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

This week my Word of the Week is:

This week has been a complete wash out. I don't remember it ever being this wet at the start of the summer holidays. It is feeling more like Autumn than summer. Ugh.

I did Google when the wettest July was and it wasn't the one just gone, it was in 1988. Apparently the 2nd most wettest July was in 2009, I remember that year being grey and dismal but I always think of it like that because it was the year my girls had their open heart surgery to fix the holes in their hearts and I wasn't in the happiest of moods. The nurses kept saying at least it's wet and grey out so you're not missing any of the summer. 

The girls went to Hull Pride on Saturday and the weather wasn't too bad, there were a few showers but nothing too bad. They had a great time. On Sunday I left them in bed as Becky had only had a few hours sleep after her night shift on the Saturday before going out so had the sleep to catch up on and Ellie is a typical teenager and just loves her sleep. Stu and I went out for lunch and we left the house and it was starting to rain, it was just a shower and by the time we'd got to our favourite place for Sunday lunch the sun had came out. We felt silly wearing jumpers and hoodies. lol We went to see my dad and by then it was chucking it down.

From then on it has rained a lot. I have had to go out twice in it and got soaked, it was a good excuse to put my pj's on early though. We had planned to see the Barbie movie early on in the week but didn't fancy walking 25 minutes to the nearest bus stop as the roads have been closed locally as they have been resurfacing the roads. 

Becky was glad that it rained all day on Wednesday as she was stuck at work doing training. She had her normal 12 hour shift starting at 8pm Tuesday night, finished 8am Wednesday morning and had an hours break before 7 hours of mandatory training. She got home just after 4pm and went for a 4 hour nap, got back up had something to eat and a bath. She really was a trooper. I think if I had gone for the nap I would have stayed in bed until the next morning.

I was glad it rained on Wednesday too so I could plonk my backside in front of the TV and watch Guardians of the Galaxy 3 which came onto Disney+ and not feel guilty about not doing anything productive. It was so good but still would have liked to have seen it at the cinema. 

Thursday was the first dry day of the week and we were glad as we had a day out shopping in town and we went to see the Barbie movie. It was so good! Just the right amount of everything. I have never seen our cinema as busy! There were actual queues to get in which I have never seen before.

It's supposed to be raining on and off all of today so we're going to see what it's like before we make any plans. I am so sick of this weather! I don't want a hot summer, I would just like a dryer one!

How has your week been? I hope you've had a good one!

Lemon & Blueberry Muffins - Recipe!

My family and I love muffins. Sweet or savoury, we are happy to eat any. Stu has one every morning with a coffee, usually a chocolate chip one and I am partial to a lemon one with a cup of tea in the afternoon. The kids prefer blueberry one's so this recipe is perfect mixing both lemon and blueberry that me and the kids love. If you don't want them to be as sweet you can just skip adding the buttercream to the top of the muffins which makes it a healthier snack.

Lemon & Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients:

175g of unsalted butter, softened and 60g extra for the buttercream.

175g of caster sugar.

1 lemon, zested.

3 eggs.

200g of self raising flour.

150g of blueberries.

250g of icing sugar for the buttercream.

Equipment

A Muffin tray.

Muffin cases.

A Mixing bowl.

An electric hand whisk.

Tablespoons.

A Zester / Grater. 

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan) and line your muffin tray with the muffin cases. 

In the mixing bowl cream together the 175g butter and the caster sugar with the electric hand whisk. Add the eggs and whisk more to combine.

Add in the flour and the lemon zest and mix until smooth, before stirring through the whole blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly across the lined muffin tins, then bake in the oven for around 20 to 25 minutes, until the muffins are golden and springy to touch in the centre.

Whilst the muffins are baking you can make the buttercream by mixing the 60g of butter, icing sugar and juice of the lemon until smooth.

Once the muffins have cooled ice them with the buttercream and top with more fresh blueberries to decorate.

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.

365 Days Of Gratitude. In July I was grateful for...

I have seen many people on social media list something every day that they are grateful for and thought I would join in and have on my private Facebook account every day and I thought I would share here too.

