Tuesday - It's Ellie's birthday and she wants to go to Wetherspoons for a meal which is fine with us. I am quite looking forward to it.

Wednesday - A meal out.

Thursday - Another meal out.

Friday - Tea from the chip shop!!

Saturday - I have no idea yet as we're at a wedding and I don't really know what is happening. 

Sunday - A roast dinner of some sort.

What are you eating this week?

Fake wasps! #MySundaySnapshot

My family and I call hoverflies fake wasps. Just glancing at them they look like wasps but they are much nicer. They don't have a sting which is good and they are just a lot less threatening. We have had loads in the garden over the last couple of months and this one came to pose for the camera. When I went to take a photo of the flower it wasn't there and landed just as I was ready to.

A photo every day for a year! 19th - 25th August. Week 34 of #Project365

Most people have a to-do list but at the moment I feel like I have a stress list and I am slowly ticking things off and getting the stress out of my head. We collected Ellie's GCSE results and she enrolled in college and has everything ready including her bus pass! Phew! This ruddy holiday we're going on has my head done in. I had a dream that the cottage we booked in January had been sold and the new owners knew nothing about us staying. I ended up messaging the woman yesterday to ask if it's all still good for our break away as we hadn't messaged since January and of course it is. I am so done with thinking about the train strikes and we have made other travel plans in theory as some train companies are still deciding what they're doing. Hmmf. 

It's Ellie's birthday next week and I haven't wrapped her presents and the house needs a good clean so those are my jobs for today as well as dying mine and Ellie's hair.

Now for a photo every day!

231/365 - 19th August

I got around to cutting the grass in the back garden, I didn't want to and put it off for as long as I could. I hoped for rain but it didn't come. lol

232/365 - 20th August

Ellie in her usual spot, on her computer.

233/365 - 21st August

Sandwiches! Ellie and I take it in turns to make lunch and Monday was her day. I do love it when she cuts the crusts off my sandwiches and cuts them into quarters. hehehe

234/365 - 22nd August

The Sims. I have realised that I tend to play it more when I am stressed. It's a bit of escape from real life.

235/365 - 23rd August

My Japanese flower is back in my garden. It comes every year and is so pretty.

236/365 - 24th August

Ellie picked up her GCSE results. She was aiming for 3 passes and got them but not in the subjects that she expected. She will have to resit her maths and English but she has found out she can do that in November which is great as everything will be still fresh in her head from school.

237/365 - 25th August

Ellie bought herself a new dress. It is so different from the dresses she usually wears but it looks so good on her.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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

This week my Word of the Week is:

This weeks word had to be results. Ellie picked her GCSE results up yesterday and they were a bit of a surprise.

We were up and ready to go at 9am but Ellie didn't want to be the first one there so we held off until nearly 10am and we timed it right as she saw a couple of her best friends there and got to open her results with them. She said she wasn't nervous but when she was opening the envelope she was shaking, bless her.

Ellie was expected to pass her English, it was 50/50 with maths and not expected to pass Science but things didn't work out like that. She got 3's in English and Maths which is an old D and not a pass but it turns out she was only 4 marks off  a pass in Maths. Hmmf. She got 4-3 in Science which was a pass and not expected, a 5 in photography which is a high C or low B and of course she passed engineering with flying colours. She aimed for 3 passes and got them, just not in the subjects that she had planned. It's fine though, her GCSE results don't affect her college course but she will have to resit Maths and English over the next year, she didn't want to but it's fine.

I came so close to crying when the English teacher came running over, she was gutted for Ellie as she knows that she has worked so hard. She said she couldn't be prouder of her and one of the teaching assistants which has been amazing had a little chat with Ellie too saying how fantastic she has been. 

Ellie is happy with her results and we are too. She has never been academic and a few years ago she was predicted to get 1's and 2's so anything better was amazing. She was never going to get 7, 8 and 9's and we were fine with that. She tried her hardest and has done us proud.

I am so glad the stress of the GCSE's are over now. Now we just had the stress of the girls birthday's and our holiday. I am not further forward in knowing what we're doing with the trains than I was this time last week when the rail strikes were announced. lol I've tried asking Trainline and they've been as much use as a chocolate teapot but to be fair I guess they don't know until the train companies confirm things which should be today. I hope so anyway, it is stressing me out not knowing what's happening.

