100 Things That Make Me Happy

22nd May 2015

100 Things That Make Me Happy

Ant
Aiden
Kaycee
Ella
Family
Ice cream!
Books
Lazy days
Watching a movie with Ant
Playing Electronic Banking Monopoly with Kaycee
Chocolate
Baileys
Hugs from Aiden.
A snowball drink made by the SWH (super wonderful husband)
Christmas
Fairy lights
Being wrapped up warm on a cold winters day
Autumn leaves
Orchids
Morning cuddles from Ella
Biscoff! OMG it’s so gorgeous!
Our large garden and the plans we have for it
Our new house – I love living here. I didn’t realise how on edge I was at the other house, always checking to see if the kids from the area were in the garden trashing it or just causing a nuisance of some sort. I’m so relaxed here 🙂
Frogspawn
Tadpoles – I can’t wait to get my garden pond done for the frogs. I used to love going to the stream and finding tadpoles when I was younger.
Flowers growing in the garden
Our apple tree
Weekend lie-ins
Easter holidays
Netflix!
Losing weight
Flowers in my home
Helping at the charity shop
Getting voted as our group’s slimmer of the year at Slimming World
Setting up an Easter egg hunt for girls
Shopping with Ant
Being spoilt on my birthday
Being spoilt on Mother’s day
Being spoilt on Christmas day 🙂
Going on holiday as a family
Going on holiday with Ant, just the two of us
Getting greatest loser at my Slimming World group
Starbucks caramel frappuccino
In fact, everything Starbucks! I really want to try the ham and cheese croissant 🙂
Having a proper greenhouse
Summer holidays – I should really just say school holidays because I love being able to turn the alarm off!
The flower clock that Kaycee made me for mother’s day
The little owl that Ella got off a Christmas cracker and stuck to the tv. It’s still there now and I’m leaving it there because it makes me smile 🙂
Buying books, even if I’ve got too many to ever have time to read them all!
Watching tv in the evening with the hubby
Summer evenings, sitting outside
Summer Barbecues
Celebrating 10 years of marriage with my super wonderful husband
Getting past the halfway mark on this list!
Getting a takeaway as a treat for the kids
Planning for Christmas
The smell of the Christmas decorations when you get them out of the loft
Tv boxsets
My Slimming World group
Winning our bonus ball lottery at slimming world
Dominoes pizza
Baking with the girls
Having days out with the family
Going to bed at the same time as Ant
Seeing Ella get so excited at the new planetarium we received
Helping Kaycee learn how to use the sewing machine
Surprising the girls with a trip to the cinema
Nanny’s dog Chi-Chi getting so excited to see me when we visit
Watching the shows the girls put on for us
Feeling lucky that I’ve been blessed with a son who doesn’t live up to the usual teenage stereotype of being cheeky, causing trouble and everything else teenagers are known for!
Working from home so I’m always here for the children after school
Diet Vimto……it’s so yummy!
Surprise flowers from Ant for no reason
Nipping to the toilet in the morning and going back into my room to find Ella or Kaycee has made the bed for me 🙂
Going to the Kinema in the Woods with Kaycee and Ella
Going to the beach
Going to the Wetherby Whaler
A nice hot bath but no bubbles because they annoy me!
Comfy pyjamas
Spa evenings run by Kaycee and Ella at bedtime 🙂
My new wildlife pond, waterfall and stream made by the super wonderful husband
Having the big dining table back in use after it being in the garage since we moved here over a year ago
Being able to take part in a photography course, thanks to Joe lending me his camera
Seeing the summer bulbs we planted on a freezing cold February morning, starting to grow
Clearing out the shed and throwing away A LOT of stuff!
Sweet omelettes with banana, coconut greek yogurt and squirty cream!
Going to Nanny’s for a coffee and a chat
Hugs from the nieces and nephews when they’ve not seen me for months
Spending time with my best friend, Jo. It doesn’t happen often enough.
Ant watching scary things with me even though he doesn’t want to, just so I don’t have to go to bed on my own because I get too scared!
Picking flowers from the garden to bring inside. I hope to have lots more planted for next year.
The excitement from the girls when I showed them the pool we’re going to be getting this year
Bank holiday weekends
Buying plants
Having Nanny over for dinner
Getting rid of the old carpet and putting down laminate flooring (which isn’t down yet but hopefully won’t be long!)
Pinning ideas on Pinterest for things I want to do in the house and garden
Listening to the Nashville cd and singing loud!
Singing Bob Marley songs with Ella 🙂
The times when everyone is doing their own thing, like Kaycee playing on the tablet, Ella watching Horrible History on Netflix, Aiden on his laptop and Ant’s playing with a new gadget like his in-car recorder and it suddenly hits me that I’m really really happy and totally content with my life :oD
I love them all so much it’s hard to put into words.