I did this for the whole of last year and it has really made me realise that even on the bad day's I have something to be grateful for.

Day 181 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I was grateful for a night out with family.

Day 182 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a fun day at a nearby country show, we have it all to do again tomorrow too.

Day 183 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for lots of yummy treats from the local show. Doughnuts, burgers, fudge, jars of marmalade, cake, cookies and candy floss.

Day 184 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a rainy day which meant I didn't feel bad about not doing much. I needed the rest after the weekend!

Day 185 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for getting caught up on everything that I didn't do over the weekend!

Day 186 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for the library! Ellie joined our local one and it's going to save me a small fortune. No more buying books, she can borrow them.

Day 187 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that Ellie had the perfect prom.

Day 188 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a quiet day of not doing much. Who thought preparing for a prom could be so exhausting!

Day 189 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that the sun is shining!

Day 190 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a chilled day. Lunch out and a sit in the pubs beer garden. Sunday's in the summer are the best!

Day 191 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for my fly swatter, the pesky things have driven me insane today!

Day 192 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that it didn't rain so I could get some gardening done.

Day 193 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for good soup. hehehe We had our favourite pea and ham soup tonight with leftovers for tomorrow lunchtime.

Day 194 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for Ellie being a chatterbox. She has not shut up today and I was quite glad when she went out with her boyfriend for a few hours but I wouldn't have her any other way!

Day 195 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for breakfast out and seeing my dad and brother.

Day 196 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that Stu now has over a week off work! He took some holidays.

Day 197 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a nice, relaxed day at home. Been in my pj's all day, it's been lovely!

Day 198 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a day out with Stu and Ellie. We went to Hull and did a bit of shopping.

Day 199 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that I could give my family an afternoon tea. I won a voucher last year and hadn't used part of it so spent it on a savoury afternoon tea.

Day 200 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for fun times with my family. It was nice to all be home at the same time with none of us rushing around.

Day 201 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for fresh hair dye. Just gone with my normal red but it looks fresh and bright.

Day 202 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a fun night out.

.

Day 203 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a lazy day at home. I'm in my pj's now, under a blanket and with a hot water bottle. This weather is stupid for July!

Day 204 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a long lie in, I needed it!

Day 205 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that Stu enjoyed his last day of his holidays before he has to go back to work. Only another month or so and then he's off for another week.

Day 206 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that I got my bedroom sorted. I let the clean clothes pile up, I finally got them all put away today.

Day 207 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for some time to myself. Becky was in bed sleeping for work and Ellie was out with friends this afternoon. I haven't had much time alone lately so it was nice.

Day 208 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for Netflix and being able to rewatch Heartstopper with Ellie before the new series is released next week.

Day 209 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for cake and Ellie getting me some from the shop. I didn't even have to ask, she surprised me.

Day 210 of #365DaysOfGratitude 

Today I am grateful for a day by myself. The kids went to Hull Pride.

Day 211 of #365DaysOfGratitude 

Today I am grateful for a nice sunny Sunday despite the weather forecast saying it was going to chuck it down all day.

Day 212 of #365DaysOfGratitude 

Today I am grateful for a day off from the cooking. Stu made tea. 

What were you grateful for in July?

The things that I won't miss about my girls going to school.

Ellie has left school now, all she has to go back to school for is to collect her GCSE results. It feels so strange. I have been a parent to school age children for almost 18 years. Well if you count the time they went to nursery, when they turned 3 years old.

The school years have been a journey for me and my girls. It's certainly had it's up's and downs. I previously wrote a blog post about the things that I will miss about my girls going to school but these are the things that I won't miss about them going to school.

Nits/Head lice.

This was more a primary school thing but my girls seemed to have nits more than they didn't during their younger years and it wasn't because I didn't treat and comb their hair it was down to a couple of kids who's parents just didn't care. I was stood talking to a teacher once and discreetly pointed out the nits in another child's hair and the teacher said the school knew and there's nothing they could do if the parent wouldn't do anything. My girls and I lost so many hours and spent so much money on the nitty lotion but thankfully when they went to secondary school the nits seemed to just disappear. 

