Lifestyle - My Week on Instagram #1

A week is a long time on social media. I have accounts all over the place and try and update them pretty regularly. I'm kind of out of love with Facebook nowadays, but I do still check it out because I have all my family on there. And we're all pretty spread out and hard to keep track of!

One that I love almost the most is Instagram. I add several photos a week there and thought it might be cool to do a quick round up of my week. So here goes:

1. Lego Fire Car and House

2. Twice Baked Quorn Chilli Jackets and Ranch Salad

3. Grape Hyacinths

4. A Cake That Went Wrong

5. Beautiful Daffodils at Madam's School

6. Chicken, Chorizo and Mushroom Risotto

7. Madam in the New Dressing Gown Her Nanna Made

It was hard to not repeat what was on the blog already, although the grape hyacinths snuck in again because I really love that shot! I really love the light in that photo of the daffodils. I had to kneel on a bank and shoot up the hill to get it. There were no strange looks from the other parents. Oh no. And as you can see I photographed a lot of the things I ate too! 

Oh, and yes, madam is doing great posing/duck face in that shot. She made me take it three times until she was happy. Not for nothing is she known as madam!

What have you been up to this week?

Love, Pearl.

Lifestyle - Spring is on it's way!

I am so happy that Spring seems to be finally getting itself in gear and getting going. It's pretty much my favourite season. I love the fresh colours and the way the start of the warmer weather and proper sunshine seems to put you in a good mood.

For some reason the arrival of the Spring flowers - daffodils in particular - makes me think of my friend V. Funnily enough, she says the same about me! This year the Spring is feeling extra especially wonderful as my garden is sorted and I can enjoy it properly! 

I'm loving the gorgeous flowers popping up all over the place as well. My parents garden is a fabulous riot of fresh greens, purples, whites and yellows. I was trying to get a decent photo of their Rosemary yesterday, but it wasn't having it! I did get that wonderful one of their Grape Hyacinths though :) 

actually, now that's enlarged a bit it's not too bad!

I've also been going a bit manic on Pinterest and have made several new boards including one for Spring & Easter as well as some dedicated to various colours! I've had a re-jig of my profile and everything, so do check it out and you can marvel at my random collection of things!

I do love a collection. I have been a bit of a collectaholic since I was small. The first thing I remember collecting was frogs. I had a little display shelf for them and everything. I have also had a collection of ladybirds that was mainly due to my friend L. 

I  can't remember how it started, but she used to get me ladybird themed gifts for all occasions :) It was cool. 

My most precious collection was always the one that my Grandma triggered when she gave me her porcelain doll, Peggy. Technically,  it should have gone to my older cousin, but she wasn't really as interested in dolls as I was. I used to buy myself a new doll every summer holiday when I was younger with the money I had saved up for ages. 

They were mainly all girls, but I have a beautiful little boy doll from Venice dressed in a little blue velvet outfit. He is the only one on display now. He sits in my parents den and supervises our computer use! The rest are packed away and never get seen. 

I would love to have them out again. They remind me of such happy days. I have nowhere to display them and a madam who I worry would break them. But I was given Peggy when I was smaller than she is now, so maybe I should have more faith in her. 

Peggy herself is pushing 100 years old, so perhaps I will leave her safe in the padded box my grandma made for me to keep her in. She is an Armand Marseille Dream Baby doll, they seem to be quite popular on ebay. I know some people find dolls spooky, but I love them! Never liked the ones that talk though...

Have you got any collections?

Oh, before I go, I uploaded that photo of my mum and I and I thought I would share it with you...

I was cute, right? And how 80's is this photo!

I do love this photo...

Love, Pearl.

it's all about the love! L-O-V-E love!

Hello blogosphere! So sorry to have ben gone so long. I was expecting to be back last week and then events conspired against me.

 

Madam has started at big school and went only in the mornings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Somehow, I failed to have any time to write then. On Thursday we travelled up to Edinburgh to attend my cousins wedding. When we arrived we discovered the Little Chef (with free wifi) next to the Travelodge had closed down.

 

This was a major pain as some of our planning had hinged around a large cooked breakfast on Saturday morning... We ended up buying our own weight in porridge pots from Asda so we didn't have to have the rather uninspiring Lodge breakfast.