It's another big day for us today. We're off to college for Ellie to enrol, show her GCSE results and most importantly get her timetable.

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one.

Things that annoy me when using public transport!

Over the next month we are going to be doing a fair bit of travelling, by bus and by train. If I am being honest I am dreading it! Neither Stu and I drive so we always use public transport and there is so much that annoys me.

In the past I have blogged about how travelling by train makes people angry, yes it was over Christmas so everyone was a little stressed but some people need to have a little respect for others and chill out a bit.

These are the things that annoy me most about using public transport:

People talking loudly on their phone.

Unless the phone call is really important surely it could wait. I don't need to hear about what you are having for tea, what you are doing at the weekend or something you've just bought from a shop!

People refusing to give up their seat for others more needy (e.g. older passengers, pregnant women, people with disabilities, or those with young children)

I always give up my seat, especially if I am near the front of the bus for anyone who looks like they need it. I remember getting on a bus one day, years ago with the girls. Ellie was a toddler and Becky was about 6 years old, I had the pushchair folded up and was struggling but a group of teenage lads were sat at the front of the bus and didn't move until another woman told them too. They could have easily sat on the back seats of the bus, for me it would have been a bit of a challenge. Yes, you paid for the bus ticket but sometimes it's nice to be nice and make other people's life easier!

Very delayed trains, buses or trains.

I know things happen but I have been stood at the bus station waiting for a bus which hasn't turned up and the drivers stood around waiting for the same bus giving no information about what's going on. It's so frustrating! The apps are useless for tracking the buses here. Ugh.

People who push in when queuing to get on public transport.

I have had so many arguments over this in the past, especially in Scunthorpe. The unwritten rule is you queue at the bus stop and if that's full around the bus stop and let those who have queued in the bus stop on first. I remember a guy saying to his kids that nobody actually has to queue as there is no law about queuing it is just good manners. I said out loud to my girls, loud enough for him to hear if anyone pushes in front of me we will see what happens to good manners. Oops. lol

Feet on the seats!

Just don't. People who put their feet on seats just don't think about other people who have to sit there when they have left. I dread to think what they could have stood on and put on the seats.

Bags on seats.

I understand if you have bags of shopping you might have to take up a seat with them, I have done it in the past when the front of the bus was full with other bags but people who put backpacks or handbags down to stop people sitting down is so annoying! Ellie and I got on an almost full bus a while ago and there was the odd seat at the back, this young woman refused to move her backpack until Ellie asked if she could sit there and the woman ignored her. I said out loud she must have something really fragile in the bag because it needs it's own seat and obviously she must have paid for an extra seat. My passive aggressive tone must have hit home as she moved her bag.

People shutting windows!

Especially when it's hot. Buses seem to get extra hot in the summer if the windows are shut. I saw a woman get on the bus and shut the window after about 5 minutes because the breeze was messing up her hair. I know this because she was talking loudly on the phone to someone saying she needed to shut it because of her hair! Eesh! Get a grip!

People who try and make conversation with you when you're obviously reading/ listening to music/ not interested.

I don't mind a quick chat about where the next stop is or something like that but I don't mean to be rude but I don't want to know your life story. Hooray for my mobile phone that I can pretend to look at and be busy.

People eating!

I don't mind people eating as long as they do it quietly and the food doesn't smell. People chomping and chewing makes me feel sick and there is no need for some of the food that people bring onto public transport.

Leaving rubbish on the train tables/ bus floors/ seats.

Have some manners please. You wouldn't leave rubbish laying about in your own home so don't do it on the bus!

Noisy children.

Not the children who are upset for one reason or another or little one's crying because they are hungry. I am talking about those children who should know better with parents who obviously don't care about how much noise and disruption that they make. Grr!

Waiting ages and then two buses arrive at once!

Could there be anything more annoying!

What annoys you when you travel on public transport?

Biscoff & Nutella Blondies - Recipe!

My girls love anything Biscoff, they are obsessed so when I was sent this recipe I had to share! 

Biscoff & Nutella Blondies sound like such a tasty treat! Super simple to make, made with only a handful of ingredients,  common kitchen equipment and they are perfect for baking with the family! 

Makes one 30cm x 20cm traybake

Ingredients

170g of melted unsalted butter.

280g of granulated sugar. 

2 eggs.

350g of plain flour.

200g of white chocolate (chips or chopped into chunks)

6 tablespoons of smooth Biscoff spread.

