It's a woman's prerogative ...

... to change her mind, that's what they say isn't it?  And who am I to argue, especially after this morning's conversation with my husband.

P: Do you need to buy anything else for the holiday?
Me: No, I've got everything I need.

✵✵✵

Also me, on my return from town and browsing the sale rail in Fat Face

What can I say?  It was a dress I'd often admired in their window but felt it was a bit overpriced.  So it was fate calling me in when they had just one left.  In my size.  In the petite length.  How could I resist?

Worth a second look?

Two weeks ago I went to the opticians and was told I needed a new prescription so it was the perfect opportunity to get some new frames.  I spent about half an hour in there trying on so many different styles.  How can it be so hard?  All I knew was that I'd had too many metal frames and wanted a new style this time.  So I chose some perspex frames, in a more rounded shape.  Today I went and picked them up.  Here's the before and after pic - old frames on the left and new ones on the right ...

When I met my husband in town his first reaction was 'Oh, they're really similar to your old ones'. 

Really?

Bank Holiday TGIF

It's Summer Bank Holiday here today and the sun is shining, the temperature is high and we have things to celebrate this afternoon so without further ado, here is my take on TGIF

that baby Max will enjoy his first visit to Nanny and Grandad's house this lunchtime.  Four weeks old and he's never met Coco - we are counting down the hours to him arriving.  Will also be nice to see his mum and dad but we all know who the star guest is don't we?

to other members of the family for inviting us out this weekend.  Normally everyone comes to us so it's been a very nice change to be the guests!  Yesterday we went to Paul's cousin's house for his annual get together for Paul's dad's side of the family.  Paul is an only child and his Aunty Ruby had three sons with one almost exactly the same age so they used to spend time and go on holiday together.  As time has gone on people have moved from the area and lost touch so it is really nice to spend a day with them all.  Later on today we are going to Rachel's house for an early birthday tea for a certain young man who will be three later this week.

I've got the urge to decorate and I have two rooms in mind.  Which should we do first?  Dining room or bedroom?  Every time I do the housework I notice more knocks and bumps to the paintwork in the dining room and we have discussed what colour we want in there so I think that will win out in the end.  I just need to keep mentioning how tatty it is looking ...

I'm sure there will be fun later this afternoon involving balloons and birthday cake.  We're having to have early celebrations because the birthday boy is off to Peppa Pig world for his actual birthday - how lucky that his other Nana and Grandad live very close to the theme park!

In other news, it's nearly 8 years since Coco arrived on the scene, so we had to do a photo comparison between now and the day she came home from the breeders, she's ageing well!

TGIF on a Monday

Last week I was looking forward to a fun Zumba class and I was not disappointed!  

Check out those orange leggings - I think I can safely say they won't be seeing the light of day again any time soon!  Fortunately everyone else in the class also entered into the spirit of the theme so I wasn't the only one looking totally tropical.

That Rosie and Leo will behave themselves on Saturday.  It's Rachel's birthday and James is taking her to London for lunch at a favourite restaurant so we are on babysitting duties for the afternoon.  Now Rosie is crawling, Leo is not so patient with her as she tends to ignore her own toys and only wants to play with his so wish us luck!

That we have been invited out to three events over the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend!  Curry night with friends, a family get together for Paul's side of the family and an early birthday celebration for Leo.  All that food and drink and I don't have to prepare any of it 😉

To try some different vegetarian recipes.  We try to have one meat free day a week and I need to check out some different cookery books.  I have a lovely veggie lasagne recipe and we sometimes have quiche or Spanish omelette or spaghetti carbonara but I'm bored with them.  Any recommendations?

Well, there won't be any neon coloured leggings worn this week but I am hoping that our fun will come from the events at the weekend.

TGIF on a Monday

 Here we go again, hello to Monday and hello to 

... that my son won't find it too difficult to return to work after two weeks of paternity leave!

That we live so close to the countryside, on a blustery dog walk on Sunday we saw that the farmers have managed to harvest all the corn - that seems quite early this year.

The ripple pattern blanket is coming along nicely, I still have to concentrate hard on the cream rows but I love how it is taking shape and suspect that housework will be low on my daily agenda until this is finished!

We have a Club Tropicana theme to this week's Zumba class, dress code is colourful and no all black outfits are allowed.  Let's just say that a neon orange pair of leggings have been ordered, a large orange and lime green sarong has been tied into a kaftan top and I've bought a teal and orange floral headband.  

One Photos - Twenty Words

I should have more faith in my knitting ability  -  a ripple blanket pattern is not as difficult as I thought!

TGIF on a Monday

These Mondays are coming around pretty fast aren't they?  

... that I will be able to follow the pattern for a chevron designed baby blanket for baby Max. It looks lovely on the pattern sheet and I am sure that if I concentrate hard and don't lose count of the stitches I will be able to do it.  Also, please note those lovely two words in the top corner 'easy knit'.

... that I have small feet and can fit into children's sized shoes - my new trainers will be £20 cheaper because I have ordered them from the Kid's section and not the Adults 😆

... to actually order the wool to make a blanket for baby Max now I have found a pattern I like.  In fact now I've made my decision I can't wait to get going.  If I start it now hopefully by the time the cold weather has arrived it will be finished.

... looking forward to a fun night out with three girl friends on Tuesday.  We all used to work together at the school and only one of us is still there.  However, one of our reasons for getting together is to celebrate her forthcoming 60th birthday so maybe she'll escape before too long too!

Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt link up 2

Can't believe that it is already time for the second link up for Mary-Lou's Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt - time to fill in some gaps!

