365/365+1 Reflections.. New Year's Eve!

Writing this at 2am January 1st with the Proclaimers on the radio!!

It's been a busy 2013 already!!!... just got back from collecting Zac from town and the others have all checked in by text and stuff! Ross & April are working in St Ives and Kate there with pals for a 16th.  Jordan worked earlier and is at a friends, so we saw the New Year in at home just us two... awwwhh a nice hour though, we had been playing taxi taking kids out, then went for a quick Indian and checked out a band for Col's 50th (possibly!) and still got homw in time to see his Dad before 12!

So.. reflecting.. on the year.. well I think the 365+1 gang have really made it special.. my family and work guys have got used to me delivering 'my word of the day' and recounting my tenuous links!  I have had a lovely year, I stood back pretty much and enjoyed the world and his sister raving about the Olympics and the Jubilee, I had a few lovely family gatherings and a few weekends away just chilling.  No big holidays, a short trip to France for work and play, but if I browse back through the blogged bits to the roots of things I enjoyed were family and the people I know and have got to know...oh and those two little girls who have continued to amuse and beguile the whole family!

Just last night (Sunday) Col and I went with all the home based kids to see my cousins up at their local.  We usually meet at the Carol Service and this year Ross set up another catch up which turned out to be last night. Sarah bought lots of pictures and some great family tree info I shall have to share with my brother.. we wondered at how our children look like each other when we were kids and tried to remember ourselves when we had 'that hair' or those shoes'!

If you recall this picture I posted a few days ago,

 

I had an idea that we daughters of the ladies in the Sports Day picture took up the mother's spots..  Penny moved up to Val's place, Sarah slipped into Penny's place and me and Gill completed the picture.. see and I'm still talking!

Funny too as we could ALL have moved again and our daughters were also there and could have done the next generation. 

On the way home the kids were asking me the detail of how close we were as cousins, hard to explain, our great grandmothers were sisters, but what I told them, and this is the rub.. that is has much much more to do with having experienced a common history .. you know, that boy who lived across the road may have been from Timbucktoo but if your Mum and his raised you in the same road, with the same events and friendships and you each called your Mums 'Auntie' from respect and love as much as if they were your Mum's sisters.. then that's a cousin..more so than the ones who visit twice a year and maybe look a little more like you but have had lives lived in different towns and with experiences you will never quite understand! ( ;-) )

I'm just so glad that my kids get what I mean and that they will keep it up, maybe Facebook and iPads will be the way they do it, but so long as some of them can feel the way I do about that little square few miles then my job is done.. x

Happy New Year everyone, to you and yours.. and hope we catch up next week at LuckySnapping in 2013... xxxxx

365/364-5 Free-end

Just more of the same, even the kids are pleased we are chilling out big style. I am enjoying the late nights chatting and the even later mornings lying in with nothing too pressing.. knowing though that come 2nd jan we will be on it! Customer visits and people about plans and finance ..urghhh!

Spent an hour just now watching the tail End of Stewart Lee's DVD from when we went to see him.. real funny.. if you like that kind of comedy.. otherwise don't bother!

Nice pics from last evening.. the kids all up chatting with us at 1am and the start of the end of the Ferrero Rocher.. hey I love the dark ones but the cocnut ones are mmmmmm too!

Promise I'll write more tomorrow..our last day!!!!

and almost the first of the next exciting journey us bloggers will share! ;-)

365/362-3 Special - something I'd change..

Mmm, well it's been like a holiday..well a holiday where you get lots of R&R. We are not known for getting ourselves out of bed early, and with late nights too we have been living a midday to midnight life the past few days.  Not lots to report, just enjoyable lazy days with or without a houseful of various family.   Lovely evening Friday night with a niece and her family, really great, want to do more of that!

I had the children for a bit on Thursday and the docs checked on no3 who is still breech but they are going to try and turn 'it' on New Year's Eve...mm, not an area of my expertise but worth a try to avoid a caesarian they think...if it works she is just back to normal plans for delivery and after two fairly easy ones that would be nice..we will see..

Col's brother arrives for a few hours later Saturday so that will be just right, not amongst the hubbub of young children and some time to just catch up...oh and make a big curry!

Special..this picture a cousin sent me over the holiday, she thought I might like it.. sure do..

it is of my Mum at St Levan sports Day back in 2003. She is third from the left, in the grey lurex type trouser suit (ahhh don't you ove Daxon). I can see her hand movements and imagine her talking about something and listening to Penny next to her (who grew up with my brother) and her Mum Val (on the left)   Gill's Mum Auntie Jean is quietly watching and listening to my Mum, obviously on local catch-up mode!  Funny really as Val, Mum & Jean are the mothers of my core bunch of pals as a kid..we were cousins but may as well have been first close cousins as we spent so much time together..