 

Travelodge did have wifi. For £5 an hour! WTF Travelodge! It was £10 for a day and £20 for a week, which, in the scheme of things was not unreasonable. But too expensive for me... So, no access to the internet except via my phone. And then not really much time for that as we had family to see and a madam to amuse.

 

On Thursday evening we went to my Aunt and Uncles house for a meal and to meet (in some cases for the first time ever) some of my American relatives. We did spend a portion of the evening trying to decide what relation we all were to each other. It was quite funny, ultimately though, we couldn't work it out. We're going with extended family, and everyone is happy!

 

I loved meeting these new Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. As I didn't *really* remember having met any of them. And for my Florida based family it was the first time ever! And I love them! We all got on instantly and there is a definite shared sense of humour going on... Particular props to my uncle R who pretty much constantly had me laughing.

 

I just need to go to the States now...

 

On Friday we went to a Butterfly Farm with madam. It started as just something mum, dad and I were going to do, but in the end both my brothers and H came. We saw loads of butterflies (not surprisingly), including some that were hatching out. We got to feed the quails who were running around the butterfly house and then we got to play with the creatures in the reptile and insect house.

 

 

Madam proved her inquisitive nature by holding anything the man offered. We started with a Royal Python called Turkana. She had been bought as a male for the them, but sadly, after producing eggs, was found not to be. They do have a confirmed male snake now though.

 

She was beautiful and had some quite distinctive markings. Madam had to have help to hold her as she was very powerful and quite big for a 4 yr old! Then we got to hold a millipede. It pooed quite liberally over the guy who worked there. I have a feeling that this is actually madams highlight of the whole trip!

 

Finally, we held a Chilean Rose Tarantula called Rosie 2. She did just sit very still on your hand. Well, except on me where she decided to go for a walk... But madam held her. By herself. She was so proud of herself for having done that. She's not very sure about whether spiders scare her, so it was good that she had that experience. H on the other hand *is* scared of them. But even she managed to shake a paw. Very brave indeed.

 

 

 

My brothers and H then went into the city whilst we had lunch at the garden centre next door. We planned on going down to the beach afterwards and flying madams kite, but the rain set in and we wimped out. I tried to get madam to have a nap as we were having tea at a pub later, but no...

 

Tea was at the Sheeps Heid pub. My mother remembered coming there as a student to play real skittles, but sadly we didn't get the chance as there was a private party in there. We did end up with a big family dinner as my uncle and the male relatives were excluded from bridesmaid fun! Though we did end up with one aunt as she didn't fancy it!

 

But then it was Saturday. And I had been waiting for this day since my cousin announced she was engaged! My cousin L had always been my favourite when we were kids. She's six years younger than me so used to be like a baby sister. And I really love her husband. He's always seemed like the perfect guy for her.

 

The ceremony was at 1.30 and seemed to be over in a flash. L looked stunning and G could not have looked happier. We then headed out to a stately home just outside Edinburgh for the reception. We were piped in and met with the most beautiful hall and staircase. There was champagne, there were lots of people. We got to poke about in a couple of rooms. We were not allowed to sit on a lot of the furniture! The place was stuffed with beautiful art works and an impressive amount of trinkets. The views were amazing and we had some photos taken on the front lawn.

 

There were speeches and then the most wonderful meal (not surprising given G is a restauranter). Even A didn't grumble about it, and, being a chef, he usually finds something! (that was a lot of commas)

 

But by this point it was 8.30... dancing was supposed to start at 9, but we had to cut the (gorgeous) cake first. The first dance was lovely and as romantic as you'd hope for. There was a rather raucous ceilidh trying to kick off, but we had to get madam home to bed. She was physically wilting before our eyes.

 

Annoyingly, she perked up back at the hotel, but we had some fun taking pictures and then I forced her into bed. So tired. So happy.

 

 

 

Sunday was hometime and then madam was at school again. Full days now. I feel more lost somehow. Weird, she's been at nursery for ages, I expected it to be the same. But I guess because I know it'll be every day now, it's that little bit different.

 

I shall let you know how it goes ;) 

 

(P.S. you have no idea how hard it was to narrow down the photos. And yes, those are swan shaped choux buns around the bottom of the cake!) 

oh, what a show!

