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

This week my Word of the Week is:

What a week! It seems to have flown over but at the same time dragged on. One minute it was Sunday morning and I was thinking about everything I needed to get done and now here we are at the weekend and I am wondering where the week went! I am very glad that it's the weekend. I think I need a bit of a breather after this week because it feels like there has been something going on every single day!

The big news from this week is that Ellie has bagged herself a job! At the moment, it is only a temporary one with four weeks of work but there is a possibility that it could lead to a temporary position afterwards. So, of course, we are keeping everything crossed and hoping that it works out for her. It is a start and after all the applications, waiting, interviews and stress we're very happy! Hopefully, this job will give her some experience and confidence too. If nothing more comes of it, she has at least 4 weeks worth of wages, something else to put on her CV and another reference. As well as getting everything sorted for her new job, Ellie is doing an English course to get the equivalent of the GCSE that she didn't pass. She has also had appointments almost every day this week, been sorting out all the paperwork and other things she needed for work and somehow still managed to find time to see her friends. I don't know where she gets the energy from. She did make me chuckle this week when she was filling out some forms. She hadn't written very much by hand since she was in college and she was sat there struggling. Not because she didn't know what to write but because her hand was aching! She did have quite a lot to write though. It sure did make me realise how much we have all got used to typing everything. I can't remember the last time I sat down and wrote more than a shopping list.

Monday was busy for me too. I was helping my dad and brother out with some admin stuff for their business. They don't usually have that much admin to do but the powers that be have brought in some new policies and there have been a lot of hoops to jump through and forms to fill in over the last month or so. It's not hard work but it is annoying. Over the last couple of weeks, the powers that be have been sending letters out which are fine but the emails are stupid! They are automated with reference numbers on them but no actual details about what part of the business the reference numbers refer to, which is not helpful! My dad rang them and managed to speak to an actual person but the person he spoke to was just as clueless and said to ignore the emails and hope that letters are sent with more details. That doesn't seem very professional to me. If you are sending people emails about something important and giving them reference numbers, surely the email should actually tell them what the reference number is for. It has made everything more difficult than it needs to be. I was back at my dad's yesterday and there was more admin to do. We seem to be making progress with it though. I know paperwork is just part of running a business but it's like this paperwork has been created just to make life more difficult than it needs to be.

I had planned to go shopping on Tuesday with the girls but by Tuesday it felt like I'd had a week of it already after spending most of Sunday cooking the roast dinner and being at my dad's on Monday. lol I just wanted a day to myself to catch up on things. I did miss out on a trip to TK Maxx and M&S which I am a little sad about, so I am going to have to drag Stu out sometime. I will need him to carry the bags. hehehe.

Looking back progress sums up my week. Ellie has got herself a job for now, started her English course and is getting into a new routine which feels like a big step forward for her. I've also made progress with my dad and brother, getting through the thick of all that admin even if there is still more to do!

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 38. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a good week. We have had a really great week with lots going on. I feel like things are getting busier and busier at the moment. Things seem so busy here at the moment and I feel like I have a never ending to-do list and there are never enough hours in the day to get through it all. I have a few things that have made me smile this week and, of course, I am linking up with Erika and Andrea to share what I have loved this week!

Big Brother UK!

The new series started this week and I am hooked again. There is a good mix of housemates and there is already more going on than I expected. Usually everyone is on their best behaviour in the first few days but there have already been blazing arguments! Eek! At the moment, I can't pick a winner or even think about who might make it into the final three, as I like more of the housemates than I dislike. Give it another couple of weeks and I will probably have completely changed my mind about half of them. I think the only people I am not keen on are Rochelle and Johanne as they have been rude and argumentative to each other and other people!

Google socks!

These made me laugh more than they should have. My fella brought a pair of socks home from work! He works for a phone company and they always have brands like Samsung, Motorola and Google Pixel going in holding little events, doing demonstrations, showing off their new products and they always bring gifts. Samsung are always the best. Last time they were in, they brought an ice cream van and big Stanley-type cups for everyone and this time, Google gifted everyone a pair of socks. lol You would have thought it would have been Apple bringing things in and giving stuff away at the moment, especially with their new phones being launched but no, they are meanies. They never seem to send goodies or even reps out to show off their phones.

Gousto Boxes!

I got our recipe box delivered over the weekend and we have been really enjoying the meals this week. I forgot just how easy a Gousto box makes things. There is no shopping for loads of different ingredients for each meal because everything I need is delivered. I just need to follow the recipe and make it. We've had some really nice meals this week, which you can see in my meal plan and I have already ordered the meals for next week too.

This tomato!

I am so chuffed with how big this tomato is but it's the middle of September and I feel like it should be turning red already! I keep checking it every day to see if anything has changed but it is just sitting there, being very green and taking its time. I had a quick look on Google and it says they take 20 to 30 days to turn red once they reach their full green size. This must be fully grown now because I don't think it can get much bigger!

