Our Advent Calendars

 

Advent calendars have certainly changed from when I was a child. Back then I always received a calendar which displayed a picture relating to Christmas. Nowadays, it is rare to see those types in most shops.

When the kids were younger they always had a chocolate one (or three) each. As they have gotten older, I am trying to look for something different and there is so much variety in the contents you could be spoilt for choice.

 This year I have decided to get Matthew a Haribo calendar as those are his favourite sweets. In the past I have bought him the Lego calendar and he never seemed that bothered so when I asked him what calendars he liked he said Chocolate. He has simple needs.

Emma has got a Hotel Chocolat calendar this year. She has had a Friends jewellery calendar and a Harry Potter themed one in the last few years. Although she was quite happy with both of those she said she didn’t want a jewellery or ‘smellies’ calendar. As she is getting a Velvetiser for Christmas then I just thought lets get her a ‘posh’ chocolate calendar.

                                            

 Both Emma and Matthew have also got reusable calendars which they have had for many years. They used to get filled with chocolate coins but I have upgraded to Lindor chocolates for them both.

                                                             

                                            

                                    (might need to replace this next year, looking a bit battered)

In recent years I have also treated myself to an advent calendar. This year I have the Bonne Maman jam calendar. Previously I have had Cath Kidston, Pukka Teas and a jewellery one (bargain off Groupon).

This year I have been sent an advent card from a lovely friend of mine. I haven’t seen these before and I am looking forward to opening the squares and seeing the pictures, just like when I was a child. This card will also be a keepsake and I could re-use every year.

                                                

Since Emma was a baby we had had this wooden advent calendar which we bought from Costco. Each box contains a decoration to put in the centre. Each year Emma and Matthew take in turns to open a box and put the decoration on the tree. I will let them argue over who gets it when they have both moved out.

 

Craig doesn’t do chocolate. Last year I bought him a pork scratching calendar but he kept forgetting to open it and he has told me not to bother with one for him this year. Penny has a doggy chocolate one which I am sure she will enjoy as a treat.

 Calendars aimed at adults seem to be a recent phenomenon as I never used to see anything but chocolate based ones. Do you now treat yourself to an advent calendar as an adult or do you see them as only for children?

 

Confessions of a Shoe Collector

 

I love shoes! At last count I had 43 pairs of shoes, boots, sandals and trainers. My favourites are the shoes though, especially the ones I wear to go out in.  When I go out, I like to wear shoes that can draw comments. My favourite brands are Irregular Choice, Ruby Shoo and Joe Browns. I would love to be able to wear those types of shoes every day. Unfortunately, the job I am in would see them ruined within a couple of weeks due to the dust and sludge in the yard. 

These shoes haven’t really had much of an outing over the last couple of years due to you know what. I have therefore not really added to my collection as there has been no need. Despite absolutely loving shoes I do only buy them for a specific purpose as I am limited on storage space. I am therefore looking forward to being able to add to my collection. I have an event next year which will absolutely require a fantastic pair of shoes (and a new dress). I generally do choose the outfit first but in the back of my mind I always think of the shoes as I look on the shoe website before I go dress shopping.

 With the Christmas season fast approaching I know that some of these shoes will be guaranteed an outing and I am so looking forward to being able to show them off.

These are my oldest pair. I bought them from Asda about 20 years ago and I love the vintage look they have. 

These shoes are from Iron Fist and I bought them when Emma was going through a bit of a Goth phase and I had bought a black Victorian gothic wedding style dress. The design on the heels is what drew me to them.

These two pairs are probably the ones I have worn the most over the years. The pink ones were bought for a wedding and I just fell in love with the red shoes and I had bought a dress that I knew would look perfect with them.

As I am only 5ft 3" I like wearing heels and these give me the extra height that I wish I had. The red ones I bought from a charity shop one Christmas Eve and you can see the height of them compared to another pair of shoes that I have. They are more comfortable to wear than they probably look because of the platform at the front your foot is not bent as much as you may think. It is only about the same as if I was wearing the blue shoes that are in the photo.

These shoes I had hoped to wear more often as I bought them initially for an occasion but with the intention of wearing them for work afterwards. However this will not happen now as I have changed jobs and they would be ruined within a few weeks due to the mud and slurry that is in the yard that I have to cross to get to the office.

