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Book Review – A Frozen Heart

October 25, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

I bought this book from Asda and I have to admit I was pretty excited to find it, especially for £3.75. This book had been on my Amazon wishlist for some time and I assumed it would be similar to the Twisted Tales by by Liz Braswell. I had read A Whole New World, picked up Once Upon a Dream and this seemed like it would be similar, despite being by a different author, Elizabeth Rudnick.

Sadly, I was quite disappointed. If you want to read the novelisation of the Frozen movie, then this book is for you. It’s the exact story that the Frozen movie provides you with, except in a written form – meaning more detail, more description, more dialogue etc. That said, any dialogue that appeared in the movie, appears in this book. Every quote your children (or you) know off by heart, will be in this book. At first its sort of lovely – an indepth look to Anna and Elsa’s life, even a bit more background on Hans which you don’t really get in the movie. However once the storyline gets going, the story is basically exactly like the animation and it loses something for me.

That said, the end still made me cry, just like it does when I watch it. The book is a beautiful rendition of the movie, but that is all it is. I was expecting something more, something different, something that tells us a different part of the story. But sadly it’s not that. If you want to read “Frozen”, then absolutely pick up this book. If you’re looking for something more, it’s probably best not to bother.

42/52

October 19, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

This week its separate pictures for a change! Megan is her eating a chocolate cupcake we made at the weekend. The cases were edible and for some reason this was exciting. Megan does love sugar paper mind you so I can see why. Lily was ill during last week but on Wednesday she was feeling a little better and dressed up. She even had on some makeup!

Wednesday Wishlist – Hot Topic

April 15, 2015 by Bel 4 Comments

As you know, I’m in Florida!! Now, instead of gazing hopelessly at a computer screen and wanting all the Hot Topic products, I can actually go and get them! Today I’m sharing my Hot Topic Wish List with you and you’ll just have to wait and see if I come back with them all!

A. Dumbo scarf – ever since buying my Princess Quotes scarf and my Doctor Who one, I’ve realised just how much I like wearing a scarf. This Dumbo scarf is a little different to the ones I have, as its an infinity (loop) scarf instead. The print is so cute though and I think I’d genuinely get a lot of wear from it.

B. Belle compact mirror – I’m a huge fan of this more grown up style of sketch and as Belle is my favourite princess, this mirror really appeals to me, even though I’d barely use it I’m sure. It’s neat and stylish though and it would make a great edition to my handbag.

C. Anna and Elsa Pocket Pop Funko – I mentioned in my wishlist post last week, that Megan and Lily already own the Pop Funko figures of Anna and Elsa, but that they stay in their room, rather than with my collection. I’d love to get these pocket figures, just to sit with my collection and represent!

D. Once Upon a Time’s “Evil isn’t born, it’s made” vest/tank top – as yet, I haven’t bought any vest tops from Hot Topic, largely because I really went off them as an item of clothes, due to my fat upper arms. However as summer comes around again and now I’ve lost a little weight, I’ll be looking forward to embracing them again. This t-shirt is just amazing and it would definitely be one of my “must-haves”. There are loads more though, to be honest.

E. Alice in Wonderland/The Little Mermaid tights – If you read my shopping post a few weeks ago, you’ll know that in preparation for this holiday, I bought myself some new dresses. One of those was Alice in Wonderland and the other was The Little Mermaid. Obviously in Florida it will be far too warm for tights but when I come back I’d love to keep on wearing my dresses. As such these cute tights would couple nicely with each dress, to make an awesome colder weather outfit.

F. Daryl Dixon’s Chopper – I’m going to ignore the innuendo in the title of this product and just point out that it’s a Pop Funko figure of Daryl Dixon on his motorbike. While majority of my Pop Funko wants are Disney related, this is one of the few that isn’t. Daryl is a character from The Walking Dead and has long been my favourite character. I’d love to get this figure to add to my collection, just as he’s so awesome.

G. Beauty and the Beast/Rapunzel hairbrush – these hairbrushes first arrived on the site before Christmas and I really wanted one for the girls but honestly we don’t really need them. However I love the Beauty and the Beast one and would happily throw out my current one, in order to replace it with that. For the girls I’d like the Tangled one as it just makes sense – Rapunzel has long hair that needs brushing, so what better choice is there?

H. Rapunzel umbrella – I honestly do not need another umbrella. My first ever brolly was Sylvester and Tweety Pie and I still have it to this day. Just before Christmas I bought myself an Alice in Wonderland one from BHS and I think I’ve only used it twice. However I do love the lantern scene from Rapunzel and that makes this umbrella almost irresistible to me!

