Things I pretend to like in Summer but don't really!

Summer! The season of sunshine, barbecues and endless Instagram worthy moments. At least that’s how we idolise summer when it is here! The reality is bugs, the awkward tan lines and just being too hot! I’ve come to realise that there are quite a few summer things I pretend to like mostly because it feels like the polite or expected thing to do. These are those things.

The whole "I love waking up early to watch the sunrise" thing!

I get the appeal of a gorgeous summer sunrise. The idea of sitting quietly with a hot drink while the world wakes up sounds idyllic but the reality is that I like my bed too much and an expert at hitting the snooze button.

Ice Cream!

Yes ice cream is a summer staple and I love it and hate it in equal measures. Eating it inside is fine but outside means it just turns into a sticky, drippy mess faster than I can lick it? I always end up with cold drips down my arm or stains on my clothes. When friends suggest grabbing an ice cream, I join in enthusiastically and pretend it’s all perfect sunshine and rainbows.

BBQs!

Barbecues scream summer fun and sure there’s something lovely about cooking outdoors and sharing food with friends and family but I secretly dread the smoky eyes, the flies attracted by the food and the stress of ensuring everything is cooked just right without burning. 

The beach!

Going to the beach sounds wonderful in theory but what no one warns you about is how relentless the sun is, how you’re either melting or it's too windy and cold. There's sand in your shoes, your hair, your lunch bag, everywhere! I’m the type who loves going to the beach as long as I have shade and can stay off the sand!

Summer fashion!

I absolutely love the summer style: flowing dresses, sandals, cute hats but here’s the truth I’m often uncomfortable, self conscious about showing more skin than usual and tired of sweating through clothes that aren’t breathable enough. 

Camping!

Camping is a brilliant way to connect with nature and unplug from the hustle and bustle but it's not for me. I’m a softie. I don’t love sleeping on the hard ground, dealing with unpredictable weather or sharing a tiny tent with bugs. I dream of a hotel bed and hot shower.

Sticky sunscreen and greasy skin!

We all know the importance of sunscreen and I totally get it but there is nothing to enjoy about covering yourself in a thick lotion that makes me feel like I’m wearing a greasy mask. Then you get feeling of sweat mixing with sunscreen to create a sticky, uncomfortable mess. Ugh!

The pressure to be happy!

Everyone expects you to be happy in summer, sunshine equals happiness but sometimes I just want a quiet day indoors and that’s okay. I pretend to be all smiles because that’s what’s expected but inside, I’m perfectly content with a lazy day, a cosy jumper and zero plans. 

Frozen cocktails!

Frozen cocktails are a summer staple at parties and nights out. I pretend to love them especially because they look so pretty but the brain freeze hits hard and trying to sip a melting cocktail before it turns into a sticky mess is a challenge. I grit my teeth, smile, and say, this is amazing while secretly wishing for a simple glass of chilled wine.

Flip Flops!

People wearing flip-flops always look carefree summer people but I have never found a comfortable pair! That piece of plastic or whatever material between my toes is uncomfortable and just not natural.

What about you? Are there things you pretend to enjoy every summer just to fit in or keep the peace? 

The Wednesday Hodgepodge #24

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. What's worth standing in line for?

I don’t like standing in lines at all. If I’m stuck in one for more than five minutes I start questioning whether it is actually worth my time. So for me to willingly queue it would have to be something I really need like the bathroom and even then I have been known to just say stuff it to the ladies queue and just go and use the men's facilities, they never have a queue like the ladies toilets.

2. Tell us about a favorite food related memory.

One of my favourite food related memories has to be Sunday dinners with my family when I was little. The kitchen would be some sort of organised chaos with pots boiling, trays clattering and my brother and I sneakily stealing roast potatoes the second they came out of the oven (Of course we burned our fingers but we never learned). The best bit wasn’t even the food, it was everyone squeezed around the table: my grandad, aunts, cousins, parents and my brother, talking over each other, laughing and fighting for the last Yorkshire pudding.

3. What are some things you find particularly peaceful or calming?

For me, some of the most peaceful moments are the really simple ones. The every day moments: sitting down with a cup of tea at the end of the day, listening to the rain falling and hitting the window, watching butterflies and the bees fly around my garden and that time at night when I am the last one up and my family are all tucked up in bed.

4. Is there something you do now that gets you just as excited as it did when you were a child?

Opening presents! It doesn’t matter if I was 5 or 45, the thrill of tearing into wrapping paper is still the same. Even if I already know what’s inside, I still get that same little kid excitement knowing the present is for me.

5. To what degree are you in touch with friends from grade school? high school? college if you attended college?

I’m still friends with a few people from school and college on Facebook but that’s about as far as it goes. Life just took all of us in different directions, different cities, careers, families and routines so those connections seemed to fade naturally. Every now and then I scroll through their posts to see what they are getting up to and smile at the memories.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I have been watching the movie My Oxford Year while writing this blog post. I went into it knowing nothing about it apart from people had been talking about it online. It completely caught me off guard! The story, the friendships and heartbreak. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting but I enjoyed every minute.

Why I’m still talking about CHD's - Sixteen years after surgery!!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been sixteen years since my brave girls had their open heart surgeries! Yes, both of them! For those of you who’ve followed my blog for a while, you might remember that I shared our CHD story just after I started blogging - Part one and Part two and every year since.

