Shows and Showers

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Life is a Cabaret

On Friday evening I went with a couple of friends to see Cabaret at Leeds Grand Theatre. I have only ever seen the film version before. My eldest daughter had seen the stage version a few years ago and had been really impressed by it, so I thought I’d give it a whirl (Mum, it was amazing… you have to see it!)

The production was excellent and I really enjoyed the show. All the performers were amazing, particularly Will Young and Louise Redknapp. The ensemble were pretty stunning too and showed off some impressive dance talent. I hadn’t told either of my friends anything about it, as I didn’t want to spoil it.

The first half is pretty crazy, set in Berlin, mainly centred around the Kit Kat Klub and its eccentric performers. It’s definitely not for those who are easily offended, but does a really good job at getting the point across.

One of my friends wasn’t really sure whether she liked it or not. However during the second half, the mood changes as the Nazis start to make their presence known, culminating in a pretty shocking ending (even though my daughter had told me about it, I wasn’t really prepared for how gobsmacked I would be).

All in all it was a great show. It wouldn’t be on my list of must see again, but I’m definitely glad that I went to see it. In this age where tolerance (or lack of it) is in the news all the time, it certainly makes you think about how we treat others who don’t necessarily fit in with our ideas of what is “normal” or acceptable.

 

On a lighter note

On Sunday I was invited to my niece’s baby shower. I’ve never been to a baby shower before. They weren’t really around when me and my friends had our babies. If I’m honest I wasn’t really sure what the purpose was, or what would be expected of me, whether I should buy a gift now or later, or both?!

My youngest daughter and I went along to the baby shower, armed with cup cakes with blue icing and appropriate “it’s a boy” toppers. I didn’t really want to take a present for the baby as I want to do this when he is born. I know this is probably an old fashioned view, but that’s just me. We did however take her a little present, just for her, rather than baby.

To be honest it was a really lovely afternoon. It was nice to see everyone and catch up and it was particularly good to see my lovely niece looking so well and clearly enjoying being pregnant.

On the way home my daughter said that it was probably the last time we would all be together for a while, as once she has the baby she won’t want everyone there at once (Sometimes she speaks a lot of sense). I guess that this is one of the purposes of the baby shower, a chance for us to be together, to celebrate her pregnancy and wish her well, rather than everyone turning up within a week of her having the baby, when she is just getting settled with her new family.

Now it’s just waiting and wishing her all the best and lots of love x

Image result for baby shower

Friends and Family

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Catching up with friends

On Wednesday I met up with some friends that I used to work with. We went out for a lovely meal and had a really good catch up. At one time we all worked together, but slowly we have all moved on to work in different places, one has even retired.

During my working life, I have met and worked with countless people. It is strange how there are some people that you work with and then never really keep in contact with, you kind of know that all you ever had in contact with each other was work. Then there are others who you really connect with and make sure that you continue to see, even though you no longer work together.

Family Duty

On Saturday I took my mum and dad out for the afternoon. They wanted to go for some shopping and they don’t get out very much, as they are both elderly and neither of them drive. I took them for some shopping and they had a bit of lunch, before I took them back home.

Some weekends I find it really hard to fit in spending time with them. I know that that sounds really bad, but by the time I’ve done shopping, washing, cleaning etc. I feel that my weekend has gone. However at the minute my youngest daughter is helping out by doing some cleaning etc. on the days when she is not working, so this has freed up a little time.

One of the things my dad wanted to buy was a new DVD player. When we got back to the house I offered to set it up for him. After scrabbling about at the back of the TV sorting out wires, I managed to unplug the old one, then found another DVD player that wasn’t plugged in, which was exactly the same as the one we’d just bought. For some reason, they had forgotten buying a new DVD player and carried on using the old one which didn’t work properly!

Anyway they now have a working DVD player and one to return which they didn’t actually need to buy. We managed to have a laugh about it, which was good, but it did make me realise that perhaps they do need a bit more help than I thought.

I also got home and realised that after all that I’d forgotten a few things that were on my shopping list. Perhaps I need looking after too!

