The Wednesday Hodgepodge! #13

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 over at From This Side of the Pond! Each week there are 6 questions, we answer and then link up. Simple!

1. My very first edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge was published on November 10, 2010 (linked here if you're curious). Tell us something about your life from that era.

2010 seems a lifetime ago. My girls were 8 and 3 years old so I was in full mum life mode. Becky was in school and Ellie had started nursery. I did a lot of walking taking the girls to school and nursery, then picking Ellie up at lunchtime and then going back to pick Becky up just after 3pm. It used to take me 10 minutes to walk to the school myself but around 40 minutes with the girls, they were always dawdling. hehehe I do miss doing the school run which I never thought I would say at the time. The best times were at this time of year when it was warm and sunny and we would stop off at the park on the way home.

2. What's a song you love that relates to time in some way?

Summer Time – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince!

This song is a real summer song!! I think of summer when I was a young teenager with no school, no stress, just sunshine and hanging out with friends. The summer days were the best when I was a teenager!

3. May is nearly upon us. When did you last need to yell 'MAY DAY-MAY DAY!!'?

Off the top of my head it has to be something to do with spiders!! I am not a fan of them and there are a lot about at the moment. I don't mind the little one's but there are a few huge one's knocking about. I shout for help and get my family to take the huge critters outside and I am sure they are just coming back in through a different window. lol My eldest has actually just bought a spider catcher as she is not keen on them either.

4. How do you feel about food trucks? Is this a dining experience you enjoy? Do you have a favorite What's something you've ordered from a food truck?

I like food trucks! There’s something fun about just walking up, ordering and eating right there! 

I don't get food from food trucks often, it is more of a summer thing when we have days out. Each year we go to an agricultural show near us and as it's over 2 days we take a picnic on the first day and then hit the food trucks on the 2nd. I love the hot roast pork sandwich truck which is always there and my youngest loves the noodle truck! There's burgers, chips, mini freshly made doughnuts and so much more!

5. We're bidding farewell to April...what are three adjectives you might use to describe the month you're leaving behind.

Blossoming - There has been so much blossom on the trees this year and spring is well and truly here with everything blossoming.

Lively - April seemed like such a busy month for me, especially the Easter holidays. I feel like May is going to be a bit quieter and I am looking forward to it.

Bright - I am loving the brighter and longer days! The sun has mostly been shining throughout April and I hope it continues.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I am writing this blog post, putting off doing the garden. I have weeding to do and lots of it! I will be fine when I get out there, it's just finding that motivation to get moving!

A Saturday night away and out!

My eldest, Becky treated me to a night away a couple of Saturdays ago as a late Mother's Day treat. It's the first time we've spent the night in a hotel with just her and without the rest of my family. Becky has a busy life so it was nice to spend some time together, just us and we had such fun. I thought I would share 10 moments from the day which made me smile and some photos.

We arrived in Hull and decided we needed something to eat. We decided to get a Happy Meal each, just for the Minecraft toy, I know it's childish but why not. Happy Meals are not just for kids, we got an extra burger each and our favourite drinks. I got the The frozen strawberry lemonade and Becky got a Shamrock Shake. I finally got to try one. It was nice and something different but not something I'd order for myself.

After we had eaten as we went outside we saw a crowd had gathered and we could hear music so we went to investigate. It was some street performers, we just caught the end of their show and they were doing limbo under a flaming pole. They were so funny and had everyone laughing. I wished we had came out earlier to see more of what they were doing as they were that entertaining! 

We checked into our hotel and for the first time ever we were up on the top floor and the view over Hull city was amazing!! I did feel a little queasy when looking down at the cars and people below, I don't do well with heights. It was even prettier when it was dark with all the lights shining.

It has been years since I had slept in a single bed but I did on our night away and I totally get why some couples do sleep in single beds. I had the best nights sleep, sleeping alone, not having to fight for any duvet or have someone snoring right next to me although Becky did snore a little but she wasn't as loud as my fella. hehehe

I was so happy with the outfit that I wore to go out. Usually I would wear a dress but I thought I would go more causal but still smart. I had got a new top and think it went so well with my denim jacket. In fact I think everything I wore just looked good together. I am in love with my white trainers. As well as looking good, they're comfy too! I remember when I was younger going on nights out and no one wore trainers, in fact you weren't allowed in some bars and clubs with trainers on but now most people have trainers on! It's a sensible idea, being comfy! 

Not the best photo of my food but my favourite meal from Wetherspoons. The Tennessee beef burger with maple cured bacon with chips, onion rings and a side of coleslaw. I am not usually a fan of Jack Daniels but I do love their BBQ sauce that comes with this burger! We do like the pub Wetherspoons as not too expensive and the food is OK.