Yesterday, we went to Driffield show as we had planned. And it was hot! We arrived at lunchtime and sat in the car park (on the golf course) under some trees and ate our picnic before going into the show and finding an ice cream to try and cool down a bit before searching for some things to look at. There's loads, so it isn't hard to do!

 

Driffield show is the largest one day agricultural show in the county if not the country! There are displays for almost everything that you can think of, but it's hard to do too much when it's so hot. We've been the last three summers and we've never had it so warm! There was no breeze, it was just baking... The only relief came from going into the display tents and making the most of the shade they provided.

 

And the displays were great! We had lots of fun in the Fur and Feathers tent with madam, finding lots of chickens who had laid eggs whilst they were on display. She also was impressed with all the different coloured eggs on display on the judging table. And then there were all the guinea pigs and rabbits to "aww" over.

 

Madam's favourite bunny was a beautiful white one with chocolate brown markings on his ears, nose and paws. So pretty, but I didn't get a photo unfortunately. I did manage to get some photos in the Horticultural tent. The carnivorous plants and the cacti were my favourites and madam liked the fruit and vegetable displays. I also found a table of the most fantastic roses, for which I am a massive sucker.

 

 

 

But the best thing was still the dancing sheep show. They had been our new discovery when we had been last year and madam made a beeline for them as soon as we arrived. She managed to wiggle her way right down to the front of the crowd.

 

And when the chap got to the point in the show where he was going to give the shearing demonstration he asked for a volunteer (from the sheep) and madam stood straight up and put her hand as high in the air as she could manage! The guy let her down gently, but she was still upset. Though I think she was quite glad when he came to doing the actual shearing that it wasn't her up on the stage!

 

 

 

And then the sheep danced. Well, sort of, they do some leg kicks and head nodding in time to a disco track. But it's sweet and madam really enjoys it.

 

When we'd finished in all the display tents we wandered a bit more and got more water to drink and then by the time it got to about 3pm we just had to give up and head back home. We drove through about every field the local farmer had to get out of the car park again and then we cranked the A/C and made the short trip home.

 

Madam and I must have then drunk about our own volume in cool water, it was lush... But the heat had wiped us both out and we did nothing else with our afternoon and ended up just grazing out of the fridge for tea. Quite the same as we have been doing all week! Must get more fruit/veggies in madam at some point...    



fabric, ribbon and coastlines

I have been getting carried away with fabric lust... I gave in and bought some really cute stuff from Boyes to make something for madam. The plan was that it would be a skirt/dress, but I think I've changed my mind and will attempt to make a top instead.

 

 

 

My mum has been roped in to help me with pattern cutting as I need to make a slight adjustment to the length, madam being taller than the pattern thinks she should be! I'm pretty sure we'll be able to manage as the same pattern is used in a longer version in the book for something else... I shall defer to mum's superior knowledge.

 

I have also bought a bit of rather cute bias binding which I thought would go around the bottom of the skirt I am now not making. Hmm, I'm sure I'll be able to do something else with it! I've been half thinking of making madam a gingham skirt instead and it would look sweet around that...

 

The other day, whilst in Boyes, I found some really cool ribbon remnants. And treated myself to a couple... One of them has the rather fabulous design of a dog in a sou'wester with the wording Salty Dog. This will mean nothing to anyone who doesn't get forced to watch CBeebies on a regular basis. But one of madam's favourite programs at the moment is called Old Jack's Boat and is set in Staithes on the Yorkshire coast. Jack happens to own a dog called Salty...

 

 

 

The fact its set on the Yorkshire coast is great for us as it means we can take madam to Whitby in the holidays (which he mentions quite a few times) and just let her run around. And suddenly we are the best mum and grandparents ever! I've not taken madam as far as Whitby before as it's just that bit far for a small child from here. But she's nearly 5 and I think she'll cope with it.

 

She's been to Scarborough a few times (after we moved away) and she's never really been a problem when we've done that, so half an hour further should be feasible... Sadly Staithes, though very pretty is further on again and we will have to leave that.

 

The other place madam keeps asking to go to is Balamory (or Tobermory as it's known in the real world). This is somewhere I went to when I was 10 and I remember it as one of the best holidays ever. I loved the little house we satyed in and the fact there was just miles of nothingness for us to run around and build dens in. We drank straight from crystal clear streams that ran down the mountains. It was picture perfect.