A little job!

My youngest has got herself a job. It's only a temporary one for 4 weeks but we are hoping it could lead to a permanent position. She went to the interview early in the week and they rang her an hour later after interviewing other people and offered her the job. Yay! She knows it could just be 4 weeks worth of work so she's still applying for other jobs but it's also 4 weeks worth of money, something else to put on her CV and another reference, which is of course a big positive!

What have you loved this week?

What I listened to in August!

At the start of the year, I started listening to audiobooks. I always wanted to be a reader but couldn't/wouldn't make the time, so audiobooks were a way around it. I could be busy doing something while still listening to a book. Anyway, I thought I would share what I have been listening to. All of my audiobooks come from my local library through the app BorrowBox. I know lots of what I listen to might be considered old but they are all new to me!

This is what I listened to in August:

Come Again by Robert Webb!

Kate’s husband Luke - the man she loved from the moment she met him twenty-eight years ago – died suddenly. Since then she has pushed away her friends, lost her job and everything is starting to fall apart. One day, she wakes up in the wrong room and in the wrong body. She is eighteen again but remembers everything. This is her college room in 1992. This is the first day of Freshers' Week. And this was the day she first met Luke. But he is not the man that she lost: he’s still a boy – the annoying nineteen-year-old English student she first met. Kate knows how he died and that he’s already ill. If they can fall in love again she might just be able to save him. She’s going to try to do everything exactly the same.

This book is in three parts and I really enjoyed the first two parts. Waking up in your younger body is never going to happen but this story made it feel believable enough to just go along with it. It did make me think about what I would do if I could go back in time, knowing everything that I know now. I didn't enjoy the third part nearly as much. It felt like I’d gone from reading a story to watching an action movie. There was drama dealing with a high-speed car chase, a brawl in a theatre, spies, cabbies and Russian heavies. It felt so over the top and not in keeping with the first two parts. It was not needed and felt a shame since I had been enjoying it so much until then. One thing I did love was Olivia Colman reading it. She is brilliant doing all the different voices and accents for the characters and it made listening so much fun. Even when the plot started going a little off the rails, I was still enjoying listening to her.

My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney!

Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife.One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying. Six months earlier, a reclusive Londoner called Birdy, reeling from a life-changing diagnosis, inherits Spyglass. This unexpected gift from a long-lost grandmother brings her to the pretty seaside village of Hope Falls. But then Birdy stumbles upon a shadowy London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person's date of death, including her own. Secrets start to unravel, and as the line between truth and lies blurs, Birdy feels compelled to right some old wrongs.

This story got straight into the drama in the first chapter, so I was hooked from the beginning. It made me want to know what was going on, what was going to happen and how it was going to end. I was a little confused in parts, especially with the different characters which I kept changing my mind about and the timelines but I think that is part of what kept me listening. I did make sense of it all eventually. There is so much going on that you have to pay attention and every time I think I had worked something out, something changed and I wasn't completely sure any more. The ending was a little far-fetched, but by then, I was invested enough to see what happened and it all came together well at the end. I listened to this as an audiobook and the different voices were fantastic. The sound effects added to the suspense too, which I really enjoyed. It made certain parts feel even more dramatic and I found myself wanting to carry on listening rather than switching it off.

Someone Else's Shoes by JoJo Moyes!

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes? Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in. That’s because Sam Kemp in the bleakest point of her life has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change and that thing is herself.

Who'd have thought a story about a pair of Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes would be so good! I loved this book. There is quite a lot going on in this story, with lots of different characters and their own little storylines. I loved getting to know each of the women and finding out what was going on in their lives. They all have their own problems, secrets, worries and mistakes and slowly their lives start to become intertwined. There’s a bit of everything in this book with romance, mystery, humour, heartbreak and friendship. I really didn't want it to end!

Best Summer Ever by Heidi Swain!

Summer is in full swing when Daisy drives back into Wynmouth in her almost-clapped-out car, having left both her most recent job and the man her parents thought she was going to marry. Coming home could be just what she needs to move her life on. At Wynbrook Manor, things are in disarray. Owner Algy isn’t getting any younger, and Daisy’s mum Janet, housekeeper at the manor, spends her days running around after him, while Daisy’s dad Robin, the gardener, has been let down by the person he had lined up to take care of the new cut-flower garden. As Daisy tries to find her place at Wynbrook and in the village, she’s drawn to summer visitor Josh. But when he turns out to be not the person he appears to be, will the spark between them fizzle out? And with it, the chances of this turning into the best summer ever?

