Journeys Are My Diary

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Week 16 – Monday Round-up (photo heavy!)

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Wow, what a week it has been! Fairly busy, or at least fun-filled, while at the same time – incredibly relaxing!

This was my second week off as part of Easter holiday break and there was a part of me that was dreading it, largely because the majority of the week was taken up with being away from home. Don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to a holiday, but at the same time you always come back feeling tired and I still had a lot of things I could be doing at home! Anyway, Monday was the day we were leaving. The kids were with their dad and my mum was picking them up and taking them to Butlins (Skegness) so Chris and I had a lazier start. That said we had loads to do before we left including packing, taking some parcels to the post office and going on a food shop. We did manage to get everything done though and we set off about 3pm, getting to Butlins for about 4.30pm

Now although I keep saying Butlins, it wasn’t actually just a normal week at a holiday camp. This specific week was a Christian festival called Spring Harvest. It’s something my mum took the girls to last year and they really enjoyed, so she wanted to take them again this year. I’m not really religious myself – I was once but I guess over time its all faded away – but I certainly don’t mind the girls attending. In all honesty, at their age its really nothing more than an extended Sunday School. Fun activities with a Christian base. Anyway, Chris and I were attending in order to be extra adults, not to actually attend any meetings. The basic structure for each day was that Megan and her friend India, who was also staying with us, would attend an evening meeting between 7-9pm and then both them and Lily and her cousin Chloe, would attend a morning meeting between 10am-1pm. For the afternoon it was mine and Chris’ responsibility to entertain, making sure we were back in time for dinner around 5.30pm.

On the first day, as I say, we arrived at 4.30pm and so we had to unpack and settle in. Mum cooked Lasagne with salad and garlic bread for us all and we enjoyed that alongside a bottle of wine. We all then walked Megan and India to their meeting, mum went off to do her own meeting and Chris, Lily and I took a wander around to explore. After buying some hot chocolate we headed back to our caravan, put Lily to bed and then waited for mum and the other two girls to come home. After they headed to bed it wasn’t long before we did and so ended the first day of our holiday!

The next day we woke up absolutely freezing and had all had a dreadful nights sleep. The caravan was so cold it was unbelievable. We headed out to take the kids to their meetings, Chris and I dropping off Lily and mum taking Megan and India. Afterwards Chris and I went to get breakfast and then just mosey around. We headed back to the caravan, watched some rubbish morning TV and then headed out to collect Lily. We all met back at the caravan to have lunch, before deciding we would go swimming. At about 2pm we headed out to the Splash Waterworld, Butlin’s swimming pool.

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I have to admit, this swimming pool is pretty awesome in the scheme of things! We originally headed for its main swimming pool area in the middle. However it wasn’t long before the girls wanted to head down the mini slides, into a smaller pool. From their we headed to the indoor rapids, going around over and over again. I convinced everyone into looking around some more, but could only persuade Lily into being brave enough to head outside on the outdoor rapids water slide. She loved it and after a couple of goes we persuaded Megan, then finally Chris and India too. Once the kids were on it we couldn’t get them off, but Lily and I headed to the yellow water slide, one that you went down in an inflatable raft. It was great fun but sadly no one else was brave enough to try it and the queue was a little too long to go again. With great surprise we realised it was 4.30pm already and so we headed out to get dry and dressed, heading back to the caravan for dinner.

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Mum cooked sausage and mash for dinner, though I only had sausage sandwiches (I have some sort of strange stigma from childhood about eating sausage and mash!). We enjoyed another bottle of wine and then chilled for a little while before walking Megan and India to their meeting again. Lily, Chris and I wandered through the arcades on our way back to the caravan, Lily having a few goes on the 2p machines, using coins that had fallen from the machines automatically. Again we all had hot chocolate before Lily went to bed and then when the girls came home they had hot chocolate too and headed to bed. That night we all slept with the doors open and the fire on with the hope some heat would circulate around the caravan!