 

picture is from the scotland-flavour.co.uk website.

 

 

We also went seal spotting and out to Fingal's Cave and the isles of Staffa and Iona. Brilliant. And one day, I'd love to take her up there so she can experience all those things, but that is going to have to be away off in the future as it's too expensive for me. Also it's so far from here we'd need an overnight to break up the journey with the madam in tow!

 

I think it will just have to be digging on all the wonderful beaches locally for a while to come yet :)



on cheesecakes and crossstitch

Been making slow and steady progress with my cross stitch. I have filled in the heart and strengthened the outline. I'm just going to make a picture by sewing white all around it and then I shall cut it out and sew it onto madams t-shirt :)

 

 

 

I'm quite pleased with it now it has that thicker outline, should've made the whole thing thicker before I started the colours, but never mind. You live and learn, as they say!

 

Madam and I had a good time at the Pentecostal Pizza Party. We got a couple of mini pizzas that we could add toppings to, there were some yummy salads and then lots of buns for afters. And it was all veggie! Not that I am, it was just nice to see.

 

This morning we voted against going to church as it was an all age service and there was no Sunday club for madam to go to. I'm sure the whole congregation will have appreciated our not being there! This is the outfit madam chose to wear to go over to her grandparents house in. The bow was on her jumper as it wouldn't go in her hair with the hat on!

 

 

 

Though she claims it was in no way influenced by Dr Who, I don't really believe her! :)

 

We were going to make a simple cheesecake for us to have for pudding tonight, but I vetoed it after madam was quite so horrendous. But we had promised a cheesecake for pudding so I brought all the stuff to make it with here and told her we'd do it after lunch if she behaved. She pretty much managed it.

 

I wanted to take photo's of her doing each stage of the making and use this rather good collage/effects app I have called PicsArt to join them together, like I did here with the photo's of madam posing in the spring sunshine.

 

 

 

But I only remembered when we were doing biscuit bashing! I'll have to get one of her putting the strawberries on top and probably of her eating the finished article :) I really like making the little collages, it's nice to have a whole series of photos together.

 

I did one the other day of all the t-shirt motifs I've done so far...

 

Which reminds me, I was going to use it to update my Facebook cover photo :)



on country walks and puddings

I managed to go for my nice walk with madam in the sunshine yesterday. We went down to the Humber Bridge Country Park and walked part of the Pond Trail as we'd promised to go and see if the flooding had subsided.

 

It had indeed (finally) subsided back down to pretty much normal levels. The last couple of times we've been the ponds have been so flooded you couldn't get to parts of the path and the picnic tables have been completely submerged. So as it's been dry for a week or so we were hopeful.

 

The path was complete and madam could get down to the edge of the pond and join in with the other kids (and adults) who were skipping stones over the water. The main thing we noticed was the hide water line that was visible on all the trees around the edge of the water.

 

 

 

There was some suggestion that this white deposit could actually be limescale! The surrounding land is all pretty much chalk, so it wouldn't surprise me. Madam was having a great time throwing stones in to the water and we managed to find a spot near some deep water so she could make some really big splashes! Here she's trying to skip stones like the bigger kids...

 

 

 

 

She didn't exactly have the correct outfit for it on, but that didn't stop her! We all got to a far too hot point and decided to head for home and get an ice lolly :)

 

 

Madam and I then took her scooter out and had a quick trip to her new school so she could see how far away it is from our house. It isn't far at all, she was just worried it was. Hence the need for the walk. We then pottered (scootered) into town and got ourselves some yummy things to make pudding with from M&S. Along with some nice salad to go with our meatballs.

 

I made us some rather good dessert with our ingredients and some plums we've had in the fridge for a few days. They're called watermelon plums, but taste just the same as normal ones! Lovely deep red on the inside though :)

 

 

 

 

Slightly random display I've got going on there, but taking a photo into the bowl proved highly unsuccessful...

 



 

 







   

A weekend of activities

 

 

 

I'm listening to the rather splendid writing soundtrack put together by YellowLittleDragon at the moment. Very soothing... I had a bit of an epic weekend. Need some chilled space in my head.

