The first year of college, done!

This time last year Ellie had just left school and I was worrying about her starting college but here we are, at the end of this week she has completed her first year doing electrical engineering! I know for a fact I have worried a lot more than Ellie has, she has taken it all in her stride!

Ellie started college the day after we came back from our little holiday which was stressful to start with but it was also the day that Ellie would get the bus for the first time for herself. All summer I had tried to get her to say where we were going and pay but she was having none of it. Thankfully when she got her college bus pass she just had to scan it and get on without saying a word. On the first day she met up with some friends and that was it, she was away!

She settled into her class so well, obviously she paired up with the only other girl on her course and they have been an unstoppable force. The teachers have said they try their hardest as if they are trying to prove they are just as good as the boys. They don't have to try, they are as good as the boys!!

For the first few weeks of college Ellie hung around with people that she had known from school at break and lunch times but soon branched out a little and made friends with people in doing her course and others in the engineering department. She soon got herself a boyfriend which thankfully didn't last long. He was a bit controlling and the final straw came when he said to Ellie she couldn't hang out with her friends, she told him where to go.

Every day she comes home and says so and so said this, so and so said that and I can't keep up with who she is talking about as she seems to know so many people. For months I thought Alex was a boy but it turns out she's a girl. She thinks nothing of waking into town with her friends and having a look around the shops and popping into Wetherspoons for lunch. Some of her friends are 17 and 18 years old which I am wary about but they all seem like decent people.

The highlight of the course has been when she has had her practical lessons and she has been in the workshop doing the wiring and whatever else she does. Trunking, trays, conduits and many more words describing things that I don't understand. My dad does though, he has loved talking to Ellie about what she has been doing in college.

Ellie has cracked on with the written work and actually finds those lessons fun and interesting. In her course she doesn't have one final exam, she has assessments throughout the year and she has passed them all. There was one in the middle of the year which she had to resit but learned that she had to revise and that paid off with her last assessment when she got full marks!

Ellie has one more day at college and that's her done until September! She has already signed up to do the next year of Electrical Engineering. She has said that the teachers are hoping to put the two classes together with those doing their 2nd year so there will be no new starters holding them back. She is looking forward to another long summer of fun!

Our weekly meal plan! 24th - 30th June! #MealPlanningMonday

Last weeks meal plan went well, we ate almost everything! As expected the Thai-Style Coconut Chicken was my favourite meal and we really enjoyed the Sausage & Pepper Chilli Con Carne Pasta Bake too. Becky even said it's better than the pasta dishes which she makes and she is an expert at making anything with pasta. 

The Gousto box was delivered early on Saturday so I didn't have to jiggle any meals around. The poor delivery guy was  very angry about it though as he said it weighed too much and he has been underpaid. Eek! Come to think of it, it's the first time that I have had Evri deliver my box so I am thinking they deliver the lighter boxes and Yodel or DPD do the heavier one's. 

Yesterday it felt like I had a whole day of it before 10am. On a Sunday I like to have a lie in but yesterday just after 9am we had the water people here unblocking drains. Ours and next doors was blocked, our toilet was filling up and outside in the alley way was starting to smell. It turns out no one is to blame and there is a dip in the drainage where everything yucky is sitting and piling up. Eww! It's a common thing in older houses and we were told that when we go to the loo we need to flush twice to keep the water flowing. When I say no one is to blame I have thought, we might be. Since we got a shower put in we've stopped having baths so there is no surge of water, clearing things where the dip is when we take the plug out. Oops. I might have to start having baths again or just filling one with cold water so we can clear the drains.

Anyway, because I was up early it felt like a long day ahead of me doing nothing so I convinced Stu and Ellie to go to the pub for lunch and it was so good. So good to have a big meal without sweating in the kitchen making it and so good because my mashed potato is rubbish compared to the chef's at the pub! I need to ask him about it next time I see him.

It's funny about 3 months ago I would never eat cabbage, I had it at the pub and now it's something that I think about all of the time. I even took Ellie's off her. I don't know if my tastes have changed as I have got older or it's just the way they cook it but it's so good!

What I didn't plan for when I ordered the Gousto box a couple of weeks ago was the weather! Oops! It's supposed to be quite a warm week and I will have to spend time in the kitchen cooking. Eek! I am hoping to get the meals cooked on the morning so we can reheat them later on as our kitchen gets the sun from about 11am and it ends up feeling like an oven in there by tea time!

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Gousto meal - Classic Hot Dog With Sweet Onions And Cheesy Fries. Stu is not getting out of cooking on a Monday, he is going to make this. hehehe I would have left it until later in the week but it had a short use by date on the sausages.

Tuesday - Gousto meal - Beef Meatball & Tomato Farfalle.

Wednesday - Some sort of salad, I am planning to go to the farm shop to get some fresh bits and hopefully they will have some lovely cooked meat too.