This is my first book by Heidi Swain and I loved it. It was exactly the sort of book I wanted during August. I know summer books don't need to be read in the summer but listening to this one while we were in the middle of a heatwave felt perfect. It has a coastal village, gardens, family, friendships, romance and plenty going on with the characters. It was pretty obvious where the story was heading and I was mostly right. I didn't mind because sometimes I just want to sit back and enjoy the story without having to think too hard. I really liked the setting of Wynmouth. It's a fictional coastal village but it was so easy to picture while I was listening and it made me want to visit somewhere by the seaside! I also discovered that there is a whole series of books set in Wynmouth, which I didn't realise before starting this one. I will definitely be looking for the others on BorrowBox.

What have you been reading or listening to lately?

The Wednesday Hodgepodge #73

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. How do you define beauty?

Beauty, to me, is not about how someone looks, it's about the way someone behaves. Someone can be the prettiest, most drop-dead gorgeous person in the world but if they are unkind and rude to people, it makes them ugly in my eyes! Real beauty is being kind for no reason, giving a nice word when someone needs it, a smile for no reason, being thoughtful and making others feel good about themselves. The way someone treats others always reveals more than their appearance ever could.

Beauty is not limited to people! Beauty is all around us. In a sunrise or sunset, a song that drags you right back to an old memory. Sometimes it’s the view from a hilltop, a meal that just hits the spot or a nice cup of tea that you desperately need. Beautiful moments don't need to be planned, sometimes they just show up when we least expect them.

I think we tend to overthink what beauty means, it took me way too long to answer this question. For me, it’s the little moments, how people make each other feel and noticing the good stuff that’s all around us. That’s what really makes life beautiful.

2. Have you ever taken a trip by train? If so where did you go and what did you think of the experience? If not do you have any desire to do so? Where would you like to go? (You might find inspiration here-The Best Train Trips in The World)

I have travelled by train quite a few times, mostly to York and Newcastle upon Tyne. I enjoy it when everything goes to plan and I like being able to sit back and look out of the window. You see things that you wouldn't normally see from the road. The last trip we had to Newcastle Upon Tyne, we saw the other side of the Angel of the North statue and the rows of bridges across the River Tyne!

Of course, trains have a habit of testing your patience with delays, cancellations and when they are overcrowded. Eek! A good few years ago, we travelled by train over Christmas and it was a complete nightmare with people sitting in our reserved seats, people thinking we were in their seats and people pushing and shoving! I wrote a blog post all about it. Travelling by train makes people angry!

A few years later, there were train strikes when we were travelling, so we had to change all of our plans but it worked out well and we just started our holiday a few days earlier. We'll just forget that in my panic I booked the train tickets for October instead of September. Oops! I realised before we left and it was sorted out quickly! Phew!

If I could choose a train journey anywhere in the world, I would want to ride on one of those sleeper trains that is part of the holiday. Looking at the Best Train Trips in the World list, the one I'd most like to do is the Rocky Mountaineer in North America. The scenery looks amazing and I think it would be such a memorable trip with the glass-domed carriages where you can see right around you. It sounds like a trip to add to the bucket list!

3. Shell shocked, bombshell, bandshell, shellacking, in a nutshell, walking on eggshells...choose one and tell us why you chose it, or how it relates to your life in some way currently.

I don't think any of these relate to my life at the moment so I chose in a nutshell because I'm all for keeping things simple. When I saw this question, I had to Google what a bandshell and shellacking were because I had no idea what either of them meant! You learn something new every day, especially on a Wednesday from the Hodgepodge. Hehehe I think in a nutshell is a good phrase because sometimes you don't need a long explanation or loads of unnecessary details. In a nutshell, I like keeping things simple and learning new things along the way.

4. Tacos, pistachios, oysters, clams, eggs...your favorite food on the list that comes in/with a shell?

I think I am going to be pretty basic and say eggs. I love that you can have them in so many different ways. Fried, scrambled, hard-boiled and my favourite, dippy eggs. There's something about dippy eggs with toast soldiers that I never get bored of but eggs are one of those things that can be eaten any time of the day, breakfast, lunch or even for tea!

5. Are birthdays a big deal in your house? Is your own birthday a big deal in some way? Elaborate.

Yes, birthdays are a big deal in our house. We've had 3 in the last month and a half. My fellas and both my daughters. We love having an excuse to celebrate, have a nice meal out, make a fuss of each other and of course, there is plenty of cake! It will feel strange this week not eating birthday cake. hehehe

I like celebrating my own birthday too. I like having a day that's all about me, doing something I want to do, eating what I want to eat and maybe getting a few presents along the way. It's my birthday in November and it seems such a long way away. Hmmf.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

The TV is getting good here! Big Brother is back on, Strictly Come Dancing is coming soon with new presenters and The Great British Bake off too! Nigella Lawson is taking over from Prue Leith. Sir David Attenborough is returning with Blue Planet III and a whole bunch of celebrities are taking part on The Traitors! It looks like a good line up. I am looking forward to seeing Miranda Hart and Richard E Grant!