Next morning was Wednesday and we pretty much followed the same routine as the day before. Luckily it had been a bit warmer that night! After taking the girls to their meeting, Chris and I came back to the caravan and enjoyed sausage and scrambled egg. We then watched some Dollhouse on the tv, since we’d brought the DVD with us. At 1pm we picked up Lily and when mum arrived back with Megan and India, we all had sandwich lunch. Today we’d decided to go to the fun fair so when Auntie Pat brough Chloe around, we all headed out together – Chris and I, plus 4 girls!

The fun fair was interesting! Not especially big so really not all that much to do. First stop was the pirate ship, which everyone except India and Chris came on (Chris mostly because he had to wait with India). After riding the pirate ship twice, we headed over to the racing horses, all the girls having a go. India’s horse, number 11, was the winner and she got a bubble wand. After that we went on to the Dodgems/Bumper Cars. All four girls wanted to go on, but none were tall enough to ride unaccompanied. As such Chris and I had to ride twice, taking each of the girls with us. Next we headed to the carousel. India didn’t want to come on so Chris waited with her while I took Chloe, Megan and Lily. After one ride though we convinced India and Chris on, but India really wasn’t that keen. Finally Megan and Chloe both wanted to ride these flying hand glider type things. We queued up and I thought I’d have to ride twice, once with each again, but at the last minute Bernard turned up (Chloe’s grandad and Auntie Pat’s husband) and we convinced him on with Chloe instead.

After this ride, Chloe went off with her Grandad and Chris, the girls and I all headed to the arcade. They’d only brought £10 spending money with them and I let them change it all into £1 coins in the machine. We then spent a good hour playing on various arcade games, before realising we needed to head back to the caravan for dinner.

Lily’s legs weren’t long enough to reach the peddles on Mario Kart so Megan had to use her hands!

Mum cooked Chicken Kiev and chips for dinner that night and yet another bottle of wine was consumed (I know I won’t have lost weight this week on my Weight Loss Wednesday weigh-in!). Again we walked the girls to their meeting and then headed back, hot chocolate, Lily in bed, more hot chocolate when Megan and India got back, them in bed, then eventually us and that was the end of yet another day!

Thursday was our last full day and it started the same as the others. When the girls were at their meetings, Chris and I watched Dollhouse and then collected Lily. I made lunch for everyone in advance, so that when we got back we could eat quick and head out swimming again (this was the girls choice as they’d enjoyed it so much the first day). This time mum came swimming with us and got dragged around all the places the girls loved. We did the outdoor rapids several times, the inside yellow water raft slide again and I even braved the red slide by myself. It was great but also terrifying!

After swimming we all headed out to meet mum in a pub called the Sun & Moon. Here we all had dinner out, a treat for our last night.

Megan had sausage, mash and beans. India had chicken nuggets, waffles and beans. Lily had chicken nuggets, mash and beans. Mum had some sort of risotto, Chris had a double cheese and bacon burger and I had scampi and chips. When we were all done we still had time to spare before taking Megan and India to their meeting. We left all the swimming things in mum’s car and headed out to the “Big Beach” in order to take some photos.
Finally we took Megan and India to their meeting, Lily, Chris and I went back to the caravan and the routine was pretty much the same as the other nights. When we woke up the next morning we had to pack and get ready to leave. The girls meeting was 9.30am this day, but finished at 11.30am instead. After taking Lily, Chris and I packed up the last few bits into the car, then headed out for breakfast and a final wander. When we picked up Lily, we waited for Mum, India and Megan to meet us, then handed India back over to her parents. Saying goodbye and thanks to mum for the holiday, Chris, the girls and I headed back over to the arcades one last time for a quick play but mostly to redeem our tickets. After about an hour we got back to the car and headed home. It was strangely bittersweet – a lovely holiday  that had been incredibly relaxing was ending, but I was looking forward to getting home, into my own bed and having a good night’s sleep. Sadly it also meant a few busy days before eventually being due back at work!
When we got home on Friday, we all just headed for our comfort zones (this was actually computers for all of us! Sad I know!). The girls downloaded Marvel Lego and Harry Potter Lego, which I had bought for them both off Steam in the sale. Chris went to play and have some alone time. I caught up on internet stuff, watched some TV and then we all had take away for dinner. The rest of the evening continued pretty much the same, even once the girls had gone to bed. Chris and I finally called it a night around 11pm, heading to our nice comfy bed!