 

A Worthwhile Week

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Crafts Completed

So I finally managed to complete some of the crafts that I started and I am fairly pleased with them. I have really enjoyed making some Christmassy things. I’ve done some sewing and also some Christmas decorations on slices of wood. I think that they look okay. I’m thinking of putting them on a Facebook page and trying to sell some of them, or even making them to order. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

A Day At The Races

On Saturday I spent a great day at York races with a group of lovely ladies, to celebrate my friend’s 50th birthday. It was a nice sunny day, which meant that we could sit outside and enjoy the fresh air. Catching up with people that I used to work with and haven’t seen for quite a while was great. I had a few glasses of Pimms and lemonade and bet on a few of the races. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, so I did what most people do and picked either a name of a horse that I liked, or the colours of the jockey. Needless to say I didn’t come out on top. I managed to win a small amount of money back on the last day, but other than that I lost more than I won.

 

Practice 10k

On Friday my information arrived for The Abbey Dash. When I signed up for it, it seemed a long way away, but now it is only three weeks away! On Sunday I decided to bite the bullet and just have a go at running 10k. I managed to run most of it and it took me 1hour 33 minutes. At least I know that I can do it and make the finishing line. I am not so bothered about the time, but I’m not so worried about not finishing now. A bit more practice over the next couple of weeks and I’m optimistic that I should be able to complete the 10K in under 1 1/2 hours.

Bu the way my calves were really hurting today!

Two out of three

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Well a couple of weeks ago I posted about my new goals and that I wanted to start to move on, instead of treading water. Well things went a little bit out of kilter and I only managed to partially achieve two of my goals. I also missed writing my blog too.

I did manage to go back to slimming world and start eating healthier again (although this has gone a bit down hill again!)

I managed to go running three times in a week (again a good achievement, but not kept it up again this week)

I did start some craft projects, but as yet haven’t managed to complete anything.

So what happened?

On Sunday I started doing some craft projects, but whilst using my laptop, I got a warning that I had a virus. I spent ages trying to sort it out, but to no avail. Luckily one of my lovely colleagues at work sorted it for me.

On Monday my husband went into hospital for an operation on his shoulder. Not a problem in itself, as it was planned, but unfortunately in the evening when I was due to collect him from hospital, I developed some kind of sickness bug and couldn’t even get out of the house. Luckily my daughter managed to contact my sister in law, who collected him for me. I wasn’t a very good nurse that night, as wasn’t even well enough to look after myself.

I felt quite rough for the next few days, so didn’t really achieve some of the things that I wanted to do.

Ah well, these things are sent to try us!

Two out of three

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A couple of weeks ago I posted about my new goals, Unfortunately last week went a little bit out of kilter and didn’t quite work out as I expected. This meant that I didn’t write my blog last week.

However I did manage to keep to two out of three of my goals:

I did re-join slimming world and started back on a healthy eating regime again.

I also managed to go running three times that week

I did manage to start some craft projects, but have not finished one completely yet, so hence no photograph. Hopefully I will finish it this week and put some photographs on next week.

So what happened?

Well at the weekend I started doing some craft things, but was printing out something from my laptop when I got a warning about a virus. I couldn’t use the computer and spent ages trying to clear it. Luckily one of my lovely colleagues at work managed to clear it for me.

On Monday my husband went into hospital for an operation on his shoulder. This went really well, but at the point when I was supposed to be collecting him from hospital I developed some sickness bug and couldn’t actually go. My daughter managed to contact my sister in law, who thankfully went to collect him. I wasn’t a particularly good carer for him that night as I felt so ill.

I felt pretty rough for the next couple of days, so didn’t manage to do half the things that I wanted to do. The healthy eating didn’t really happen either, as I wasn’t well enough to cook or even eat properly.

Ah well these things are sent to try us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Prompt: Believe

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via Daily Prompt: Believe

I believe that there are some things in life that you cannot change, that “everything happens for a reason”, although sometimes I feel as though it is something that I say, rather than I actually believe. In my heart I really do believe it, but it’s just sometimes hard to put it into practice.

