Oh To Be A Nearly Teenager

And a cat.

The other day my eldest was in the living room. I thought he was rather quiet so I went to have a look.

This is what I found .....

Bless!

Hope you all have a restful weekend.

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was my 14th wedding anniversary. Wow, where have the years gone?

Fortunately, on my wedding day, the weather was so much better than it was yesterday.  In fact we'd had a mini heatwave in the run up to the big day.

Sorry I haven't got any photos - all the ones I have are hard copies and my scanner has broken.

Yesterday was a work day, and a horrible one at that, but last night me, my husband and our two lovely boys went out for a Chinese meal.  It was nice to have a grown up meal with them on a school night.

Genie In the Keboard

If one day, when you’re shaking out the crumbs and debris from your keyboard, a genie popped out and gave you one wish to improve your life, what would you wish for?

I’m not talking about a lottery win, or becoming a bestselling novelist (we could all wish for those) but something that would help you practically on a day to day basis.

I know what I’d wish for – a self-tidying house.  I can cope with the cleaning – just about, but I hate having to wade through the mountain of belongings before I even get to the surfaces I need to clean.  It doesn’t help that both my husband and I are hoarders.  My weakness are newspapers and magazines. I don’t like to throw them away until I have read them in case I might read a snippet of something useful for a story, but I don’t always get the time to actually read them and the paper mountain rapidly builds.

Apart from that I think I live with the three most untidy males on the planet.  I mean, why would you put something away when you could drop it on the floor or sofa?

And I do try to train them – particularly my sons – I’m thinking of their future partners after all – but it’s like banging my head against a brick wall – repeatedly.

So a self-tidying house would free up a lot of my time in a day to day basis.

What would you wish for?

PS – rant over!

Paddington Bear

I was really excited to learn that there is a film coming out in the autumn featuring one of my favourite children's TV characters (I know I need to get out more don't I?)

When I was a child, I adored everything Paddington Bear: the books, the TV programmes, I even carried a miniature bear around with me wherever I went.  Paddington was my best friend, I told him my hopes, my fears and my dreams. I suppose he was my version of an imaginary friend. (Now, that sounds even sadder doesn't it?)

The film is being produced by the makers of the Harry Potter films, so I imagine it will be a slick production and from the few clips I have seen, I am already hooked.  

I'm afraid I'm going to have to rope one of my boys into going to the cinema with me - I'm not so sad that I will go and see a children's film without any children!  Do you think they might need the number for Childline?

The Perfect Present

I think it’s time for another book review.  This is a book I read in January - The Perfect Present by Karen Swan

This is the third book I’ve read by Karen swan and as ever, she did not disappoint. 

It is the story of Laura, a reclusive but talented jeweller who creates personalised charm bracelets and necklaces.  When a rich man asks her to create the perfect present for his wife, her initial reaction is to refuse.  But her boyfriend’s greatest dream is to buy a beach hut and one comes up just as she is offered an extortionate amount of money to produce the necklace.  Laura feels she has no choice and agrees to the commission.  To gain all the background information she needs to create the personalised charms, Laura has to interview the wife’s family and friends.  Becoming involved in a jet set group changes Laura’s life and causes her question the way she is living.

I loved the characters in this book. It reminded me of a modern Jilly Cooper, as one person who is supposedly out of her comfort zone jet sets with the rich.  But we soon come to realise that Laura isn’t quite who we thought she was.

Although some of the character’s actions in the plot weren’t always believable, I was prepared to overlook them because I was firmly engrossed in the storyline.  This novel transported me into the lives of the characters and was everything I needed to keep turning the pages.  A thoroughly enjoyable read.

A Great Night Out

On 15 February, we went to a 50^th birthday party of a friend of ours at the local village hall.  Nothing too exciting about that.  However, the wife of said friend had booked a band to appear on the night.  Not a local band, you understand, or a tribute band, but a real live band from the 80’s.

The name of the band was kept a secret, the reveal to come on the night in question.  Prior to this there was much speculation as to who this band would be, so by the evening of the party, we were all fizzing with anticipation.

It turned out that she had managed to book Dr & The Medics.  Their most famous hit was Spirit in the Sky but on the night they did lots of covers too.  They were a really nice bunch of people and as you can see from this we all enjoyed ourselves.  It was a bit surreal to see them in the village hall though!

Our friend has certainly set the bar high for partners’ birthday presents. Thanks for that then.

After all that dancing and bearing in mind that this was the same day that I’d done the sponsored walk, Sunday was a very quiet day!