.....ummmmmm. something I'd change...

Funny really as in life we seem to spend quite a bit of time wishing things were different.. the days sunnier, the weeks longer or the pounds easier to lose!  But then you are asked the question...ummmm...probably for me the amount of time it will take to make my extension, the mud and upheaval..the digger, the skip, the blocks, the days rained off, the choosing of windows and doors and the just watching wishing it would be all done and I could be sitting in there in the summer evening sun...

.. I just asked Zac and our biggest moan in our lives is .. 'the weather'!!!

 swap some of this...





for more of this....xxx

365/360-1 On my table & Delight

Well what a day!! A delight in itself and floors and table creaking with the presents, the food, the drink. It was a great day, we got up about 9.30am and returned, bushed, in our beds about 1.30am today!!!  I am a very lucky lady, so many lovely presents.. handbags and scarves in the plurals and many other goodies..chocs and smelly things, all my favourites from Sanctuary Spa and Estee Lauder!

Our great pal Michele called from the States and that was lovely too, and I have been so busy I haven't even made time to call my brother yet.. though vice versa, but we will.. we kind of agree that if we ever miss a moment it is not with malice, just the things going on at the time!

My biggie though was getting the Olly Murs album from Lisa and her family.. 'Olly Murs??' I see you frown?... 'She never mentioned him before'... ahh, and here's the twist.. I got his album as all the Robbie ones sold out.. ...still frowning?? Well I know that Olly is support for Robbie on his stadium tour next year.. and yes, they bought us two tickets for Robbie, abley supported by Olly in June, about two weeks after Col's 50th birthday.. wow, it's going to be a great summer, and all those weeks to plan, wonder and anticipate.. (and make sure my prompt fits the bill and is in on time if I am away.. how good am I Jen, it was my ...errr.. twenty third thought after sheer delight, huge grinning and yes, almost tears!)

Seriously though, we have seen Robbie before but this is like.. err.. my Olympics!

I had talked about the David Cassidy event that Sandie another 365 blogger went to, but I think Col stopped short on booking it as it had Hot Chocolate and Leo Sayer too and all those ladies.. he just couldn't do it.. and Robbie is still NOW isn't he!!

Thinking on the pics I have to share, perhaps our best moment early in the day was Kate getting her 'main present'.  Now you may know that she and April (Ross' g/f) go to pole exercise / dance classes. Kate used to do acrobatics and gym so it is kind of her 'thing' an she needs to keep up with something flexible and dance-ified..but she doesn't always get time off evening work to go to classes, and even then they are busy.....well we bought her this long oblong present..

...is it my main one?..

...might be..

..is it what I think?...

...A keyboard?

...Keyboard?

..Yes, keyboard?

....What? you got me a keyboard? really?

...Why, don't you want a keyboard ? (she doesn't even do music!)

..Why would you buy me a keyboard.. (grinning, she knows..)

.. opens the box, huge huge grinning and Col puts it up, in my kitchen, we walk past it every time we go to the oven or fridge or sink.. but she is happy, so happy.. and so are we (it will be moved.. next week..!)



Yes, we had Ketchup on our table too!!

My best Christmas dinner yet.. hot hot hot and everyone at home.. next year Zac will be somewhere hot!

Dig In!

Two dinners down, all she needs to do now is lie down!

Dom on Dinner 2 as well.. these other halves are so devoted to the Jones clan..xx

 


 

 ... and doesn't Lipsy make dresses just for Kate..>>>



The lovely, funny Lyla..x

I'm in this one!!!! and someone said 'Cheese' (but not the smelly Stilton Tom & I love!)



365/359 Mouth watering!

There's a big emphasis on food at Christmas isn't there! We left the house this morning and JB was making peppermint creams, honeycomb, toffee, gingerbread cake, icing two cakes and making lemon meringue pies x 10... oh and Chelsea buns!!

We got in at 3pm and she was done.. done in too!  She has made Christmas for me this year, she loves the cooking and I love having home made stuff in the house..


Mouthwatering and hip hugging! xxx

Lisa went to see the doc at local hospital, well in Truro half an hour away, to find he was off sick... but they had been trying to contact her all week, even sending the midwife to visit... yeah right!  She was only there last week when they made the appt.. I was thinking how good he was, still working at 4pm on Christmas Eve..



Slipper frenzy!