The short story is that my youngest jammed her fingers in a door where she needed surgery to fix them and a heart issue was found. An Atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD), a hole in her heart. We saw a specialist and when the symptoms were listed my eldest showed more signs so she was checked and had the same, an identical defect with her heart. Tests were done and surgery was booked in. We were told that if that freak accident didn't happen and the heart defects weren't found one of my girls would have just dropped one day and their heart would have given up. The girls went into hospital on the Sunday the 16th of August, we remember it well as it was my fellas birthday, Becky had her surgery on the Monday and Ellie on the Tuesday, both spending a night in PICU. It still doesn’t feel real saying that out loud.

A congenital heart defect (CHD) is a problem with the structure of the heart that’s present from birth or even before. It can affect how blood flows through the heart and to the rest of the body. CHDs are the most common type of birth defect, in fact, around 1 in every 100 babies is born with some form of heart condition. There are many different types of CHD. Some are mild and may never cause any noticeable symptoms while others can be serious and require surgery, sometimes within the first year of life or even before your child is born.

Thanks to advances in medicine and incredible cardiac teams across the country the outlook for children born with CHD has improved dramatically over the past few decades. Many children with even the most complex heart conditions go on to live full and active lives. That’s why awareness matters. The more people understand about CHDs, the more support there is for affected families and the more funding can go toward research, treatment and support services. Many heart families go through long hospital stays, countless check ups, emotional strain and uncertainty that can stretch across years.

I remember the feeling of helplessness so well. One child just out of theatre, groggy, with wires and tubes everywhere and then barely having time to catch our breath we had to hand over our youngest for her own surgery. My heart broke a thousand times that week but it also swelled with pride and love in ways I never imagined possible! Fast forward sixteen years and both of my girls are thriving. They’re smart, funny, thoughtful, resilient and absolutely full of life. You would never guess they have had heart surgery just looking at them unless you noticed their scars.

It is important to me to keep telling this story. Not just because it’s a huge part of our lives but because I know how comforting and encouraging it can be for other heart families to hear that there is light at the end of that terrifying tunnel.

If you’ve found your way here because your child is about to have heart surgery or they’ve just had it I want to say this clearly and honestly: I know how scared you are! I know the crushing weight of waiting! I know the ache of watching your child hooked up to machines! I know the feeling of forcing yourself to eat a sandwich you don’t want because you haven’t eaten in 10 hours! I know the fear! I know the hope! I know the guilt! I know the strength you don’t even realise you have yet but I also know this: There is hope! You will get through this. Your child is stronger than you know and you are too! There will be a day maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week but one day when the beeping monitors and hospital smells are a distant memory. One day, you’ll be watching your child laugh with friends, roll their eyes at you during a family dinner or tell you about their dreams for the future and you’ll feel this enormous wave of gratitude for just how far you’ve all come.

Here are some of my previous blog posts about heart defects, surgery and the aftermath!

The Facts! Congenital Heart Defect's!

The reality of heart surgery as a parent!

Advice for new CHD parents!

How having a CHD effects my girls lives!

Full of questions? Death? What if?

5 tips for parents that are worried about their children’s scars.

There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t feel grateful to the NHS. For the surgeons who fixed my girls hearts, the nurses who helped when they were in pain, gave me a hug when I felt helpless and for every single person who supported us during those scary days. 

We’ve come a long way since that hospital ward. The fear is still there sometimes, I won't let my girls ride rollercoasters in case it stresses their hearts, anniversaries tend to stir up all sorts of emotions but now the overwhelming feeling is gratitude. Here’s to sixteen years of strength, healing and hearts and here’s to the future because it’s looking so very bright!

Our weekly meal plan! 18th - 24th August! #MealPlanningMonday

I hope you all had a good weekend, we had a great one here. We ate out for Stu's birthday on Saturday, watched the football on the big screen and had a fantastic family day. He was spoilt rotten with cards and presents and the day couldn't have gone better, well it could have. Newcastle United could have got a win instead of just a draw. 

Looking back at last weeks meal plan, it went fairly well. I ended up swapping some of the meals around and we ended up getting a takeaway on Wednesday, it felt too hot to cook and the leftovers were great for the next day too. Our favourite meal was the Pork and Beef Bolognese Bean Bowl with Garlic Ciabatta. I was right in thinking it would be a great meal for an Autumn. It was hearty, comfort food at it's best! We enjoyed it and will have it again when it is a bit colder.

Thursday is a big day, GCSE results day! If any of your teenagers are collecting theirs I have everything crossed for them. Ellie only her her English resit result to collect. Hopefully it's 3rd time lucky and she gets the pass, she has worked hard for it! We don't have much else planned for the week, I think we are going to have a quiet one.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Gousto meal - Hearty beef and carrot hotpot. I checked the weather forecast and it's supposed to be a lot cooler than it has been and grey out.

Tuesday - Spam fritters, chips and baked beans. A simple old school meal which will hit the spot. 

Wednesday -Gousto meal - Chicken Satay Noodles.

Thursday - Gousto meal - Mild Chicken Curry.

Friday - Pizza.

Saturday - Gousto meal - Buffalo Fried Chicken Burger With Ranch-Style Dip.

Sunday - A roast dinner of some sort. I haven't decided on the meat yet but it will include roast potato's and Yorkshire puddings!

What are you eating this week?