6 tablespoons of Nutella.

Equipment

A microwaveable bowl.

A wooden spoon.

A 30cm x 20cm baking tin lined with baking paper.

Toothpick or fork.

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Melt the butter in the microwave, then mix in sugar, followed by the eggs.

Gently mix in the flour, followed by the white chocolate chips/chunks.

Pour the batter into the baking tin and spread evenly to the edges.

Dollop alternate spoonfuls of Biscoff and Nutella on the surface of the batter and place in the oven for 10 minutes to soften the spreads.

Take the blondie out and swirl the spreads into each other and the blondie using the toothpick/fork then return to the oven for a further 15 minutes of baking.

Allow to cool before slicing and serving.  

Tip: When slicing, heat the knife in hot water to get a clean cut and prevent clumping.

Tip: You can omit the Biscoff and/or Nutella spreads and add

nuts or different kinds of chocolate chips to get the flavour thet you like.

This recipe is from the Easy Peasy Baking campaign, launched by UK Flour Millers, making baking simple. You can find more Easy Peasy Baking recipes and information on the campaign over on the Fab Flour website.

GCSE results day is on Thursday!

Later this week most 15/16 year olds in England will be getting their GCSE results, my daughter Ellie being one of them. I know I am stressing about them but really I have no reason to be, Ellie isn't worried in the slightest. I know my girl tried her hardest and the GCSE results really don't define her. The only one's which really matter to her are maths and English and that is only because she really doesn't want to resit them in college. We are hoping and are almost sure she will have passed English but at the moment it's 50/50 with maths. Thankfully the Engineering college course that she is doing in September doesn't rely on her GCSE results.

We will be going to school on Thursday morning to pick up Ellie's results and we have talked about the what if's and what will happen. Ellie has said she wants to read her results first and then let me look. I have said that is absolutely fine as long as she doesn't dilly-dally over them. Ellie can't wait to see her maths result because her maths teacher said if she got at least a 4 (which is a pass) and a 4 in English him and her English teacher will do a dance on a table for her. hehehe. I will be holding them to that.

With Becky we never had the whole picking the exam results up with the majority of the other teenagers as we had moved house and they had to be posted to us. While Becky was reading about her friends results she had to patiently wait for her's to be delivered a couple of days later.

Ellie has never been an academic type of child/person. School was hard for her and sitting down to revise even harder but she did. Stu and I said that for every GCSE that she gets a 4 and above in we will give her £10. Thankfully we have budgeted for this and the most we will be paying her is £70. She did try an push it as each Science being £10 each but as she took combined science the reward is combined too. hehehe By the way for us oldies a 4 is an old C and an A is 9. I don't know why they had to change the results from letters to numbers.

We have been told by the school we can go to school to pick the results up anytime between 9am and 11am and I am sure we will be ready to go before 9am but we don't want to be the first one's there. hehehe

Have you got a child picking up their GCSE results soon?

Our weekly meal plan! 21st - 27th of August. #MealPlanningMonday

It was a good week last week, we ate everything that I had planned. I am was so chuffed that I remembered to get everything out of the freezer to defrost when it needed getting out. Stu had a great birthday even though he was at work, we did enjoy an Indian takeaway and cake when he got home.

This week we are trying to save a bit of money again because of the potential train strikes which could make our little break away a little more expensive than we had planned. We might have to travel a day earlier and get a hotel which we hadn't really budgeted for. Ugh! We have plenty in the house, in the cupboards and freezer to keep us going so it's no big issue, it will just be a little boring when it comes to meal times but boring always seems to mean easier meals to cook and less time spent in the kitchen.

We have a very exciting week, it's GCSE results day on Thursday for Ellie. Eek! She is feeling pretty confident, I am the one with all the nerves and on Friday we're off to college for her enrolment and to finally get her timetable which means we can plan how our weeks are going to go for the new term in September.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Kung Pao chicken with egg fried rice. The sauce is just coming from a jar and when I sorted the freezer out I was shocked with how much chicken we had.

Tuesday - Home made quiche and salad. 

Wednesday - Pork and apple sausages with potato wedges and peas.

Thursday - Tuna pasta bake.

Friday - Fish finger sandwiches.

Saturday - Something with chips out of the freezer. 

Sunday - Sausage, mashed potato and veg.

What are you eating this week?