After eating it was time for some cocktails. We wouldn't usually get a jug each but we weren't planning on drinking much alcohol for the rest of the evening and we had a couple of hours to kill. We played it safe and had jugs of Sex on the Beach. I loved the sound of some of the other cocktails but lots now have that Monster Energy drink in them which I am not a fan of.

The whole point of our night away was to see Whitney - The Candlelight Concert. I wrote all about it last week. We had such a fab time, the singer was amazing.

We stopped off at a bar on the way back to the hotel, another cocktail. We didn't want any sore heads in the morning as we were planning to stay up the next night until about 4am to watch the 2nd night of Wrestlemania. Becky got all embarrassed because of me talking to a women while waiting in the queue for the toilet. I didn't say anything wrong but she thinks it's strange to talk to strangers. lol I guess it's because me and the woman were of a similar age and that's the thing us oldies do. 

We made it back to the hotel just after midnight and Becky and I ended up sat in one bed, eating sausage rolls and watching the first match of Wrestlemania 41! Becky did want to order food off Uber Eats but I said no and was glad that I had bought some sausage rolls earlier on in the day. We didn't want to go to sleep but knew we needed to so turned the phone off and tucked ourselves into bed. We went asleep at around 1am.

Becky and I had such a fun night away and were up the next morning for breakfast with no sore heads, raring to get home to catch up on all of the Wrestling that we had missed.

Our weekly meal plan! 28th April - 4th May! #MealPlanningMonday

Last weeks meal plan went OK. It was strange having a week without a Gousto box, I felt pretty lost without it which seems so stupid to say, I got that used to it. We skipped having the hot dogs but the sausages didn't go to waste, I used them in the sausage pasta and we ended up having pork chops and sweet potato fries instead of the chicken curry and finally we ended up getting a Chinese takeaway on Friday evening, it has been ages since we last had one so decided to treat ourselves. It was so good, we tried a new place to us which is always risky but it worked out well, we even got fortune cookies!

This week is totally back to normal with everyone back at work and college on the days they should be. We have a little break before the next Bank Holiday. They don't mean much to us anymore as it's Stu's usual day off and Becky is always either sleeping for a night shift or sleeping at the end of a run of night shifts.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Stu is doing the cooking so it's going to be a surprise for me.

Tuesday - Gousto meal - Meat-Free Mince Sloppy Joes With Creamy Potato Salad. This is one of our favourite meals from Gousto. Who'd have thought my family would be a fan of a meat free meal.

Wednesday - Gousto meal - Cheesy Sausage & Pepper Chilli Con Carne Pasta Bake. I must remember not to make it too spicy like last time.

Thursday - Gousto meal - Five Spiced Crispy Chicken Strips And Sesame Slaw.

Friday - Pizza. Just one out of the freezer.

Saturday - Red onion and bacon tart with new potatoes.

Sunday - A roast dinner of some sort.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 19th - 26th April! Week 17 of #Project365

Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a great weekend! I have had a pretty quiet week. It has been nice to get back into some sort of routine after the Easter holidays and catch up on my sleep. It's the start of exam season for Ellie and she has a couple over the next few weeks and then more in May. Becky had a week and a half off work and I predict she will be so tired today after her first night shift back. She is great when she is in a routine but after having time off those night shifts take some getting used to.

It feels like we're heading into summer now with college winding down and the weather improving! It looks like it's going to be a scorcher next week, well a scorcher for this time of year.

Now for a photo every day!

109/365 - 19th April.

Becky and I had a night away! It was a late Mother's Day treat. We stayed in a hotel, ate out and went and saw a show which was fantastic! We were back in the hotel just after midnight where we had a fantastic nights sleep!

110/365 - 20th April.

It was a late night, Becky and I stayed up to watch Wrestlemania. It finished just before 4am. We loved every minute of it, well apart from seeing out least favourite wrestler at the moment win. Wrestling is so fickle, 6 months ago we loved John Cena but now he's a bad guy. Hmmf.

111/365 - 21st April.

We made ourselves pizza, well almost I bought the dough ready made and I just had to roll it out and get everyone to put their toppings on. I have stopped cooking it in the oven and do it in the air fryer now. It seems to taste so much better. As long as I keep the dough at the right size to fit in it works perfectly.

112/365 - 22nd April.

Just me, regretting wearing a jacket. It was warmer than it looked out. At least I remembered my sunglasses, they were needed!

113/365 - 23rd April.

It was a day for catching up on the housework and a good day for the washing! I filled the line, the clothes dried and I filled it again.

114/365 - 24th April.

The last of the Mini Eggs! We still have a couple of bigger eggs left so we're still happy.

115/365 - 25th April.

We got a Chinese takeaway, we hadn't planned to but it's ages since we last had one and such a treat to get some fortune cookies.

116/365 - 26th April.

Dandelions have taken over the garden again. They do make me smile though, the yellow colour is so cheery.

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