 

Firstly, the husband had in fact come up to visit. He came on Saturday afternoon and we took madam to Honeysuckle Farm out at Hornsea. And then, because he does actually have seemed to work out that what madam most needs from him is shoes and clothes, we went to the Freeport. Madam needed new shoes as her feet had grown again, so she's got some black patent school shoes and some sandals for if the weather stays nice.

 

Then we dropped round to see older brother (so kind of us!) and had a cuppa whilst madam played on his x-box. We then went to find some dinner and himself took madam for a new summer wardrobe at Asda. She has insisted on dresses (she's so girly in summer) and has now got about 5 different ones and a couple of tops, a tutu skirt and a little shrug.

 

But at least she won't need anything else now. Just hope the weather is nice for a few weeks at least!

 

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to church en famille although madam insisted on me coming to Sunday school with her so we left him by himself for the majority of the service. We then headed into Hull and went to the cinema. We watched The Croods which was really good and very funny. Well, that's what madam and I thought anyway...

 

We then decided on a trip out to Scarborough as the weather was so nice. Luckily madam slept most of the way there and woke up just as we arrived. We visited a couple of K's friends and then popped round to madam's godmother's. We got there just as they were having their tea so only had a quick hello and then we went to have ours. 

 

Forced ourselves to have fish and chips and then we got an ice cream from The Harbour Bar because it's aces. Madam then discovered the joys of the 2p machines and played until she'd won not one but two silly plastic owls. We totally missed the chance to go back and see her godmother as we were so late by that point.

 

She also managed to get a hoody made with her name on it. In rainbow foil letters. With sparkles. *sighs*

 

It's ma-hoo-sive on her (bit like the one she got years ago from Meadowhall when we went with her auntie H) but I'm not worried as she sure isn't getting any shorter. And it means she'll get the wear out of it. It's a fab purple colour, I heartily approve.

 

In fact I think we've avoided pink quite well this weekend. Good going for us, given how she still insists it's her favourite colour. So here she is, modelling it whilst she poses with that gorgeous sunset behind her. I had to make him stop so I could take pictures of it. It was just so glorious, it makes me miss Scarborough so much and so glad I'm from Yorkshire!

 

 

   

Sunshine and springtime

Here's my finished Sidney pattern that I got with Let's Knit magazine. There is a whole album of reader's photos on their Facebook page. There are some really cute ones.

According to madam ours is called Lovely and she is still waiting for her stuffing, so I haven't added her to the gallery yet... But my mum has the worlds biggest bag of toy stuffing leftover from when she made madam a knitted doll the other year so we're going to just use some of that.

I am trying to decide where we're going this afternoon as it's finally a lovely day and it would be such a shame not to go out and enjoy it. The sun is shining and it's hinting at finally being Spring. Marvellous. Spring and Autumn are my favourites...

I managed to find a sun hat for madam that will actually go over her hair (much easier now her hair is shorter) and they had a special offer on so she's now got some sparkly hair clips with coloured plaits attached to them. She's thrilled, which is all that matters really. We also had to get her some emergency socks as there were issues with her tights!

There is reason for me to suspect the husband has come up this weekend even though I didn't want him to. Though he isn't at the house, which is the main thing! He keeps ringing me. I'm ignoring him, mature I know...

I suppose I ought to find out as we could at least go and spend the afternoon in the sun with him. I could cope with that I guess... Well except now he's not answering his phone. Helpful!

Yeah, I know, complete hypocrite...

I think I shall give it another go after we've had lunch. If he's sleeping (which is the most likely option) he might have woken up again by then... until then I seem to be stuck watching CBeebies!

Oh, leading on from my post about Guides last night I did at least manage to get the first part of the project started! It amazed me just how long getting them to decide whether 12 statements were true of false took! It also seemed to sink in that some of the statistics I told them were quite frightening. 

The funniest part was asking them whether they thought boys could be part of the solution. They came up with a resounding "NO" even though I had to explain that they would be important really. Their opinions on the ability of boys to be helpful was very telling of how old the girls are!

I don't think they're still at the all boys smell stage, but apparently not far off!  

A day at the museums

 

 

Madam and I have been enjoying ourselves today. We had decided that today was museum day and as it turned out it has been a lovely day. The sun has shone and it was cool but not as cold as it has been. So the walk from the bus stop to the museum quarter was most pleasant.