Hot dogs! #MySundaySnapshot

 We love hot dogs here for tea, it's such an easy meal. We have levelled up with our hot dog making over the years. We used to use tinned hot dogs in normal bread buns but now we use big pork sausages and brioche buns of course with fried onions. I always leave Stu the job of putting the mustard and ketchup on, he does a way better job than me. hehehe

A photo every day for a year! 12th - 18th August. Week 33 of #Project365

In my Word of the Week blog post yesterday I said how I had a headful of things about things happening over the next few weeks. The thing taking the biggest space in my head is our little break away and I thought I had it all planned and then the train strikes were announced which has put everything up in the air at the moment. I am hoping we can travel a day early and just get a hotel until our cottage is ready for us. What a drama. It was a cheap break away until now. Ugh.

We have a quiet weekend planned with no plans at all apart from cutting the grass in the back garden which desperately needs doing. I did the front garden earlier on in the week and that was only because our neighbour cut his and made ours look overgrown. lol

Now for a photo every day!

224/365 - 12th August

Newcastle were top of the Premiership League after the first day of the football season which made us happy! It would be nice if they stay up there but they play Man City today which should be interesting. Eek!

225/365 - 13th August

Becky in her usual spot on her laptop.

226/365 - 14th August

More rain! I am so over this weather, where is the summer, although later in the week we had a couple of nice days and then it was grey and rainy again yesterday.

227/365 - 15th August

My sweetcorn has grown more with new parts growing on the plant.

228/365 - 16th August

Ellie finally got her National Insurance number through the post. I always thought they came about 3 months before a child's 16th birthday but Ellie's was really late. It's her 16th birthday in less than two weeks.

229/365 - 17th August

Becky bought herself a new handbag.

230/365 - 18th August

We picked blackberries and ended up with more than we expected.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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

This week my Word of the Week is:

I had to check if headful was actually a real word when writing this blog post or one that I just use that has been made up. lol The definition of headful. The quantity of information that a head will hold. At the moment my head is full of information, plans and thoughts. I feel like my head only has so much space and I am nearing capacity.

I have been worrying that Ellie hadn't received her National Insurance Number. She doesn't really need it at the moment but everywhere I have read it's sent out a few months before a teenagers 16th birthday and Becky's was. I did think on Tuesday about ringing up and asking where it was and I am glad I held off as it arrived on Wednesday. That is one thing that I don't need to think about anymore. Phew!

I spent Wednesday thinking a lot about 14 years ago when my girls went into hospital to have open heart surgery to fix holes in their hearts. A doctor has said in the past that I have PTSD from being in hospital with my girls, it was a traumatic experience for us all. I had a headful of thoughts thinking we were doing this at this time and that at that time. I was also thinking about the what if's. If my girls hadn't have had that surgery 14 years ago they probably wouldn't be here now.

My headful of thoughts are not all bad though. Starting on the 24th of August we have something on every day until the 4th of September, then a few days break and then 3 days of plans. GCSE results to pick up, Ellie to enrol in college, hairdresser appointments, things are on locally that we want to go to, birthday presents to wrap, Stu and Becky having a week off work, shopping trips, Ellie's birthday, suitcase packing, a little holiday, a wedding to go to, Ellie starting college, meals out, Becky's birthday and a couple more days out.

This time of year is always busy for us with my fella's and girls birthday's all within a month of each other but this year seems extra busy with it being their 16th and 21'st birthdays which are a big deal and we're doing more than we usually do. I am glad I have already got all of their presents, all I have to think about is wrapping them.

I have a headful of exciting times ahead but I am also stressing about how much can go wrong. Today we found out that the trains are on strike on the day we travel on our little holiday so we're going to have to make a new plan. I am thinking going a day early and staying in a hotel until our cottage is ready as that is fully booked before we arrive. I think the worst thing that probably will happen is it will rain and spoil our break away but we have coats and umbrellas so it's not all bad. Ellie starting college is worrying me, especially her getting the bus there and back by herself, well with friends. If she misses the college bus she will have to get the public buses and she isn't as confident in traveling alone as Becky was at her age. I know I am probably worrying about nothing as I am sure if she misses the bus her friends will too so she won't be alone but the worry is there all the same.

I am sure in 4 weeks time everything will have gone without a hitch and I will have a ton of stories and photos to share about our busy few weeks but at the moment I have a headful of plans, thoughts and what if's.

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one.