I bought these in the sales a few years ago. You would not believe how long it took to make a decision because there were just so many that I liked. I had only intended on getting one pair and then because I was taking so long to decide between the tow Craig got fed up and told me to get both pairs. They were from Irregular Choice and if you go on their website they have such wonderful designs you could understand why it took so long to come to a decision. I also love the fact that the company extend their designs to the bottom of the shoes as well. Both pairs have the same design.

Because Craig is in the Masons every year there is a black tie dinner and everyone gets dressed up. Although I love the quirky designed shoes they do not always feel appropriate for the dress I am wearing so I tend to go for something that is more elegant and quirky and these are ones I have worn over the years. There was also a silver pair but unfortunately I had to get rid of them as I caught the heel and ruined the covering that was on them. I guess that is an excuse to go and buy a new pair :)

I do of course have boots, sandals, a pair of trainers and regular style shoes but I always feel more confident and assured when I am wearing a pair of my special shoes.

Do you have any shoes that make you feel different?

Happy Homemaker Monday & Menu plan 12th November

 

Another busy week where everyone is going in different directions. There is not going to be one evening this week when we can all sit down together. It will continue to be like this now until the Masonic season has ended at the end of May. The W.I is all year round but the other things I have going on will finish before Christmas and unless Emma gets a job where she works during the day it will be rare that she will be with us. I know it is all part of the stage of life we are all at but we were all together on Sunday along with Emma’s boyfriend Sam and my brother in law and it was so nice to be able to sit, eat and chat without rushing anywhere.

 Matthew has started his mocks so I won’t see him much over the next two weeks whilst he is (hopefully) revising in his room. It is a good job I have plenty of things to do to keep me occupied in the evenings that I am on my own.

 How I am feeling.

Now the days are shorter I feel a bit like a mole who never sees sunlight. I start work in the dark and because of the bad weather it is getting dark when I leave. I am sat under artificial lighting all day staring at a computer. I am going to have to make the most of the daylight at the weekend. 

On my breakfast plate.

Now it feels more like Autumn I am having porridge with Golden syrup and chopped apple with my mandatory cup of tea. Porridge will be my staple breakfast during the colder months and I will put different toppings on so I don’t get bored.

Menu plan

Another week based on Matthew’s likes. He is a bit fussy though and limited in what he likes, so I have a feeling that next week I will do some meal prep and batch cooking so that I have meals in the freezer for whenever they are needed.

Monday – haddock fishcakes and broccoli

Tuesday – Ikea meatballs (we did not have these last week)

Wednesday – Slow Cooker Beef stew

Thursday – Pizza

Friday- Liver and Onions (Craig’s request)

Saturday- Chicken Stir Fry

Sunday- Meat and potato pie

What I have been watching

Thanks to Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom I have been watching Korean & Japanese vloggers. I am loving the serene way they do things around the house and when cooking. I have also been watching lots of vlogs and podcasts from knitters or sewers. On Netflix I have started watching ‘Maid’ and on BBC it is ‘Doctor Who’.

Linking up with Sandra and Karen as usual to see what everyone else is up to.

Have a good week.

Word of the Week- Exams

 

I know this is very early in the academic year to be talking about exams but Matthew is starting his GCSE mock exams next week. The school have scheduled them over 2 weeks and encouraging the year to go into school for 8.00am to start revision (with the promise of a free breakfast), There are then 2 exams per day and revision sessions inbetween and at the end of the day. The school day has been extended until 5.00pm for this time for the Year 11’s. They are then expected to come home and do at least 1 ½ hours every night. That is putting a lot of pressure on already stressed out children on top of the extended day which is longer than the standard working day.

Not only that there are a second set of mocks planned for March before the real thing starts in May.

 Now I know exams are important but there is just so much emphasis on the school results and the league tables I sometimes think that the children are forgotten in all of this. I have experienced this first hand as a teacher and have had to deal with stressed out and unhappy pupils.  When I was at school I was left to my own devices when it came to revision and how much or how little you did.

 From my experience, a child who is motivated will put in the effort regardless of how much pressure is put on them (Think Hermoine Granger in Harry Potter). A child who is switched off and doesn’t care won’t do anything anyway. It is the ones who are somewhere in the middle or whose parents are putting too much emphasis on the exams that are the ones who suffer the most.

 Matthew knows what he needs to do, and the mock exam results will either back that up or give him a wake up call. I am not putting any pressure on him to revise for too long as after a long day revising in school he needs a break.