1 I had originally seen an outdoor clock on the church in the Algarve but think I prefer this sundial as it's a bit more original

2 Single and pretty.  This rose bush in our garden is all leaves and only one flower!  But it has competition for this category as we also have this

A sunflower which Leo has grown from seed.  He is amazed at how it has grown from tiny to now towering over the roofline of the conservatory!

4 Blurred vision - thanks to the filter on the camera on my phone

12 Crooked - I wasn't sure if this was appropriate but when I checked the definition of 'crooked' it said 'bent or twisted out of shape' in which case this home grown tomato definitely fits the bill!  On closer inspection it looks like two or three tomatoes have grown into one another to make one monster tomato but it is most definitely twisted out of shape!

13 Two colours of the rainbow next to each other

15 Broken chair?  Well, not exactly broken but definitely needing care and attention (may have to revisit this one!)

16 Out of season treat being enjoyed - Rosie in her new Winter hat (whatever possessed me to want to knit a hat in the middle of summer?)

19 My 'flying nun' bumper sticker!

Not many more to find now and I'm always on the look out for duplicates that I may prefer to my original choices so the hunt is most definitely still on.

A sentence a day in July

Over half the year gone already?  What?  Next thing you will be telling me is that Christmas is just around the corner 😝  I know the official link up isn't until the first Tuesday of the new month but this last month has been pretty special so I can't wait that long to share it!

July.  The month of Wimbledon tennis and school holidays.  Was it a month of wall to wall sunshine, strawberries and cream, sand in your sandwiches at the beach or always taking a cardigan and a fold up umbrella out with you 'just in case'?  Let's see.

Day 1 Sun! Popped over to the town where I grew up and had so many happy memories when I walked past my old primary school

Day 2 Cloudy!  Popped into town just to buy a couple of birthday cards and ended up spending over £20 in the food hall of Marks and Spencer #dontgoshoppingwhenyourehungry

Day 3 Hot glue gun, Venetian masks, feathers - what could possibly go wrong?

Day 4 Zumba then babysitting Rosie for a little while

Day 5 Went to see 'Yesterday' at the cinema - imagine a world where you were the only person who remembered the Beatles, there was no Coca Cola and Harry Potter had never been written ...

Day 6 Popped over to our son's in the morning to drop off some baby equipment Rosie has outgrown, lunch out at a local deli and then friends over for drinks in the evening.

Day 7 Tried out a new recipe I found in this month's Delicious magazine, slow roast belly of pork with roasted peaches.

Day 8 Met my sister in town for a coffee, something we don't get to do very often even though she doesn't live that far away.

Day 9 Rachel, Leo and Rosie came for dinner as James had to work late

Day 10 Catching up on housework day, then had the urge to do some baking so looked out my Mum's recipe for rock cakes - handed down family recipes taste good and bring back happy memories.

Day 11 Zumba! With a party theme this week so we were asked to bring in something to shake for a routine to Copacabana - Leo kindly lent me something (I am available for booking if Barry Manilow needs a dancer who can bring her own fish design maracas)

In other news Coco went to the groomers

Day 12 Met up with my friend Sally for a play date with our grandchildren

Day 13 Didn't feel 100% so spent the day just catching up on housework and reading

Day 14 Went to a reunion meal with 10 old school friends, hard to believe we have known each other 50 years now 😳

Day 15 Had Rosie to stay for a few hours in the afternoon - Leo had woken up covered in spots and had to go to the doctors - not chicken pox as we suspected but a 'viral infection'

Day 16 Beautiful sunshine, popped into town, lovely sunny dog walk

Day 17 Day to myself - husband out all day, Rachel and family had a day out together at Colchester Zoo, no interruptions at all so I was able to catch up with book reading and watching tv shows that I'd recorded!

Day 18 Leo visited while Rosie had her appointment at the allergy clinic - he's never keen on going home and much bribery has to take place to get him back in his mum's car.

Day 19 Cote restaurant in town is offering a free bottle of rose wine during the month of July, it would be a shame to miss out so guess where we went tonight?

Day 20 Helped Rachel and James try and tame the jungle that is their garden; it's never going to make it onto 'Gardeners' World' but it's a lot more tidy now.

Day 21 Two extra guests for Sunday lunch this week, Jon and Sophie came as their baby is now overdue and they found themselves with no plans for the weekend (having thought they would be at the hospital!)

Day 22 Went to Saffron Walden today, not for anything in particular, it has some interesting buildings and is just a nice place to visit

Day 23 Temperatures in the 30s during the day and a massive thunderstorm overnight (was Mother Nature showing her opinion of our new PM?)

Day 24 We have a feeling this evening that our daughter in law may be showing signs of going into labour ...

Day 25 Baby Max arrived on the day when temperatures were the highest on record for the UK ever - so happy he is safely here

Day 26 Got to visit baby Max today, then had to rush home for our Italian evening

Day 27 Our friends didn't go home until 1.20 am so feeling a bit jaded today

Day 28 Max is out of intensive care - perfect excuse for another hospital visit

Day 29 Popped over to our son's house to wait in for a parcel delivery, Sophie's mum also popped round with some shopping for them so it was nice to have a Nanny to Granny chat over a cup of tea!

Day 30 A back to normal day, even the weather resorted to a default setting of drizzle, we certainly have had a mix of highs and lows and everything in between this month.

Day 31 Our son asked if we could pick up something from a local shop and bring it over to him - as if I needed an excuse like that to go over and have another cuddle of Max!

So that's it, July - it's a wrap and here's a little video of daily clips that made the final cut

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