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

This week my Word of the Week is:

Over the past couple of months I have had a few things going on in real life that has caused me some stress. Nothing massive and not one big thing, lots of little things which haven't seemed worth writing about. You know when there are loads of small things niggling away at you and you can't really put your finger on one particular thing? That has been me lately but over the last week or so things seemed to have settled and worked themselves out. This is the first week in a few months that I have felt truly happy and relaxed and this week has been full of laughter, celebrations, good times and plenty of things to smile about.

I think Merriment is a good Word of the Week for me this week. Merriment basically means laughter, happiness and having fun and I think that sums up my week quite well. After having a few things on my mind lately, it has been really nice to have a week when I haven’t been worrying about every little thing and have just been able to enjoy myself a bit more. Sometimes you don’t realise how much you need a week like this until you actually have one. I’ve laughed more, enjoyed myself more and just felt like things are starting to settle down a bit.

Becky spent some time in the kitchen earlier in the week and she did make me laugh. She felt like she had been slaving away all afternoon making a lasagne from scratch and a sponge cake. I said that is the story of my life, cooking meals from scratch most days. lol She cooks one meal and thinks she deserves a medal. Although next week and for the next few weeks at least, I will be getting Gousto boxes again. I was sent an email with 40% off for the next two boxes and then 20% off for a few more. I have already picked the meals for next week which I am very excited about.

I have had a busy week of pottering around the house, having a tidy up in the garden, doing some life admin and of course, wrapping birthday presents. It was Becky's birthday on Thursday and she had a great day despite spending most of it in bed after having a night out on Wednesday evening. There were cheap drinks and late-opening bars in town, so she made the most of it. I think she was glad of a quiet family meal on her actual birthday. There is nothing wrong with having a big night out followed by a very lazy birthday day in bed. Sometimes that is exactly what you need. 

I have been on writing this blog post for over an hour as I keep getting distracted by the TV. As I type this I am watching Friday Night Dinner, a British sitcom about a family who have dinner together every Friday night. The two grown up sons constantly wind each other up and play silly pranks. Their parents, Jackie and Martin are pretty strange themselves, while their neighbour Jim keeps turning up uninvited. I haven't watched it since it was on TV years ago and I really did forget how funny it was. I haven't stopped chuckling to myself and sometimes laughing out loud. I was also trying to paint my nails at the time and did a very bad job with all the laughing and then laughing at myself getting the nail polish everywhere. Oops.

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!

What I have loved this week! Week 37. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a good week. We have had a great one. I am keeping this short and sweet because we have a birthday to celebrate and I am having to write this on Wednesday while I have the time. Things seem so busy here at the moment but I am of course linking up with Erika and Andrea to share what I loved this week!

My eldest turned 24!

By the time you read this, Becky will have turned 24. I am sure she had a great celebration as she was off out with friends to town on Wednesday night. I have always thought it strange having a big night out mid-week but apparently it's a thing aimed at students with cheap drinks and the bars stay open late. Then yesterday there was a family meal out. The table was booked at another one of our favourite places to eat and I already know that I am getting the fish and chips as they cook their fish perfectly! Then it's home to open presents and probably an early night as we might have plans for over the weekend.

Harry Potter!

Harry Potter has made its annual appearance in our house! I rewatch all the movies every year and on Sunday I started from the beginning. This year I am trying to spread them all out a little and not rush through them in a few days. I am planning on watching one a week and so far so good. Harry Potter is one of those film series that I can watch over and over and still notice little things I didn't notice before.

Sorting the garden out!

Our garden has gone from looking rather sad to needing a good tidy up in a matter of weeks. A couple of weeks ago, the grass in our front and back garden was dead, burned and all yellow. We'd had such a dry spell and there wasn't much we could do about it apart from wait for some rain because of the hosepipe ban. I really didn't fancy filling the watering can over and over and doing it that way. We've had quite a bit of rain over the last two weeks and it has all come back to life. Suddenly we went from worrying about the grass being dead to realising it needed mowing! Stu did that while I did some weeding. I would have done more but the garden bin was full. I think that was a pretty good excuse to stop. hehehe Stu also fixed the guttering around our little shed. It had been on his to-do list for ages and he finally got around to it. Now the end of the guttering is right above the water barrel so we can collect water to water the plants.