 Not every child is academically minded or can do well in exams, and it needs to be remembered that GCSE results are the ‘be all and end all’ of anything. Exams can be re-sat or an alternative studied for and there are enough people in the public eye who have done extremely well without having any paper qualifications.

 Also this week I got my results for the exam I sat in September and it is with relief that I passed as I really did not want to re-sit that particular one. I just need to rearrange to re-sit the one I did not pass in June. I was waiting to get the results to see whether I would just need to re-sit or whether I would change my learning provider and do the new syllabus.

Linking up with Annie.

How has your week been?

Happy Homemaker Monday 8th November

 

I have got a very busy week coming up and there is not one evening where we will be able to sit down as a family for a meal. It seems things are well and truly back to pre-Covid busyness. Penny hated the fireworks and spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings hiding behind the sofa. We put a Thunder Shirt on her, gave her some dog version of ‘Kalms’ and played the Pet Classics on Classic FM but none of them helped. In fact she did better when I decided to re watch Downton Abbey. Before we had a dog I did not know just how badly animals can be affected by fireworks and I feel ashamed of the firework parties we used to have when the kids were younger.

Menu plan 

So the menu this week consists of things that Matthew prefers as he is the only one that I will really have to cook for this week. Leftovers will be used for my lunch or for Emma to eat before she goes to work in the evenings she is there.

Monday – Swedish meatballs, mash potato and green beans

Tuesday –  Beef stew

Wednesday – KFC fakeaway

Thursday – Croque Monsieur

Friday - Steak, Jacket potato and salad

Saturday – Enchiladas

Sunday – Pulled Pork

 Looking around the house

I need to catch up with the ironing as I was too tired to finish it on Sunday as we had been out all day. I also need to give my craft room a good clean. The rest of the house is looking okay.

 Crafting

Although I do have my own projects to work on at home this week I am out three evenings do some sort of crafting. Tonight is working on my EPP quilt, Wednesday is the first session that is being run by a local organization for Christmas crafts and on Thursday I will be leading a craft session at my 2^nd W.I to make a Christmas wreath. I am also hoping to finish a knitted dishcloth and the first of my mini Christmas cross stitch.

Quotes

In honour of all the crafting I am currently doing.

Linking up with Sandra and Karen at CatsKidsChaos

Word of the Week- Coffee 5th November

 

I did not start drinking coffee until I was in my mid 20’s. It started when I would have to go into London to do exam moderation and I would smell freshly ground coffee walking to get various tube trains.  (This was before Starbucks was even known over here.) I loved that smell but found that instant coffee did not live up to the expectation. I did eventually buy a coffee from one of the vendors on the railway platform and enjoyed it.  I have never really liked freeze dried instant coffee and find that it gives me a headache.

 My first visit to Starbucks was when we visited friends in Colorado and I had never been in a dedicated coffee shop. I felt very ‘cosmopolitan’ sitting there drinking a cappuccino for the first time.

Nowadays coffee shops are everyday sights but I still enjoy visiting them as I still see them as a treat. It seems that there are more coffee shops than pubs nowadays.

 When special flavoured coffees were introduced by the coffee chains at Christmas I was over the moon. Gingerbread latte and the red cups signalled the start of Christmas for me, and I would eagerly anticipate the arrival dates each year. Nowadays I prefer Toffee Nut to Gingerbread and things now start getting exciting in September with Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

 During the rest of the year I tend to stick to Flat White or Americano with the odd Caramel Macchiato thrown in when I feel like treating myself.

 I have some happy memories that took place in coffee shops including taking Matthew out on his first Christmas Eve to Starbucks dressed as a baby Santa. He was so cute at 3 months old and we had loads of people cooing over him. Other memories also involving Matthew was when he was a toddler I used to go to a bookstore that had a Starbucks in it. When we arrived at the car park, he saw the Starbucks sign, got excited and said ‘Bucks’ It wasn’t his first word but it was the first time he had shown recognition of where we were going. I also used to sit in Starbucks when the Trafford Centre had their firework display near Bonfire Night. So much better than standing in the cold.

My first drive through coffee was in Canada at Tim Horton’s. I could not believe that people would do drive through for coffee. It was certainly a novel experience at the time.