I. Villains backpack – for a long time I fancied the Beauty and the Beast stained glass window backpack, but really it was just a little “loud” in colour for me. However when this Villains one came along, I was sold. Anyone who knows me, knows I have such a soft spot for Disney Villains. That makes this backpack straight out cold – regardless of the fact I so rarely use a backpack!

J. TWD Crossbow keychain – I definitely don’t need another keyring and yet I want one. This keyring is Daryl’s crossbow (from Walking Dead) and a tag that reads “Fight the Dead, Fear the Living”. Mostly I want it because of Daryl, but it’s cool and it’s about time I had something to represent my Walking Dead fandom.

So right now, these are the things I have my eyes on! Look out for a Hot Topic haul post when I return from my Florida trip!

T-Shirt Thursday

February 19, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Yet again this week I’m posting my T-shirt Tuesday on a Thursday, but this week I sort of have a good excuse! My best friend Amy (from Cocktails in Teacups) decided very late on Monday night that she was coming to visit for a couple of days and so from Tuesday to today, I’ve had her and her daughter Olivia visiting. As such I’ve either been busy or completely exhausted, with no time to make blog posts (and none pre-done as a backup!). In all honesty, all I want to do tonight is go for a bath but a guilty conscience had got the better of me. As such though, its just going to be a quickie from me tonight – just the t-shirt I was wearing on Tuesday and no project t-shirt.

This t-shirt design is called Winter is Coming and combines a Frozen and Game of Thrones crossover. Elsa is sat on an ice version of the Iron Throne, with the quote “winter is coming”, a slogan from GoT too. The design belongs to an artist known as Harebrained. If you like the t-shirt, its available in a variety of places including RedBubble, TeeFury and TeePublic. It’s one of my favourite t-shirts and also drawing styles!

Though, like I said, I haven’t got around to starting on my next project, I will give you a sneak peak. This is the design I’ll be using next time!

Disney Countdown – Days 51 – 45

February 15, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Monday (51) – Feb 9th – Read a Disney book
Tuesday (50) – Feb 10th – Play a Disney game
Wednesday (49) – Feb 11th – Make or Draw Disney
Thursday (48) – Feb 12th – Paint Aurora peg-doll
Friday (47) – Feb 13th – Make Disney inspired food
Saturday (46) – Feb 14th – Dress up Disney
Sunday (45) – Feb 15th – ~~Watch Hunchback of Notre Dame~~

So this week has been a bit higgly piggly. Due to us being so busy, we’ve had to switch around tasks depending on where we are and what we’re doing. Majority of the week has been a different day’s task but we’ve mostly managed something at least each day! Monday was read a Disney book which we actually managed. We’re still carrying on with book 3 from the Never Girl series. Tuesday was play a Disney game, which we also managed – despite it being a Daddy day. The girls played on Disney Infinity in the car on the way to school. On Wednesday we were supposed to paint a peg-doll but switched it with the next day as the girls were staying at Grandma’s overnight. Instead on Wednesday they had to make or draw Disney which seems to have become a thing at Grandma’s recently! On Thursday when they were home, Megan painted the Aurora peg-doll, though she seems to be less and less happy with how they come out.

On Friday the kids were due to go to mum’s house overnight and she had planned to do some sort of Disney cake mix packet from Sainsbury’s. However the girls ended up off school for the day and not at mum’s, so I bought a packet mix instead and we made Mallow Minnie’s. On Saturday it was dress up Disney which we squeezed in between about 11.30am and 3.30pm. The girls had to get dressed regularly in the morning as we were going out for breakfast, then come home and change into dress-up clothes, before finally getting changed again as Lily had a party to go to. Finally came Sunday and we were set to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame. However we had to take Chris to work (leaving around 11.30am), go out for lunch, go to my mum’s, fit in the movie in the afternoon, before taking Megan to a party at 4pm. Unfortunately when we got to mum’s, she had a friend there, who didn’t leave for almost another hour. This meant we couldn’t watch our DVD. As the girls went to their dad’s after Megan’s party, we were unable to watch it later too. As such, its been suspended till Tuesday when hopefully we’ll fit it in.

2/52

January 11, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

This week’s 52 Project picture is one taken early on in the week. I treated the girls to some dresses from Sports Direct, which I’ve had my eye on for ages. Both girls decided they would get more wear from them if they wore them as nighties instead of dresses, so wore them that night. I did post a similar picture to this on Instagram, but this is another one I took – just for variety purposes!

2014 in Review – The Cakes

January 3, 2015 by Bel 4 Comments

As part of my round up for 2014, I wanted to recap on the cakes I’ve made this year. In May I did a sort of mid-year round up, but this is for the complete year. Though I’ve actually made far more than the cakes pictured below, these are the key cakes of 2014.