Lasagne!

We went off the meal plan on Tuesday! Becky decided she wanted to make lasagne from scratch with the mince, lasagne sheets and different sauces. It's something I never make from scratch, so it felt like a real treat for the family. They had it with chips and garlic bread. I don't eat lasagne, I am allergic to lots of cheeses, so it's never taken my fancy, although I do always think it smells amazing when it's cooking! Becky also baked a basic sponge cake to have with custard. I didn't complain about that one! It was so nice to have a night off from cooking but Becky did make me laugh, she thought it was such hard work cooking a whole meal from scratch and seemed to forget that I do that probably 4 or 5 times a week. lol

Voicemails for Isabelle!

I watched Voicemails for Isabelle on Netflix this week and this was another one of those films that I put on not expecting much but I really enjoyed it. It is a romantic comedy-drama about a grieving pastry chef named Jill who copes with her sister's death by leaving long, confessional voice messages on Isabelle's old phone number. Unbeknown to Jill, her sister's old phone number had been reassigned to Wes, an Austin, Texas-based real estate agent. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but I really enjoyed it. It definitely has that feel good rom com thing going on but there are quite a few moments that really tug at your heart. It was a lovely film and well worth a watch if you fancy something that is funny, romantic but also has some more emotional moments thrown in.

What have you loved this week?

My eldest is 24!

Today Becky turns 24 and I have said it again and I will probably say it every year. I can't believe how quickly another year has gone. Becky has had quite a year and if I had to sum up her 23rd year, I think I would say engaged, making plans, growing up, finding her feet and happily living her best life. There have been some big changes, some exciting plans for the future and lots of moments that have made me sit back and think about how she has grown up so fast!

Becky found the love of her life a few years ago and one of the biggest moments of the past year was when she got engaged. It was the best couple of days for her as her and her partner went off to Newcastle Upon Tyne to see Alex Warren in concert and that is when it happened. It still feels strange saying that my daughter is engaged and now she's planning a future with someone she loves. It really is something special seeing your daughter find someone she wants to share the rest of her life with. She's happy, she's excited and she's looking forward to what comes next.

Of course, getting engaged also means there are now lots of conversations about the future with wedding plans, homes, kids, money and what comes next. She's at that stage of life where there are so many possibilities ahead of her and I am excited for her and to be part of the planning. Another big step this year has been making plans to move out and get her own place. She's now looking for somewhere that she can call home, which I wasn't very happy about at first but we talked things over and I came around to the idea. It's not that I didn't want her to move out. I just would have preferred she saved and bought somewhere rather than rent but it's her life and her choice. I will be there beside her, supporting her where I can and so far, that has been with filling out forms. I keep joking that she needs to buy new ink for the printer because I've lost count of all the printing that she has done.

Becky is living her best life and probably the thing I love most about this past year is seeing her happy. She works hard but she also knows when it's time to have fun and has done so many fantastic things over the last year. Had trips away, been to concerts and shows, had some fantastic nights out and had plenty of downtime too, playing games on her laptop, watching football and binging TV shows. At the moment, she is halfway through Geordie Shore. That was a blast from the past. I used to watch it about 15 years ago. lol As I am writing this she is off to the beach with her friends, like I said, living her best life!

There have also been plenty of those little everyday moments that don't sound exciting when you write them down but are the things I will remember. The chats we have, watching the wrestling together, the laughs we have, the random TikToks she sends me, hearing about what she's been up to and all the little bits of her life that she shares with me. Those are the things that remind me that even though she's growing up and becoming more independent, I am still lucky enough to be part of her life.

At 24, Becky is still young enough to have loads of time ahead of her but also old enough to start making some big decisions and that is exactly what she has done over the last year. If I could wish anything for Becky at 24, it would be that she stays happy, keeps laughing, looks after herself and never feels like she has to have everything figured out.

The Wednesday Hodgepodge #72

I hope you are all having a good week. It's Wednesday, which means it's time to join in with the Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond! Each week there are 6 questions, we answer and then link up. Simple!

1. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? On a scale of 1-10 how much of a fan are you? (10 is never miss a game and 1 is I'm just here for the snacks). Who's your team? If you're playing along today, but live outside the US feel free to sub your feelings about futbol for the more American sport of football.