.. so they had a meal out and we enjoyed some fils and playing with the girls.. I gave them their Christmas jamas and slippers.. there must have been magic dust in the slippers, they were like whirling dirvishes!

So now it's quiet, Ross & Kate at work, everyone else wrapped and done, no last minute worries..and as we don't do meat it will be time to think about a meal about 3pm tomorrow.... I'm off now to laze in a bath and reflexct that for one of the first years I can remember I am laid back, ready and smiling!!!

To those of you who are stressed.. try and take a breath and enjoy... tomorrow it'll be done and on Boxing Day we can sleep in and enjoy the spoils of .. our efforts!  xxx

365/358 Festive

    

Pressie from America 2007!

 

Florida souvenir 1991!



 

60 years old!

 

Finished!

... my kind of festive.. have a lovely time everyone!...

shopping arrived.. no potatoes.. so you know my job tomorrow!

365/356-7 Something Red..and Green

Oh I am loving these latest prompts, no-one could find it hard to find pictures for these most festive of colours. As you may have read before my house has many bits of redness, walls in the kitchen and carpets in most of the rest of the house. Being granite and kind of dark inside when you wish for light, the red makes up for it with warmth.

I am writing on Saturday but I think my Christmas break officially started on Thursday when I got to have the girls overnight.  I was laid back Thursday, just let them play at home so by Friday morning there was a need to get out.. and get out we did.. firstly Ross cut my holly.. yes, he got what he called promotion to 'tree cutting son'.. haha, not like Zac is fighting for that job really!   The weather was due to turn wet wet wet again today so I figured grab a window of dryness and get cutting.

 April and I took the girls and Pops came out too, we all like to consider the main branches, whether they are prickly enough and how they will look when pushed into the corner of my kitchen.   

The tree is now in the porch and Zac and I are going to hang it up soon.

After this we went over to Porthcurno and Kate came too, it was not cold or windy but there was a big surf coming in. Ross went off and took some photos for my monthly view in case we don't get that way during January Week 1... he is buying into it with me.  For anyone who is wondering what I'm on about, have a look at the pre-January notes here: 2013 Blogging.

....I must also take this chance to introduce to our 365+1 crew a new recruit for 2013, Joy from the USA and I found each other and as she is new to blogging and I suggested she might like to jion us next year to use ur challenges and photo prompts to give her something to strat a blod enty about.., you know how one blog comment and 'Next Post' browsing can bring you to reading someone's blog.  Joy has joined our challenge and I am following her, you can catch up with Joy here.

the best of days..

The main reason for the trip out west..we took flowers to my Mum & Dad..it's as much part of Christmas as the things we all do at home.. special places and people, all of them.

I had to go out for an hour so left Ross and April in charge.. well the girls were in charge really but Ross had two trumpcards: a tired baby girl and Elf, the movie..he is proving to be quite an Uncle..

By the time I got back Zac had arrived straight from college..and Lisa & Tom soon after , so a quieter evening. Kate at work but when she got hom, ready for bed I was struck by how alike she and Zac look..



.. and the red & green for your Christmas album..

a robin at Porthcurno and Zac securing my holly in the kitchen today..

fully dressed pictures tomorrow..xx

365/355 Something I Want..

Hard call this one as in essence I am a very lucky contented bunny.. yes, there are things I would like ..for Christmas..smelly stuff, a wallet and some jewelry.

.. but if I could have anything it would be an uneventful safe arrival of our new grandchild next month ..

..and then in a few years time the opportunity to take all the family back to our little jewel in the Maldives xx

I just saw a travel bucket list and flying over the islands was one of thirty things to do .. the only other one I have been to is Yala National Park in Sri Lanka but to be fair being with wild polar bears or a cable car over the poorest bits of Brazil are unlikely ever to be on my itinerary!

So .. as I said a happy contented bunny, the babes are asleep and even if they wake us up early it's a weekday and it won't feel too hard to get up ... The bigger girls are getting excited now .. awhhh .. we are all kids at heart xx

365/353-4 Slippers & Drink!

Slippers : well there are a few about in Christmas stockings this year and I like the very soft fluffy ones and also those cute little ballet style ones.. wonder if any will land in my pile?

...remember when they used to be like this!!

Drinks: Mmmm, had to share with you our favourite tipples. Colin and I discovered Chambord back in the summer when I had a Passionberry cocktail which was quite gorgeous! Now Col adds some to his recently discovered G&T ..it has a kind of raspberry blackberry flavour and I even like it with soda .. yumm.

But a nice port for me really . On its own late in the evening or with bitter lemon like an old ladies drink, but fab in the summer, long with ice!!