Though I did make a fairly simple cake for my sister’s birthday in February, March was really the first time I got busy. What with Lily, Amy and Chris all having a birthday in March, it was pretty crazy. Lily’s was my first and also one of the most important in the whole year. She was massively into Frozen (and still is) so that was the theme of her cake. Only 9 days later, it was Amy’s birthday and as I’ve always wanted to make her a Peter Pan cake, this is what I did. The three tiers made this the biggest cake of the year. It was a pretty impressive cake. Less than a week later, it was Chris’ birthday and I was pretty much caked out. As such he got a very simple Minion cake but he was happy nonetheless.

After a very brief break, my mum’s birthday came next in April. There was really no specific theme I could think of for my mum, so instead just asked what flavour she’d like. Having requested something with cream, I put my mind to something she’d love and came up with a Tiramisu cake. This as a huge hit and I’ve had several requests to make it since – most recently a few days after Christmas. Next in April was Erika’s birthday, though her party was technically in May. All I really had to go on was the fact she liked sweets, so I made a cake that somewhat looked like a bowl with sweets in it. My birthday was next but luckily I didn’t have to make my own cake as Nat did it instead. Good job too, given the theme (NSFW), as I”m not sure I would have pulled it off as well as she did! However only a week or so after mine, came my brother’s birthday. Since he was having a superhero party, I made him a superhero themed cake!

Only a few weeks after my brother’s birthday, it was Harry’s 1st birthday. While I don’t usually make cakes for other people’s kids, it was Harry’s 1st and that made it special (he’s also going to be my Godson). I really had no idea what a one year old would like so I searched around Pinterest till I came up with the idea of building blocks. It was a bit of a rush job but I think Harry’s cake turned out okay in the end. Luckily I managed a bit of a break then, at least until the following month. Even then the cake I made for my friend Chris, was a bit of break from the norm. His wife Hollie, suggested a cake that had been circulating its way around Facebook. Always up for a challenge, I figured I’d give it a go! Though the original cake had been Maltesers and M&M’s, I opted for Maltesers and Smarties – this was largely because nowhere I went had the smaller packs of M&M’s and I didn’t give myself very long to search! It turned out pretty good and seemed to wow everyone at Chris’ birthday party. Finally, I genuinely got a break – this time from between July to November. Then, amidst a heap of sewing, I had to make Nat a birthday cake. Sadly I can’t believe I never actually got around to blogging about her murder mystery, but we had fun with a fairytale theme. As her character in the murder mystery was Red Riding Hood, I decided to theme her cake the same. Megan actually helped me with the cake, solely making the Red Riding Hood figure on the top!

That brings me to the last cake of the year, which was actually for Megan’s birthday. Still bogged down with sewing, murder mystery planning and of course Christmas, Megan’s cake was a bit of a rush. Luckily for me, she’d enjoyed helping with Nat’s cake and had wanted to help with her own. Settling on a fairly simple Harry Potter cake theme, Megan actually made all the items on top of the cake (bar the scarf which I added as a surprise once she’d gone to bed). I made and iced the cake myself and once Megan was in bed, put all the elements together so at least the finished look would be a surprise for her.

While this coming year I will definitely be cutting down on the amount of cakes I make, I also know I will have more time to fiddle so I’m looking forward to developing more skills. With Megan be interested in helping, it also makes it feel a bit more enjoyable for me. Megan definitely has artistic talent that I do not possess!

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Week 52 – Monday Round-up – The Christmas Edition (warning, its gonna be a long one!)

December 29, 2014 by Bel 1 Comment

This week has been fantastic. I just want to throw that out there. Yes, there have been some moments when it wasn’t, but 99.9% of the time, its been a great week! Chris was at work Monday to Wednesday and my friend Namu was here and staying with us all week too. The week seemed really busy at the beginning but chilled out towards the end – all in all, making for a perfect Christmas week.

On Monday the girls had their first day at Frozen drama workshop. They had to be there for 10am, so we headed off just after 9am and I dropped them off with plenty of time. After that I headed to do some food shopping, then some last minute Christmas shopping. I also called in with the girls grandparents, to drop off a map for where they needed to go the following day (to see the Frozen performance). It was gone 1pm by the time I got back, which was just time to watch some Catfish with Namu before heading back to get the girls for 4pm. We got back home, had dinner and waited for Chris to get home from work too. The evening was spent just chilling out, watching TV, which was pretty much the same for every evening this week!