When things don’t happen the way that you expected them to, or bad things happen to your friends and family, it is hard to see this and believe there is a reason for it, but usually later on, sometimes months or years later, everything kind of clicks into place and it makes sense at to why things happened like they did.

I believe that you shouldn’t expect things from others that you are not prepared to do yourself and also that you should treat other people in a way that you would expect others to treat you.

I believe in loyalty. When my children were younger and they had agreed to do something or go somewhere, but then something else came along, I would always make sure that they did what they had initially promised. I don’t think that you should cancel something just because you get a better offer. I also expect loyalty from others.

I believe in keeping my promises, so I tend to only make promises that I can keep.

I believe that determination has helped me to succeed in many things in my life. When I was younger and lived at home with my parents and brothers, I was sometimes led to believe that girls cannot do certain things. I’ve never been a feminist in the campaigning, bra burning way, but some of the things that I have done in life have been done because I was stubborn and determined to do those things that girls don’t do.

I believe in doing the right thing. This has always been a difficult one, as I have sometimes done the right things for other people and not always the right thing for me. It is also difficult to please everyone, so I think that as I get older I am more inclined to do the right thing for me

I believe in love. The kind of love between two people that keeps you together when everything else is falling apart. The kind of love that parents have for their children, that makes them sacrifice everything. The kind of love that people show for others when they become unsung heroes.

I believe in tolerance. I think that people should be able to live alongside others with different views and beliefs without hating each other.

 

 

Treading Water

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Do you ever feel like you are treading water? Those times in your life when things are just kind of moving along, but you’re not really getting anywhere?

I seem to be at one of those points at the moment. The healthy eating has kind of come to a standstill and I’m reverting back to lots of old habits. A result of that is that the weight is slowly starting to creep back on.

I am still running and walking, but only once or twice a week rather than as regularly as I should be

There are lots of craft projects and things that need doing around the house, which I keep meaning to do, but don’t see to have got round to it.

There’s no reason really, so this week I’ve given myself a good talking to and am getting myself back on track. one of the main reasons for writing the blog in the first place was to make sure that I made every day count and that I would have something interesting to write about.

New Goals

So this week, I have some new goals to make sure that I pull up my socks and get things back on track.

I am going to book myself back into slimming world and tackle the weight that I have put back on and stop wasting time messing about losing the same bit of weight

I am going to finish at least one craft project this week and put a photograph on my blog (now I really have to do it!)

I am going to make sure that by the time I write my blog next week I will have run or walked on at least three

Inspiration

I saw this video on Facebook this weekend and I thought that it was very relevant, so I wanted to share it with you. Hopefully you will be able to see it if I’ve linked it properly

https://www.facebook.com/powerofpositivity/?ref=hovercard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice surprise

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It’s been a fairly quiet week this week, with things just steadily ticking along at work and at home. But there was one nice surprise to this ordinary week.

On Wednesday I arrived home from work to find that my eldest daughter had arrived home from London for a few days. I hadn’t really expected to see her until Christmas, but both the theatres that she works at were closed for a few days as they were in between shows, so she decided to come back home for a few days.

We didn’t really do much whilst she was at home. I was working during the day, but it was nice to sit together as a family and have a meal and just to watch TV together on a night. It was nice to catch up with the things that are going on, that you often forget to say in a phone call. Sometimes when she rings I am at work or busy with things, but by the time I am free to talk to her she has had to go to work. It was nice just to talk about ordinary everyday things.

She did however do the Park Run with me on Saturday morning. when I say we ran together, we went to the run together, but she runs much faster than me, so finished the course much quicker than me. It was lovely at the end for her to be waiting for me with her friend.