Cheers everyone!

I have the girls all day and overnight tomorrow and then Zac is home later on Friday .. cutting our holly tree Saturday, dressing it and doing some baking and shopping .. online slot booked but I do need to buy a bit more than the three boxes of beer I logged to book the slot!! Xxx

365/352 Grey

I love the drive home after dropping Kate to school..rare minutes alone with my rambling thoughts and Chris Evans and his pals.   A day late taking this picture but worth it .. it was 9am but the golden sun peeking out made the contrast against the grey clouds wonderful and the hedges appear black.
I did stop to take this..I'll be interested to see how it looks once I have posted from my phone xx

365/349-51 health-blanket-wealth

Well despite my good intentions here I am on catch up again.. but I have been following the trail and sneaking a peek at everyone's blogs even if I haven't managed to comment!  Good on everyone for their efforts, I feel kind of flawed in that I didn't join 365+1 until about day 20 but I think it would be wierd to play catch up now.. (and to be fair I was retrospectively blogging our holiday well into January)

So.. what's new here.. well the health of us all is okay now.. Kate is on recovery mode and will be back at school tomorrow but she has been laid low a bit, sore neck and not much appetite, but no more sickness and hopefully we contained it! (she didn't move off the sofa all day Thurs / Friday so no worries she was trailing it around the house.. that girl knows how to do 'sick' but at least once she is better she gets bored and is up pretty soon!)

I don't have pics of the health or the blanket on the day but here is our Lilly modelling the blanket one day a while back!

April and I were on tidy mode Friday so I have been having a great positive feeling about the forthcoming weeks. It is so nice to have the kids grown up, they all seem to pitch in with plans and chores and getting great gifts for each other, and with JB baking too my pre-Christmas suddenly got a lot more of a group activity than a trial for me alone and then the feelings of martyrdom that used to accompany it! (but none of that, it is for years gone past!)

I have missed the input of our Mums a lot in recent years but now having almost grown women about again, even if that makes me the elder, it is .. all good..xx

 

Saturday was a lazy day, Col in recovery after the long week driving and visiting customers. I was due out in the evening and as everyone was out I languished in a long bath.  JB's chap was part of a group singing the Messiah in Penzance so we went along to watch. It was quite long but lovely, though church seats have not got any more comfortable since I went as a child!  I whispered half way through that at this point my Mum would produce some sweets to make the time pass a little., so Jordan put her hand out.. another time when I realised I am failing in some of the 'Mum' duties my Mum was so reliable for! ;-)

Today we went for lunch in St Ives, Jordan was working so we went there, I had a gorgeous cauli and cheddar soup, full of cheese and milk, somewhat different to my curried cauli soup handed down from his Mum's days at WeightWatchers!

St  Ives was gorgeous as usual, a host of independant and very tasteful shops, though fairly expensive too.. a reflection of the wealth it enjoys and attracts.

the Porthminster Hotel used to have a dreary car park opposite and this is the underground car parking with Spa they have built in its place.. you wouldn't believe they could use the space so well.

 

 And tonight was a wealth of Christmasness for me and the start to our official Christmas week.. carols at St Levan, abley (sp?) organised by Lynne and her posse. I loved being there, seeing so many people I knew and chatted with someone I was at primary with, we laughed and agreed we were still really twenty five years old.. or was that ten!?  I told her about the blog and how I always think of the first (of two) times I ever sat on a horse.. it was her pony and I was about nine.. I never did get the whole pony thing!

The church was lit with candles and fairy lights and we stayed behind a while for mulled wine and snacks. Ross and the others ended up planning a festive get-together in the next few weeks and I came away with a feeling that in the plan of things, in the plan of making sure family traditions and links are secured 'my work is done'.

.. for good measure a healthy looking Ross & April buying into my Christmas magical mystery tour!

365/348 Edible

Mmmm so many things to eat at this time of year.. though today not feeling too festive as poor Kate has come home from school sick.. not the usual 'sick of school' .. hahah!! .. and I had just been listening to an article about this awful winter virus and talking to her about it, but seems we may be too late. 

At least we are a small contingent at home for a few days and can use a bathroom each to limit the effects.. shame though as we girlies were planning to go to see Great Expectations this evening..

..although I know you aren't meant to eat anything I do like to try and keep some sugars going in.. so I asked what she fancied..fruit pastilles..ahh a hard call, but true to form, rummaging in a bag of wrapped presents, my guess was right, a tube of pick'n'mix complete with tootie fruities, fruit gums and the fancied pastilles!  It was nice too, not a bag stuffed in the tube.. a tube full in its own right.. ahh the little things of life!