Photography

Project 365 – Week 1 Again!

25th April 2015

Week 1 again! I missed a few days. Well, quite a lot of days actually but I decided not to give up, I’m just going to start again and make last Saturday my day 1 again 🙂

April 18th – We started work on my new wildlife pond 🙂

April 19th – More digging!

April 20th – It’s been gorgeous weather today. Ella came home from school and changed into her swimsuit. Any excuse for her to wear a swimsuit is a good one! We planted some seeds in this big planter. Fingers crossed we get a lovely display of whatever flowers it was that we planted. We totally forgot to label it!

April 21st – We have liner and water :oD

April 22nd – Flamingo Gifts sent me gorgeous things 🙂

April 23rd – We had a few minor problems with the water level but hopefully it’s ok now

April 24th – My wonderful boy is 15 today. I made him a vanilla sponge with lemon curd and lemon frosting. It was delicious, even if I do say so myself!
I can’t believe he’s 15 already. I did take a photo but I’m not posting it because he’s at the age where he doesn’t want his mum posting photos of him!
Happy birthday Aiden, we love you xxx

Miscellaneous

Send an email to your future self :)

1st November 2014

I’ve sent an email to my future self using Future Me. It’s one of my 101 in 1001 day zero project.

Dear Future Me - Send an email to future self

You can keep it private or set it to public, I’ve kept mine private. You can choose any date in the future to have your email sent to you so I’ve set mine for the day my 101 in 1001 ends, June 15th 2017.

I’ve been reading other people’s future letters and some of them are really interesting.

There’s one that says it’s 2009 and if the writer and Sarah aren’t married in 5 years they have to marry each other,
I wish I could find out what happened there, seeing as 2014 is 5 years later!

Another that was sent last year is a bit sad to read because the writer isn’t at all happy with her husband after she said she gave up a beautiful house, family and friends to move for an opportunity for him and things didn’t work out as planned.
I hope they’ve been able to sort things out and she isn’t, as she put it, ‘in the pokey for hitting her husband over the head with a rock’.

Mine’s not nearly as interesting as some of the public ones! It’s mainly about being at a healthy weight by my 40th birthday 🙂

What would you write to your future self?

Books

Book suggestions

3rd October 2014

As part of my new #101in1001 project, I’ve challenged myself to read 100 books in 1001 days.
I don’t read as much as I used to because I’m busier now, but I do miss reading.
I used to stay awake all night if a book got me hooked! As a teenager, the Virginia Andrews books were my favourite and I binge read them every chance I got!

Book Suggestions

Another of my challenges is to read 5 books, each one suggested by a different person so I’d appreciate any suggestions! Feel free to leave them in the comments.

I like a wide range of genres and I’m happy to try books I wouldn’t normally choose 🙂

For more book posts, click here

Photography

My day in photos #101in1001

30th September 2014

I’m crossing off one of my #101in1001 tasks today. This was my day in photos. We took Nanny to Surprise View because it was her late husband’s favourite place. We had ice cream and a lovely lunch at the Wetherby Whaler.