The other thing that is now really good is that my two daughters get on really well together. As they are not in the house together all the time, they seem to irritate each other much less than they did. In fact my youngest daughter knew that her sister was coming home and had managed to keep it quiet. It was nice to see them chatting and laughing together – perhaps its true that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

My two girls are very different and haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I know that they are always there for each other. I don’t have a sister, I only have brothers, so I’ve never had that kind of relationship. I am close to my youngest brother and I hop as the girls grow up, that no matter where they are, they will keep a close bond and know that they can rely on each other.

As for the photo above, it’s not of my girls, but they and anyone who has a sister, or more than one daughter knows exactly what it means!

Marvellous Majorca

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As I wrote my last blog, I was sitting on a sun bed by the pool at a beautiful villa in Puerto Pollensa in Majorca. We have been to Majorca for the last three years because it is such a pretty place and we feel able to relax and enjoy ourselves there. It is the first time that we have been without our children and the first time that we have stayed in a villa. Unfortunately I have now returned to a cold, rainy and windy England, but thought I’d let you know what I got up to on my travels last week.

Old Town Pollensa

On Sunday morning we took a trip up to the market in the Old Town of Pollensa. This is a beautiful market square, surrounded by lovely old buildings and a church in the corner.  The stalls sell lots of beautiful fresh fruit and veg, cheese, cured meats, olives, nuts and sweets.

As we were staying in a villa we bought some lovely fresh fruits and salad to put with our barbeque later on. I also bought some olives, which I love and some very brightly coloured jelly sweets.

We walked up the Calvari Steps, which are 365 steps up a very steep hillside, leading to a tiny church. There are pretty little houses on the way up the hill and there were also a couple of buskers playing acoustic guitars which sounded lovely It was extremely hot, but the view from the top was amazing. It was made more worthwhile as I felt able to treat myself to an iced coffee with cream and ice cream when I got back down. I’m pretty sure that the walk had burned all the calories off!

Soller

Soller is a beautiful little town on the west coast of Majorca. To get there you have to drive along the  very twisty roads that run through the mountains. Although the journey feels quite treacherous, it is definitely worth the drive.

We had breakfast and a wander through the town, before taking the tram down to Puerto del Soller, which is such a beautiful coastal area with a glorious beach and harbour. It was very hot by this time, so after a short walk, we went for ice cream, in a restaurant overlooking the bay and just watched the world go by.

Alcudia

We visited the old town of Alcudia during the evening to have a meal. The town itself is set in a medieval castle, so is inside the walls. It is a lovely setting, particularly on an evening as it starts to get dark. There are lots of restaurants to choose from and there is a lovely atmosphere, sitting outside within the impressive walls of the city.

Walking and snorkelling

Both me and my husband really enjoy snorkelling. This is something that I have come to enjoy fairly recently, over the last few years. I tried scuba diving when I was younger, but found that I didn’t really like the feel of the mask and breathing apparatus. I had a go at snorkelling when we went to Majorca. The water there is so warm and clear that I found I really enjoyed it. Another thing that it also did for me was to slow my breathing down. When I was struggling with anxiety, I spent the majority of my time breathing really fast and sounding out of breath. Once I had my head under the water, all I could hear was my breathing and it helped me to concentrate on that and deliberately slow my breathing down, which really seemed to help.

This year we walked to Cala de Boquer, which is about a 45 minute walk from Puerto Pollensa. It’s quite a rocky hilly walk, but if you set of early enough, you  can get there before it gets too hot. There is nothing there at all except for a beautiful rocky cove and obviously the sea, which is full of fish and great for snorkelling.

The other walk we did was to Cal San Vicente. This is quite a hilly walk, again to a beautiful cove with a soft sandy beach. There are a couple of restaurants here and sun beds on the beach. The sea, again is crystal clear and great for snorkelling.

Mosquitoes, car hire and fish bites

Just a couple of things that you might want to be aware of if you are thinking of going to Majorca.

We hired a car from AVIS and met the rudest person I have ever met behind the “customer service” desk. She told us we had not hired a 7 seater vehicle and that there wasn’t one available unless we paid an extra 25 euros per day. Luckily we had booked through Villa Plus, who managed to sort it out for us with a phone call. Having read reviews about Avis, this appears to be a bit of a ploy to get extra money from customers.