 At home I have a Nespresso machine and each morning I will make myself a travel mug and a flask of coffee with milk to take with me to work.  That is the only coffee I will drink and the one I put in a flask is decaffeinated. Much as though I enjoy the taste of coffee, I like to sleep at night so try not to drink coffee after midday.

 So why is coffee my word of the week? Because Starbucks red cups go on sale today and on my way home from work I will break my rule of no coffee after midday and sit and enjoy a Toffee Nut latte (no cream) before going home to the madhouse. Those of you who are Costa fans will no doubt have already indulged in a Christmas coffee as they came out earlier this week.

 

RHS Bridgewater

 

I only live a 10 minute drive away from RHS Bridgewater so during my few days off last week Craig and I decided to take advantage of the free to local residents Tuesdays and booked a visit. I am not a gardener by any means but I am trying to get my garden in better shape. I went along just to get ideas of what a garden could look like in Autumn. I also wanted to have a go with Craig’s old DSLR camera that he hasn’t used in years.

We arrived early as I wanted to try the café and have a look in the shop before we went in. Craig had a meeting which he had forgotten about so we needed to leave by 4.15pm and out entry was 2.00pm. It was quite busy and we had to queue in the café but it was pretty quick moving. There was plenty of tables inside but Craig and I decided to sit on the terrace as it was dry.

When our time slot arrived we went through into the garden area. Both of us were surprised as to how much it had changed. It had previously been a garden centre and a scout camp.  The garden centre had been a favourite with my parents so I had made many visits as a child and an occasional one as an adult. Not on any of my previous visits do I recall seeing this cottage. It is a bit like a fairy tale cottage. I wish we could have gone inside but  think it is just offices.

 

For me, the walled garden areas were the most interesting as I like a bit of formality in a garden. I wanted to see what plants would add colour and interest to a garden. Not that I had a clue as to what they were called. I was surprised at just how much colour was still in the gardens.

 

We then walked around the rest of the site and came across some fairy houses near the children’s play area. You could just imagine the little fairies flittering in and out once everyone had gone home.

 

 

The land was previously Worsley New Hall, but the house was destroyed in 1943 and had to be demolished. There are a few pictures available of what the house and gardens looked like and the future plans include recreating the terraces that were originally in front of the house.

 

Picture courtesy of Bolton News

We only had two hours to walk around the garden and as an admirer of gardens rather than a gardener that was long enough for the time of year. As it has only been open just over 6 months I don’t think that currently I will be a regular visitor (maybe just once a year) until it has been established for a few years. I will visit the shop, garden centre and café though to buy plants and have food as you don't need to book to go into those areas.

 

 

 

Menu Planning Monday 1st November

 

Last week was the last half term that Matthew will have in school and Craig and I had a few days off. We went to Blackpool to see the fireworks and find out who had won the competition. Normally the fireworks were set up on the North Pier but this display was on the beach. Craig and Matthew had a day on various steam trains and a trip to the cinema and we went to RHS Bridgewater. Matthew was most pleased that a visit to Pizza Hut also occurred.

I didn’t do a menu plan as we were not together as a family once during the week so things were a bit ‘off the cuff’ and decided in the morning once the day’s activities were confirmed.

Menu plan

I am glad that things are a bit more normal this week but the weekend is going to be busy and we will be eating out both days.

 So linking up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and Katy here is this week’s plan

 Monday –  Heavenly Hummus wrap

Tuesday – Coke chicken

Wednesday- Pea and Ham Soup

Thursday- Sausage and Mash potato

Friday- Mushroom risotto

Looking out of the window.

It is raining quite heavily at the moment and the garden is full of leaves that need clearing up. This will probably have to wait until Saturday morning when we have a bit of time to be able to do it.

 Weather

 

How I am feeling

My digestive system doesn’t feel quite right and I am a little tired but apart from that I am feeling motivated to get things done and looking forward to a day out on Sunday.

On my reading pile

I have the new book club choice which is ‘Restless’ by William Boyd. I have also started reading the third of the Bridgerton series ‘An Offer From a Gentleman’ by Julia Quinn which is reminding of Cinderella. It is an easy read and hopefully one to get me back into my reading groove again.

 To do this week.

Menu plan, shopping list and order shopping for delivery on Sunday evening.

Post quilted advent calendar to friends in America.

Get rid of leaves in garden

Clean inside of cars.

Finish 1^st mini Christmas cross stitch.

 

Wishing you all a good week.