Saturday the girls and I were going to see Cats (the musical) with their dad and their grandparents. The tickets had been Christmas presents for everyone, so we were heading to Nottingham together. However in the morning I had to collect a stack of parcels from the post office, do some food shopping and make dinner for the girls, to take with us. We left the house about 11.30am, met their dad at McDonalds in Newark for lunch and then headed to Nottingham where we met up with their grandparents, Bob and Andrea. We all watched Cats and while for the most part the girls seemed a bit lost, everyone seemed to enjoy it. We headed straight home afterwards, the girls eating in the car, their dad dropping us off at our car in Newark and then heading back to Gainsborough. The girls headed straight to bed and Chris and I spent the evening watching Game of Thrones, Revolution, The Following and Tomorrow People before going to bed ourselves.
Sunday was Easter! I decided against setting out the Easter eggs before I went to bed, hoping that would mean I wouldn’t get woken at the crack of dawn. Instead when the girls went upstairs to get dressed a little later, I scurried around the house spreading easter eggs around and leaving their buckets at the bottom of the stairs. It was only 5 minutes of fun when it happened but considering I only bought the eggs the day before, it wasn’t too bad. I don’t tend to buy the kids Easter eggs myself, so instead I got them girls. For Megan I bought a sketch pad and pencils, along with a “How to Draw Disney Princesses” book. She seemed to love it. For Lily, I bought her a plush Anna doll from Frozen. She hasn’t arrived yet mind you but I know its something Lily wanted as Megan has the Disney Store Anna and Elsa and Lily is always trying to steal them.
As for me, I only got one Easter gift and it wasn’t from Chris or the kids. Instead it was from my best friend Amy. She bought me a box of “must-haves”, some of her favourite products which she thought I would like. As you all know I’m dipping my toes into the pool of beauty blogging and beauty in general, so this was great!
After the moments of Easter craziness wore off, I set about cooking brunch. Originally it was only for Chris and I, but I knew the girls would end up wanting some too. My brother was also due around with his girlfriend and her son. So in the end I cooked enough for everyone and when my brother arrived we all sat down to brunch together. Afterwards my brother cleared the rest of his stuff from his room, officially having moved out now! We all sat down for a gossip and a cuppa while the kids played upstairs, before they eventually left around 2pm. The girls and I then packed a bag for them to go to their dad’s that night, before we all headed out to my mum’s house as she’d invited us for dinner. We had a Roast Lamb dinner, chatted lots and it was actually really nice. The girls’ dad picked them up from mum’s around 6pm and Chris and I headed off about 7pm. When we got home we both went on our computers again, finally ending a very busy, but very enjoyable week!
Thanks once again to everyone who Guest Blogged for me while I was away. It definitely helped make everything a little less stressful and they were all a great read!

16/52

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So I’ve been away all week and I hope you’ve been enjoying the wonderful Guest Posts I’ve been hosting. I’m back from holiday now and hoping to update you all on everything we’ve been up to. However today is my last day of relaxation so I’ll leave you all with the simple 52 Project update.

Lily: We went for dinner at the Sun & Moon pub, during our holiday. This picture of Lily stood out the most from the whole week. I still can’t get over how photogenic she is.
Megan: At Butlins there is a “big” beach, designed purely for photo taking. This was Megan posing beside a beach hut – she’s dying to break out the model poses.

Bloggers Block

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So I don’t technically have Bloggers Block, as the title suggests. In fact its more like Bloggers Roadblock or traffic jam. I feel like I’m just far too busy at the moment to formulate decent blog posts – or when I do have time it would mean spamming you all with about five posts in 24 hours! Obviously I realise there is the option of scheduling but hey…

Anyway really just wanting to post an update on this last week. If I remember rightly, it was Thursday last week when I last did so.