..evening report now, isn't it odd how when looking after someone who is a bit poorly you feel kinda off colour, but you're not quite sure if it's real.. my motto is to keep eating! .. and JB has made some chelsea buns for us in the office ..secret Santa tomorrow but poor Col is stuck in the Midlands, I found him a great call for the morning (not a really popular wifey at the minute!)

365/347 Obligations.

Well today we have all been aware of our obligations. Col has driven from Derby to Newcastle and done two busy customer calls too. I have been booking him nicer hotels but they seem to be hard to find come rush hour ..it is a toss up between a more civilised evening and a easy find hotel .. mmm x

Jordan has a busy few weeks with working a restaurant kitchen and her three coursework A levels .. she has a month worked out to make sure she doesn't renage on a promise.  We have two carol things this weekend too so I am looking forward to those x

So my pic shows some of Cols calls and Jordan's itinerary and my ongoing Christmas list .. which is going well, lots wrapped and maybe a dozen bits to get ...no doubt I will still rush come 21st .. esp as I have the girls next week while M&D get some 'them' time xx

365/346 Look up

Yes a frosty morning but the bluest of sky in Hayle at 9am xx

365/345 That Tree!

Quickie this evening, nice lazy time getting to grips with Facebook for a bit.. JB made lasagne for tea and I had Lilly for couple of hours afte school..I really missed seeing her the last week or so..she is such a star. 

We had a conversation about whether I was part of her family or not and I let myself get into immediate and extended, so if she soaked all that up she will be dumbfounding the staff at school again this week!

Too much nice food about, all that mulled wine tea, spiced berry punch and Jordan's buns.. Well, once they are eaten we can resume sensible eating.. About 3rd January I think!

The tree looks much the same but the back hedge is very wintery, I don't like it when you can see through to the road.   Ross has made the cabin look festive with lights outside.. Sweetheart x

365/344 Lights

Well it's another catch up day today. Col is away for the week from tomorrow on a huge round the country trip, here to Reading, Newcastle and all places in between! Before he goes we are filming four new product videos, he will surely be tongue tied by the end.  I try not to smile when he is doing it but it is kind of surreal watching him talk through the products to an imaginary customer!
The drum trolley we have demo-ed so many times at trade shows and discussed on the phone, we both just get a dry mouth and feel like we spitting feathers as the description comes out!

Well it was a rock'n'roll Saturday night in these parts ...I did the ironing! Thanks Anne for the advice, I should get more non-iron stuff. I do wash and dry in my office kitchen so 50% is folded when warm but Col and Ross notch up a good few shirts between them in a week.. and there are about 6 of us washing and bed changing so it is a bit of a task!  Also it's hard for others to sort it as I am the font of all knowledge when it comes to who wears what underwear!

Lights.. awhh we like lights! There have been white fairy lights on our kitchen ceiling since our party in May!  Add to that our little red garland across the breakfast bar and then a new little battery set amongst the nativity in the sitting room.. plus the net behind the dresser which is a fixture now to save the pre-Xmas frenzy!

Yes I am becoming quite a laid back thing these recent years, well it's all too much hassle to be bothered too much about what happens in a day, just try our best and relax , eat drink and smile more!  Mind you having a bunch of more grown up kids certainly heps as they all do their bit. haha April is ironing Ross' shirts as I blog! ;-)

I'm not sure if anyone is a Mr Bean fan but we always laugh about his Christmas episode where he had the dinosaur leaning in on the nativity scene.. Jordan has a few nice nativities and this year I made sure one of the meerkats (Bader) and the old standard diver were watching over Mr Bean style..

...and finally if anyone should venture to these parts this is the display which is situated just outside our front garden at the entrance to the village..

365/342-3 Comfort-mundane

Not two words you see together very often, though maybe some people get comfort from the repetitive mundane things in life.. ummm.

I have been uploading my phone pics to Google+ in an attempt to stop loading onto Picasa and using up my allocated space, I can't really work it out as I have deleted stuff off Picasa Webalbums but do not seem to see the new space.. oh well G+ it is.. hope not too many people are looking as some of the pics are pretty./..err...mundane?!

Comfort food.. certainly these Chelsea buns are on my list.. a little something Jordan rustled up last night.. before her second baking day today.. this girl has potential!

Mundane.. nothing more ordinary or boring than two boxes of ironing on a saturday noght.. well I know how to live! (to be fair I had a great day at Just Scrapbooking, a small posse but lovely relaxing times and April came too and we resolved to 'do more'.