 

We started at the Streetlife Museum and madam was rather taken with the old model cars and the different types of bicycle. We both agreed that the stink in the carriage section upstairs was quite unnecessary! We put a couple of 20p's into the old arcade machines and had fun testing out the foot massager.

 

We were going to go around the Arctic Corsair but they weren't recommending it for children under 6 as it's a guided tour for an hour (and there was no way madam would have stood and listened to the wee chap). So we headed for the Hull and East Riding Museum instead (the museums all have a communal courtyard and are a short walk from each other).

 

This seemed to capture madam's imagination rather well, she was most taken with Mortimer (the Mammoth she's with in the picture above). And spent quite a while studying the mosaics in the Roman section. They have some really beautiful examples if you are interested... But that appeared to be the end of her concentration capacity and she raced through the last bit. But you know, upwards of an hour concentrating is a definite achievement/improvement for her.

 

And, as the museums were all free, I let madam choose something from the shop to take home. So we now have a weird sticky dinosaur thing that climbs down windows/mirrors and a multi-coloured pencil with the museum's name on.

 

I had also said that if she behaved then we could go and get an ice-cream on the way back to the bus. The weather being quite so lovely today made this an even better option than had perhaps been planned. Baskin and Robbins even had a queue!

 

Madam forced herself to have chocolate with fudge sprinkle things and I managed Black Forest Gateau and Turkish delight flavours! Soooo good! For dinner tonight we will be having sugar-free jelly to sort of compensate... There is going to be sausages first, in case you think I'm giving her nothing but jelly for tea!

 

Even better than all our lovely museum fun in the morning was that the chap came to fix our dodgy boiler (that I'm not actually at home to use atm). I had a feeling it would be a simple task, and sure enough he was in and out in about 10mins max! But we so now have hot water and heat again. So exciting after being without it for so long...

 

I ended up spending far too long watching crappy videos on YouTube last night, but I have a bit of writers block which is annoying me... I'm going to leave the chapter I'm writing as is and then I might well come back and edit it at a later time. It makes a chapter in it's own right and I feel like I'm writing in circles if I keep plugging away with it.

 

I shall start a new chapter tonight and see where it takes me :)

 

 

sunshine just makes everything better

I've been really struggling to sleep for the last week. Partly this is to do with my cold and the annoying need I have to cough up my lungs when I lie down. Partly it's to do with the depression. I can't get to sleep until much later than I want to, then I can't get myself out of bed either.

 

It's a vicious circle. But I'm hoping being back into the swing of taking madam to nursery will help. Things always get worse in the holidays as we lose our routines.

 

I have been trying to get madam into some of Fly Lady's habits too. She's been making her bed in the mornings and I've been rewarding her with a marble for her jar. We've also been trying to make sure we use a calendar to help us with our scheduling. I've divided it into columns (it was a cheapo family planner kind of thing I got in the sales) and she has hers and I have mine. We then both have our own sets of stickers that we've put on the days where we're doing things.

 

So madam has a sticker for every Thursday when she's at gymnastics and I have them from for college days and Guides days. I've also marked the weekly shop on for each week and any other appointments that we might have (counsellor, hairdresser, doctors, dentist etc.)

 

It makes it look like I might be a bit organised, even when I don't feel I am.

 

Yesterday I mentioned that we were going to go for a walk and look at the snowdrops. We had such a lovely time and the sun shining on us seemed to make it even more magical. The weather has been horrid both the years we've been before.

 

It always amazes me what a difference a bit of sunshine makes to everyone's mood. A little bit of warmth creeps back in to everyone's hearts after the long, cold, dark winter.  Snowdrops have always been one of my favourite flowers. I love seeing them appear as they signal the end of winter being in sight. 

 

Next up will be the daffodils sunny yellow trumpets adding that dash of colour that's been so lacking in the shorter days of the year. When I see them begin to bloom, and the sides of the roads locally seem to be lined with them, I always think of friend V. I don't know why, but funnily enough she said the same thing about me!

 

Now, I need to leave you in the company of these guys. They look to me as if they're auditioning for Saturday Night Fever or something! I think they're great and they really make me smile... Enjoy :)