A pound here, a pound there.

Every week it used to be we need a pound for a non-uniform day or a bake sale, some charity or something like that. Of course I didn't mind paying but I did mind having to find the change and then the kids losing their money before they got to their classroom.

Parents Evening.

I hated parents evenings. We could never get in for the early appointments so had to come home and go back to the school only to be told the same thing every year. My girls are quiet, need to speak up in class but they try their hardest. The most frustrating parents evenings came in secondary school when a teacher had been teaching Becky for almost a year didn't even know her name or who she was. I gave the teacher a telling off, I thought he was going to cry. It sounds mean but I wasn't even sorry, he just seemed the type of person who wasn't right to be a teacher.

Bullying.

Both of my girls were bullied in both primary school and secondary school. Becky's was easy to sort as the school did little to help so we got the police involved but Ellie's bullies were relentless. They had telling's off, detentions, suspensions from school but kept going. We ended up moving house and Ellie's school thankfully. I pulled her out of school early as her old art teacher said to us at parents evening how she was so proud of Ellie, how she just ignores the bullying. Surely as a teacher she should have stepped in and stopped it when she saw it happening!

The school run.

I hated the school run, everything about it! If it was going to rain you can guarantee it would at either 9am or 3pm and we would get soaked. In the summer I always ended up sweating as school was about a 20 minute walk away. When Ellie was little she hated walking and would just stop and sit on the floor and scream. The walk was sometime too much for her little legs and I would have to carry her, no wonder I have a bad back now. I am not a people person so I hated standing in the school yard waiting for my girls. Thankfully I did have a couple of friends who were usually there for some moral support. 

Exams and tests.

When Ellie was doing her GCSE's I had sleepless nights, she was absolutely fine. I had awful dreams and felt anxious. I am so glad they are over now and my girls never have to sit another exam. Well as long as Ellie has passed her maths and English and doesn't have to resit at college. When my girls were younger they of course did their SATs and they were stressful. The school made a big deal about doing work at home but then in school had them digging up a garden. I would have preferred them to relax at home and work at school. Grr!

Teachers.

There are some amazing teachers and then there are the not so good one's. I have had quite a few run ins with teachers over the years. I could probably write a whole blog posts about the stories, like the one who said I had to buy Becky a bike so she could do her cycling proficiency at school and said she had to do it (she didn't), another who said we had to show proof that Stu's dad had died because Becky had already had a day off for his mum's funeral 6 weeks before (we didn't, this person was just being nosy) and the one who said Ellie couldn't have been bullied by a certain person because she was friends with her. Ugh!

Uniform.

The older the kids got the more expensive it was with jumpers and blazers all having to have the school logo on. When they were younger it was a case of trying to keep them stain free. We lost so many coats and jumpers over the years which all had to be replaced. Someone I used to know waited until the end of the school year when they put the lost property out and then got her kids jumpers in a bigger size, she saved a small fortune but I didn't have the guts to do it.

Remembering everything!

There is so much to remember when you have kids going to school. Everything from uniform and packed lunches to all the fun days, keeping track of the school holidays and teachers training days, when their PE kit needs to be washed and homework! It's a never ending list of things!

Musical instruments!

Both of my girls joined after school clubs playing musical instruments and they had to pick the most annoying. Becky had a tin whistle which seemed even more annoying than a recorder. lol The shrill sound of it used to go right through me and Ellie chose the trombone which was such a depressing sound at 7am on a Saturday morning when Ellie used to think it was a perfect time to practice. 

The illnesses!

My girls used to catch every cough, cold and bug going. The schools were always big on attendance so unless they couldn't move from their beds they were encouraged to go in which meant in the winter they were constantly full of cold as everyone just passed everything around. There was a time that Ellie had sickness bug after sickness bug and the school said she was having too much time off school so I took her back on their request. She lasted an hour before I had a phone call, the receptionist said she has never seen someone vomit as much as she did, it was a full on Exorcist reenactment. lol They didn't make her rush back to school after that.

What do you or did you hate about your children going to school?