Time to get up

My day in photos - eggs and mushrooms on toast for breakfast

Slimming World breakfast of Healthy Extra toast, mushrooms and fried eggs

Much needed black coffee

My day in photos - Imperial Leather shower cream

Shower time

My day in photos - SatNav - travelling to Surprise View

On our way to Surprise View

My day in photos - KayCee and Ella eating ice cream at Surprise View

It’s a bit chilly but it’s never too cold for us to have ice cream!

My day in photos - Ella eating ice cream at Surprise View

My ice cream

My day in photos - KayCee and Ella at Surprise View

My day in photos - having fish and chips at Wetherby Whaler

The fish and chips are delicious at the Wetherby Whaler

Nanny, KayCee and Ella

KayCee

Ella

Daddy, KayCee and Ella

My day in photos - prawn salad at the Wetherby Whaler

I tried to be good and picked a prawn salad instead of the fish and chips!

My day in photos - Ella and me at the Wetherby Whaler

My day in photos - brandysnap dessert at the Wetherby Whaler

I didn’t manage to resist the desserts, though!

Costa coffee on the way home

Time for Ella to read

Relaxing playing cards on the computer

A bit f bedtime reading

Finally, it’s sleep time!

Books

Finding old books in the attic

20th September 2014

When we moved here six months ago we had lots of boxes of old books that had been stored in the attic at our old house. We didn’t have enough space to have them on bookcases or shelves so they spent 10 years in the dark.

The majority of them were bought by Ant before we met so I’d never seen them properly.

New Bookcases

When we moved here we knew we wanted to get them all on shelves so Ant built some bookcases each side of the fireplace and we planned on putting up more shelves in the living room to accommodate them all.
Until we found the time to paint the new shelves and get them up we stacked all the books on the new shelves, double layered and packed in where ever they’d fit. You can read about that here 🙂

Old Books

I’ve finally got round to getting the new shelves painted white so while the books are piled everywhere, I’m trying to get them organised and listed on Goodreads.
I’ve done about 600 so far and I’ve only done about a quarter of them! It’s going to be a long job but one I’m really enjoying because I’ve been finding treasures I never knew we had, like this book of poems by Robert Browning that was given as a Christmas present in 1910 🙂

This book about careless talk costing lives from World War Two fascinated me. It even has a little stamp that you put on your telephone to remind you that someone else could be listening.
It has cartoons showing different scenarios of being overheard by the enemy.

Another book I found has the date 1863 in it. It has some lovely pictures.

I’ve still got the other side to empty yet and that side has the majority of the old books on it so I’m excited to see what else I’m going to find 🙂

Family

New Day Zero Project #101in1001

19th September 2014

I love making lists. It’s so satisfying to cross off things that need doing or just things you want to do and never get round to doing. The day zero project is the ultimate list for me. 101 things in 1001 days and the items on my list are there to help me be more creative, learn something new, get jobs done around the house that I keep putting off and to have fun 🙂

I’d tried doing 101 in 1001 a couple of years ago and my time was up last month. I didn’t complete all my 101 things but I enjoyed giving it a go and want to try again because it’s fun.

I’d love to see your lists if you’re already working on a day zero project or if you’d like to start one, head on over to the Day Zero website.