As I mentioned before, last week my two daughters were away on holiday with my mum. They went to Butlins from  Tuesday to Sunday but because I knew I wouldn’t see them much over the whole easter break, I chose to go over and see them for a couple of days (since they were only 75 minutes away). Thursday – the last day I updated – Chris and I went over to see them. We spent the day in Skegness arcades and had so much fun. However Chris was working on Saturday when I also went over, so I just headed into Butlins for the day and we all went to the fun fair for the afternoon.

We had a lot of fun, went on several of the rides and then also went for dinner. It still felt strangely sad saying goodbye to the girls at 6pm that night, even though I knew they would be home again the following day.

On the Friday inbetween my two visits to them, Chris and I had a sort of house day. We started the day at my house, making sure bins were done, putting a load of washing on and stacking the dishwasher. However we then headed over to his house, to continue our decorating project.

This project is something I haven’t really mentioned as yet. Basically Chris owns a house in Gainsborough. Its a lovely size but its not in a great condition and its not really in a nice place. Obviously I rent a place and as lovely as it would be to move into Chris’ house and set up a home there, its far from the girls’ school and from both mine and Chris’ work. There is a possibility we’ll have no choice but to move there, but that’s a post for a different day. Anyway if we were to move to Chris’ house, it would need a whole lot of decorating, cleaning and tidying up. As we still don’t really know whether we’ll have to or not, we’ve decided to tackle his house as a project anyway. If Chris was to sell his house now, it would be worth less than he bought it for. As he borrowed a deposit of his dad to get the place, selling it at under the price isn’t an option. Therefore no matter what the outcome – we move there or we don’t – the house will need doing up before it is fit for selling. This is basically our reason for starting the project, to do up the house from top to bottom.

We have taken this literally, in the sense we have started on the second floor (third for American’s), up in the attic room. What we thought was just a paint job however, has turned into a strip wallpaper, sand down walls, re-plaster and patch up, one new side of skirting board and so on…

I know that Chris’ general feeling is just to slap some paint on and make it “do” for now. But sadly that isn’t really in my nature. I’m one of those sort of – if you’re going to do a job, then do it right – though add to that, the fact I postpone a lot of things because I don’t have the time or money to do it right! Anyway, having gone to Chris’ house on two/three occassions now, we have managed to get the majority of the wallpaper stripped off, ready to start sanding. I would say we’ve still got a good 3-4 days work in that room, especially considering they aren’t full days (working around work and the kids). But I know for sure once its done then it going to look great.

Anyway… that was my Friday.

Sunday was really a chill out day of sorts, at least until the girls got home in the afternoon. We spent some time together, since we only had that afternoon before they were off again to visit their dad the next day. I was feeling incredibly nervous about my first day at work the next day as well. When Chris got home from work we watched some TV, had a glass of wine and called it an early night.

Monday – I was feeling so sick. I had to get the girls ready for a few days with their dad, then take them to my mum’s so he could pick them up from there later. I then headed to work for 9.30am. In all honesty, it was a good day. There was nothing to worry about, the people are lovely and the job is easy. I can’t say its a very fulfilling job mind you and I certainly don’t see myself staying in it for life, but its not awful and the hours and pay are good. When I got home, Chris was there as it was his day off. We chilled on our computers, watched Total Recall and then Game of Thrones.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much the same. I worked and on Tuesday I went to my mum’s because Chris was at work. Had dinner with my mum and my brother (also a Chris). Wednesday Chris was off again so when I got home we had food, played Bubble Bobble together and watched some TV. Its really been a nice few days, despite missing the kids and having to start a new job.

Anyway today Chris is at work, but the girls are home from their dads. Its been lovely so far and its only midday. One of my best friends is also on her way over for a visit – in fact I need to leave to pick her up now. I wanted to add a few pictures so I’ll save this to drafts and publish when I get home this afternoon.