Thursday - Gousto meal - Plant-Based Chick'n Pie With Mash And Green Beans. I am very interested to try this as I have never had meat free chicken before and it looks so strange. It looks like really pale doner kebab slices. I'm not telling my family it's meat free, I want to see if they notice. hehehe

Friday - Pizza, out of the freezer!

Saturday - Sticky Honey Mustard Posh Dogs With Chips. This is our favourite meal from Gousto!

Sunday - Quiche and salad.

What are you eating this week?

Week 25 of #Project365 16th - 22nd June. A photo every day for a year!

June is flying over. We have a few things planned for next month and I keep thinking the things are weeks and weeks away but they're really not. Eek! Why does the best part of the year have to go by so quickly. 

My week has mostly been spent watching football and enjoying the sunshine, yes the sun has finally been shining here! Friday was just gorgeous and we spent most of it at my dad's. Today we need to do some gardening and cut the grass, apart from that we have nothing planned. I think we are going to have a lazy day at home.

Now for a photo every day!

168/365 - 16th June

Father's Day and the men in my life had a fab time. We went to see my dad, dropped off his present (which he loved) and went for lunch then went to the pub for a few drinks. The sun was shining so it was lovely sitting in the beer garden.

169/365 - 17th June

These hay fever tablets have kept me going for the past week. I woke on Monday thinking I had a cold but it was just allergies. Ugh! 

170/365 - 18h June

The bee's are loving my garden, they are big fans of the pollen unlike me.

171/365 - 19th June

I hunted out my Voter Authority Certificate ready to vote next month. I don't have any photo ID so got myself one of these last year so I could. If you have no photo ID you have until Wednesday to order a free one to vote in the upcoming election.

172/365 - 20th June

I was putting some rubbish out and noticed something on the grass, I went closer and noticed there was a pile of feathers. Poor bird. I am guessing a cat got it as there was no sign of the bird in my garden.

173/365 - 21st June

I stayed up to watch the last episode of Doctor Who off the iPlayer. Technically it was still my Friday as I hadn't gone to bed. hehehe It was good but a bit of a let down. I still enjoyed it though.

174/365 - 22nd June

Our Gousto box was delivered and we have Chick'n Pie later in the week using meat free chicken. I have never had meat free chicken before and I can't imagine how it's going to taste. It looks like ill slices of kebab meat from the takeaway shop. lol I am sure it will be lovely.

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This week my Word of the Week is: Football! WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

I always say I am not a football fan but then something like the World Cup or the Euro's happen and I am hooked! I have seen nearly every match and considering I am not a football fan I have heard of a lot of the players. From what I see a lot play for teams in the English Premiership for teams like Man City and Arsenal. 

The Turkey v Georgia match has been my favourite so far, Stu has Georgia in his works sweepstake so I was cheering them on and they did so well considering they are only in the tournament because they did well in the UEFA Nations League. (I make it sound like I know what I'm talking about but I really don't). lol They're the underdogs so have nothing to lose and they really did give it their all. They even sent the goalkeeper down to the other end of the pitch near the end of the match to help out with a corner, it all went wrong and Turkey got the ball and had a free run to the goal, the Georgia's goalkeeper couldn't catch up. I am gutted they lost.

As much as I like the football I like some of the drama that goes on like the players arguing with the referee. France's Mbappe had a bit of an accident breaking his nose when he hit someone's shoulder and he went back onto the pitch holding his nose and sat down. The referee wasn't happy as he saw it as time wasting and gave him a yellow card. Eek! Going forward if he plays he will have to wear a protective mask.

On Wednesday, our usual bingo night we ended up going to the pub anyway. The staff were umming and ahhing about the bingo going ahead as it was just the usual's in but about 10 minutes before the Scotland match kicked off the pub started to fill up so there was definitely no bingo. Hmmf. We watched the match in-between chatting and still had a good night.

Becky always says she's not interested in the football but has seen quite a few of the matches too. She was sat at work watching one with a resident and for once she knew what she was talking about as it was Portugal and knows all about Cristiano Ronaldo. hehehe We have realised this tournament is probably the last time that we will see him play as I am sure he said he wouldn't be playing in a World cup again.

It's the moments around the football which I like, some Scottish fans helping an old man in the rain holding an umbrella over him. A little German bar selling a couple months worth of beer in one day. The Scottish fans singing their national anthem before their match on Wednesday! They were loud. The ground staff trying to stop the stadium flooding when it absolutely chucked it down and of course seeing all the fans having a lot of fun.

I will be sat here watching the football for the next few weeks, obviously wanting England to win all of their matches. They were abysmal on Thursday evening, they didn't deserve the draw. I could have done a better job of passing the ball. I did laugh at the likes of Alan Sherer getting angry talking about the game but still having to be professional. He looked furious! It still looks like we're thought to the next round though. Phew! I can't imagine that "Football is Coming Home" though, not after how they've played so far. Eek!

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