Here’s my list 🙂

Have a real Christmas tree
Ask five people to suggest one book and read them
Find a Geocache in at least three counties
Watch 26 movies I’ve never seen each starting with a letter of the alphabet
Write a book
See 10 classic movies I’ve never seen
Identify 100 things that make me happy
Dye my hair
Find a personally inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art of home decor
Spend a rainy day watching movies in my PJs
Take a photography class
Read Catcher in the Rye
Create a herb garden
See a movie in IMAX or 3D
Give someone a handmade gift
Have a weekend away with my husband
Complete a 1000 piece jigsaw
Write down five positive things that happened during the day for one month
Turn my phone off for the day
Lose 20lbs
Start exercising every day
Complete the 5000 question survey
Take a writing course
Finish a sudoku book
Reach my goal weight
Have a Lord of the Rings movie marathon
Make skittles infused vodka
Finish a NaNoWriMo
Have a healthy BMI
Try 10 new main meal recipes
Lose 50lbs
Refurbish a piece of furniture
Have a tea party
Go to a German Christmas market
Go to bed before 11 pm every night for a week
Have a romantic candlelit dinner
Host a New Years Eve dinner party at home
Bake a different cake each month for a year
Make at least 10 recipes I’ve pinned on Pinterest
Buy a pair of Doc Martins
Eat ice cream for breakfast
Try a new recipe every month for a year
Attend a blogging conference
Make fudge
Host a holiday dinner
Landscape the back yard
Get a digital SLR camera
Finish a game of Monopoly
Visit Harrods
Inspire someone to make a day zero list
Unplug for an entire weekend
Try 20 new dessert recipes
Send in a photograph to a contest
Write myself a mail via Futureme.org
Knit a scarf
Remember the gunpowder plot by attending a bonfire event on November 5th
Go to a flea market
Learn a new word every week for a year
Create a family cookbook
Make a dish from a different country every month
Crochet a blanket
Decorate my room
Take a photo of the same place for a year and make a calendar for the following year
Plant a container garden
Keep a ‘my day in six words’ journal
Write on 20 creative writing prompts from creativewritingprompts.com
Take at least 5 photos a day for a month
Dye my hair purple
Make doughnuts or churros at home
Organize my bookshelves
Learn how to write my name in Japanese
Learn to play the piano
Do a 30×30 challenge (30 minutes exercise every day for 30 days)
Be part of the 52-week challenge from Flickr
Watch 100 movies I haven’t seen before
Watch a movie from every year since movie making began
Take a picture for each letter of the alphabet from nature
Fill a sketchbook with drawings, design ideas and cuttings
Make pasta from scratch
Learn sign language
Read The Lord of the Rings series
Make 5 crafts I’ve pinned on Pinterest
Document a ‘Day in my Life’ in photographs
Win a game of scrabble
Complete the 100 snapshots challenge
Do a sponsored run/walk for charity
Visit a chocolate factory
Have ribs at Damon’s for my 39th birthday
List all the books we own, on Goodreads
Go on a photography walk
Paint the built-in bookcases white
Shorten the curtains for the short window in the living room
Take a photo of the children once a month
Take a drawing course
Make and bury a time capsule
Watch every episode of Charmed
Write a weekly journal entry
Volunteer at a charity shop
Take part in NaBloPoMo
Make a pavlova
Re-read all 7 Harry Potter books

Books

Book review – Secrets at Rosehill by Kathryn Brown

8th September 2014

When I started my previous Day Zero project I challenged myself to read 100 books in 1001 days. I failed miserably but I’m trying the Day Zero project, again and again, I’m challenging myself to read 100 books in 1001 days.

I’ve started with the sequel to Discovery at Rosehill by Kathryn Brown.

Secrets at Rosehill continues the story of medium, Camilla. She’s now very happily married to the former reverend, Marcus and they’re enjoying their lives at the gorgeous Scottish estate.

She’s regularly visited by the spirits of former residents of the estate as well as family members, such as her grandmother.

I like the way Kathryn reminded us of the happenings of the first story without making me feel like I was having to go through the first story again before I could get on with the new story. It was very cleverly done and I appreciated it because that’s one of the most annoying things for me when reading a series of books.

Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:

Now married to Marcus Calloway, Camilla couldn’t be happier. Accepted as a medium by the local villagers, her beloved Rosehill estate is at peace. But when Marcus heads to London to help someone in need, messages from the spirit world cause Camilla to doubt her husband’s integrity.

When her first love Ross, suddenly returns to Scotland, could her suspicions about Marcus’s infidelity drive her into his arms?

And who is the spirit that continues to haunt Camilla, leaving her fearing for her marriage?

I really enjoyed Secrets at Rosehill and I’m now planning to read another of Kathryn’s books, Bedknobs and Bachelors. It’s the only one of the four she’s written that I haven’t read, the third being Nightingale Woods.

Second Day Zero Project

100 Things That Make Me Happy