I am going to be talking about futbol or soccer as it's sometimes called. Here in England it's just called football, it's the one with the round ball. I am a pretty big fan. I would say an 8 out of 10. As I am typing this, I have football on the TV. Birmingham V Wolves. I don't really have much interest in either team but it is a good match. My family's team is Newcastle United but I have found myself supporting our more local team, Hull who moved up to the Premier League this season. They were not expected to be doing as well as they are. I hope it lasts until the end of the season but there's a long way to go.

2. What's something you currently have a game plan for managing?

At the moment, I’ve got a bit of a game plan for getting organised for autumn. Sorting out the house, getting back into a proper routine after summer, sticking to the meal plan and making a list of things I want to get done before Christmas suddenly appears out of nowhere! I’m trying to tackle things one at a time rather than making a massive list and then getting overwhelmed by it. There are little jobs around the house that I’ve been putting off, things that need cleaning or sorting, cupboards that could do with a good clear out and hopefully, by the time this goes live, I have had a big sort out in the garden, weeding and pulling up the plants which didn't survive the heatwaves!

3. Do you like chicken wings? Hot, mild, or some other flavor? What's a must have food for you on a tailgate menu? I know tailgating isn't as big of a thing outside the US of A as it is inside the US of A, but you can also answer the question this way-what's a must have food for you at a sporting event viewing party?

I like the idea of chicken wings but I don’t like eating anything off the bone! Chicken wings always look so good, especially when they’re covered in a nice sauce but I find eating them far too messy. I’d much rather have chicken without the bone so I can just get stuck in without worrying about sauce all over my hands. If I was choosing a flavour I’d go for something mild rather than really hot.

I’d never really thought about tailgating before, I actually had to Google what a tailgate event was because it’s not really a thing here in England. I’ve seen it on American TV and in films but I never really understood what everyone was doing. Now I know, it actually sounds like such a fun way to spend the day before a sporting event. We don’t really have anything quite like that here. Whenever we go to a sporting event, we usually get the train or bus because there’s no point driving when you're heading somewhere with thousands of other people. Finding somewhere to park would probably be a challenge.

If we were watching sport at home, I’d definitely want pizza and probably a take-away one as watching sport seems like a whole event, so it needs to be celebrated. There would also have to be crisps, dips and plenty of little finger foods that you can grab along with fizzy drinks like Coca-Cola.

4. Teams typically have strict playbooks they follow. What is one unwritten rule or piece of advice in your 'life playbook' you think everyone should know?

One unwritten rule in my life playbook that I think everyone should know is: never pass up the chance to go pee! If you’re leaving the house, go before you leave. If you’re out somewhere and you’re thinking, you probably don’t need to go, go anyway! If someone says, Do you want to use the toilet before we set off? The answer is always yes! There is nothing worse than getting halfway somewhere and suddenly thinking, why didn’t I go before we left? My advice is simple: always go before you leave!

5. This is the week we remember and mourn all that was lost and changed on September 11, 2001. I always include a spot for bloggers to share anything they'd like to share about 9/11. Share as much or as little as you like.

It's crazy to think 9/11 was 25 years ago! It’s one of those moments where you can always remember where you were when you heard the news. I was at home when my mum rang me and told me to put the TV on. The news was on all the main channels, which only happened when something big was happening. At first, it didn't seem real. I remember watching and thinking it looked like something that belonged in a movie. I think that's one of the reasons 9/11 has stayed in people's memories for so long. It wasn't just the terrible events themselves but the way the whole world seemed to stop and watch the news together. Even though I was in England and thousands of miles away, it was one of those days when the whole world seemed to come together. Ordinary people had been going about their day, going to work and doing all the normal things and their lives had changed forever. It’s a reminder that sometimes a single day can change history in a way that none of us could have imagined when we woke up that morning.

6.Insert your own random thought here.

Sunday's are almost my favourite day of the week! On Sunday I slept until gone 9am, scrolled on my phone for a bit, had a shower, did some blog commenting and started writing this blog post all while watching some football. Stu made us a nice lunch, just sandwiches and a cup of tea but food always tastes better when someone else makes it. I spent the afternoon watching F1 and started rewatching the Harry Potter movies. It was a lovely, relaxing day, just what Sunday's are meant to be!