I have been to Majorca several times, usually in July and August. I have never been bitten by mosquitoes, but this time I had a lot of bites. I understand this is more common in September, so be prepared if you go at this time. Some of us had bites, some did not, so it appears mosquitoes like particular blood types, scents etc. It certainly didn’t spoil my holiday, but it is a bit of a pain when you are scratching and spotty.

For some reason whilst I was snorkelling this year I was bitten/ stung by something in the sea. This has never happened to me before. It was a bit of a shock and felt like I had been cut by something. After the initial mark, which swelled up a bit, there were no other effects. I understand that there are no dangerous fish or jelly fish on the island so there was no panic.

Not sure why I was so attractive to the hungry wildlife this year!

Something for everyone

Whilst we were in Majorca, my youngest daughter was also there, but in Magaluf, on her first holiday abroad without us. She also had a great time, but a completely different holiday to us. We’ve certainly recovered quicker than she has and I think the most of her holiday was spent partying. She returned home safely despite this, so that’s a relief.

If you’ve not been to Majorca I would recommend it. It’s a very scenic island with lots of lovely coves and bays. It does get busy in some areas, but this depends on where you go and what time of year. It is certainly one of my favourite places and the other bonus is that it is a really short flight and you can get there so quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tempus Fugit

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Yes it’s true my blog is late again. The reason I used the title tempus fugit  is because it is generally translated as time flies, which is just my clever way of saying that I’m late writing my blog. There is no real excuse or reason, other than time really does fly. So here is a catch up of what’s been happening over the last few weeks that I’ve missed telling you about.

Kynren

Kynren is an outdoor performance on a massive scale held in Bishop Auckland in County Durham. Someone told my husband about it a few weeks ago and we decided to book. What a great decision that was.

The venue is a purpose built stadium with tiered seating. The whole performance takes place in the valley and hillside opposite the stadium seating. There were over 1500 people  involved, all locals who take part voluntarily.

The performance was amazing, literally the history of Bishop Auckland told through the eyes of a young boy who travels back in time. There was music, battles, history, dancing, digital backdrops and pyrotechnics.

The organisation of the whole thing, from parking up to leaving was superb and we had an absolutely great evening.

Family fun day

Do you ever go to a family funeral or wedding and see people that you’ve not seen for months, or sometimes years? At those events everyone says “We must get together soon” and for some reason you never do, until the next funeral or wedding.Well this was how family fun day began.

A friend of ours, not actually related in any way decided that instead of promising to get together, he would arrange a family fun day. Four years ago, we had the first one, on an August Bank Holiday weekend, where we turned up at the rugby club, played rounders, races tug of war and had a number of quizzes. It was a great day and has just taken off.

Each year extra people get invited and some that have been the years before no longer come, but it always a really great day, with lots of banter and laughter. It is lovely just to get together for no other reason than to spend some time together.

A wedding invite

On bank holiday Monday we were lucky enough to be invited to the evening reception for a friends wedding.  It was a beautiful evening, in a lovely venue.

When the invitations came out you were asked to choose a song that you would most likely get up and dance to. We chose “oh what a night” by Franki Valli. We had only just arrived at the venue when the song was played, so we were straight up to dance. It was a real pleasure to share the celebration with their friends and family.

A late summer break

So after spending a few days back at work after the extended Bank Holiday Weekend, it was time to set off on a cheeky week away in the sun. Just as everyone was getting their children ready for setting off back to school after the summer holidays, we flew off to Majorca for a nice break, with my brother, his wife and two of our friends.

As I write this we are a few days in and I am sat next to the pool at the villa, enjoying a sandwich in the sunshine. We have had a lovely few days, in Puerto Pollensa, doing a bit of Walking, a bit of snorkelling, lots of eating and drinking. I’m not really a sun worshipper as I am mostly pale and freckley , but it’s lovely to be sat out in the fresh air, nice and warm with a cold drink in my hand.

Hope to write my blog on time next week, but until then…..cheers!!

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