Over and out.

[Eeek, not posted till Friday, but oh well, done now!]

Quick Thursday Update!

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I was going to update today anyway, since I haven’t really blogged much all week. However I now have two additional reasons to update!

First of all, thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. The job interview went well and I was very hopeful and positive from everything that was said to me. I was told that they would make a decision Friday morning and call everyone then. However I received a phone call today around 3.30pm, telling me I had got the job! Without wanting to offend anyone else with a similar job, please don’t be upset by my use of the word “only” now, but the job is only as a Telesales person. That said, its paid work plus commission, rather than one of these “work from home, pay out of your own pocket, just get commission” jobs. I’ll be working Monday/Tuesday, Thursday/Friday, between the hours of 9.30am and 1.30pm. This suits perfectly with school hours and so should be just what I was looking for. That said, there are still a couple more jobs I was looking to apply for, that were term time hours only, that I will still send off an application for, but worst case scenario, I am now employed! Woo!

Second piece of news is that I have been nominated for a Liebster Award, by the lovely Taby at The Closet Intellectual. I don’t really have the time or the inclination to do up my Liebster post right now (its been a long couple of days!) but I will try to get it done tomorrow.

Finally, not a reason I was especially posting, but since I am updating anyway, just a few things about my busy week so far.

– Monday was lovely and relaxing – no children and no partner, so I ended up shopping (food, nothing exciting!) and defrosting the freezer. I also tried to get some more of the book (a book for bookclub) read, while failing miserable and resorting to the audiobook! However I did make a carrot cake (second one in a row, having never made them before Easter!).
– Tuesday the kids were going away with their Nanny (my mum) for a week, so we spent the morning having a bath and packing their clothes. Mum came for them around 2pm and only 5 minutes after they left I was already in floods of tears! My partner Chris decided to occupy me with shopping for decorating supplies – more about that later – and then coming home to relax, eat homemade burgers and chips, play on the computer and watch Walking Dead!
– Wednesday I obviously had my job interview, which I was quite nervous about. I tried on at least three outfits, showed, paid special attention to doing my hair and make up, then headed out for it. Getting to my interview half an hour early, I sat in the car and played iphone apps to kill twenty minutes. I then went in, my interview lasted twenty more minutes and then I came home. Chris and I got changed, had lunch and headed over to his house in Gainsborough (his house technically, but he doesn’t live there). We spent from around 3pm-6pm stripping wallpaper from one of his rooms, a story that will definitely require a whole blog post of its own at some point.
– Thursday, which is obviously today, Chris and I headed over to Skegness for the majority of the day. Mum has the kids at Butlins for the week (oh and fyi Chris has the week off work this week) so we went over to break up my week of not seeing them. We picked them up around 1.30pm and headed into Skegness itself. We spent a few hours in an arcade, winning 107 tickets (haha, it was such fun, I have to admit!) and playing 2p machines. The kids thought it was great and loved cashing in the tickets. We then headed back to the caravan and mum, had a cup of tea and a chat, before heading home. I am now completely exhausted, laying full out on the sofa. Chris and I have just decided to have the easy dinner of scrambled eggs on toast, so I’ll need to get up and make that in a moment. We are perhaps topping off the evening with an episode of “The Following” and a glass of wine.

Cute picture from today in Skeggy

Tomorrow brings house tidying – its bin day and mine in the kitchen are full to bursting – and more decorating at Chris’ house. I imagine a lay in comes first mind you. Saturday I think I’m going to Skegness again, but by myself this time. Chris is working (his job is in Ladbrokes) as its Grand National day, so I figure I’ll occupy myself and see the kids again – win/win. The girls come back home on Sunday, though we have nothing planned, probably just hanging out and spending some time together.

Monday brings with it another busy week and the first day of my new job. Hopefully I’ll update again soon so I can catch you all up on the changes in my life, as well as honour my Liebster Award. A fun game of blog tag should be flying your way soon too, so keep your eyes peeled!