Tuesday started off similarly to Monday, with taking the girls to their Frozen workshop, but this time I came pretty much straight home. Namu and I spent the day watching TV but I also potted around the house, doing some last minute Christmas bits, tidying the house etc. At 2pm we set off to the girls show, which started at 3pm. It only lasted 30 minutes but it was pretty good and I was very proud of the girls – especially Megan who had 2 whole lines (haha!).

It took a while for the girls to get changed and ready after their performance, so Namu and I waited outside for almost 30 minutes. After we picked them up, we headed to their grandparents to collect the Christmas Hamper which Andrea always makes up for us. We stayed for a drink and a chat, which felt like a nice start to the Christmas period. Since it was nearly 5.30pm we decided to go and pick Chris up from work, saving him the train journey home. However he was late out and we were all fed up by the time he got out – so we decided to go to McDonalds for dinner. It was actually pretty nice and the girls enjoyed the fact we went inside, instead of doing drive-thru. We then headed home and chilled for the evening.

The next day was Christmas Eve and by some miracle I managed my first lie-in, in ages. At 11.30am I was finally up and as much as I would have loved a PJ day, I’d promised the girls Subway for lunch so we all had to get dressed and go out. The girls also needed to go to the bank and deposit their latest savings, so we tied that in with getting Subway in town. Afterwards we headed home and somehow Namu got roped into giving the girls Christmas nails. She sat and painted their nails and decorated them for quite a while – my brother’s family arriving while she was doing it. My brother, his girlfriend and her son Charlie, stayed for a drink and really just to visit before Christmas. Namu even ended up doing Charlie’s finger nails too!

Once they were gone, we watched The Muppet Christmas Carol and I gave the girls their letters from Santa – or rather, placed them on the doormat and pretended they were delivered. It wasn’t long before my Mum arrived, along with my sister Pippa. She also picked up Chris from work so it was nice to have him home early too. It’s a Christmas Tradition in our house, to all get together on Christmas Eve. We also have one Christmas Eve present. When I was growing up, it was a variety of things – from PJs, to hot water bottles, to a board game, to bath products. I’ve altered the tradition slightly to always be PJs now though, so every Christmas Eve we get together and unwrap our new PJs. My mum bought for her and Pippa, but I bought for all our family and Namu. Since my life is Disney Mad at the moment, I decided that we should all have Disney PJs. The girls had their Frozen ones, Chris had Grumpy, I had Beauty and the Beast, while Namu had Minnie and Mickey.

Mum and Pippa stayed for about an hour and then headed off. We have several other Christmas Eve traditions so they came next. First is a Christmas Bath. Everyone in the house has to have a bath on Christmas Eve, then put their pjs on, so we head into Christmas all clean. I treated the girls to some Lush and they had their bath, getting into their new pjs afterwards. We then had to set out everything for Father Christmas – some cookies and milk, along with apples for the reindeer (its usually carrots but I forgot to get some in!). The girls put out reindeer food in front of the outside door and hung the magic key on the door handle so Father Christmas can get in. Afterwards they hung up their stockings and it was time for Lily to go to bed.

Megan stayed up a little longer but then eventually it was her time for bed too. At that point I went for my bath (with Lush too) and got changed into my PJs. Namu went afterwards for a shower and finally Chris went after that. Once I was sure the girls were asleep I filled stockings and then finally settled down for an hour or so before heading to bed. Chris and I have our own tradition at midnight, to exchange one gift. I always forget (since its actually a tradition that comes from Chris’ family) so I ended up giving him something out of his stocking (some Batman headphones). He gave me Maleficent on DVD.

Obviously we went to sleep then and when we woke up it was about 5am. Sadly that wasn’t because my kids were awake, but instead because next door are so noisy. It was actually almost 5.45am before the kids came and woke us (despite not being awake) and we sat together in our bed, opening up the stocking presents.

Once we’d opened up the stocking gifts, we got up and dressed. The girls had new clothes and even new underwear to put on. My morning didn’t get off to a great start, with the dress I was planning on wearing, breaking at the zip. I will admit it made me a little teary but I tried to get over it and not dwell on Christmas being a bit of a bust. We all got breakfast – a combination of muffins and crumpets – then set about opening all the Christmas tree gifts. We all got some amazing things, but I was especially pleased with all my presents. The girls bought me a beautiful Tinker Bell ornament, while Chris bought me an Evil Queen one. As a belated birthday present, Namu had even bought me a Tinker Bell one too. Chris also got me a Disney Couture necklace, a snowflake from Frozen. As well as that, I got;Lush from Namu, a Disney jigsaw, cake pan and chewing gum from Nat and a Mrs Potts ornament, a Lumiere Funko, a Beauty and the Beast make up bag, a Toy Story necklace and some Kat Von D eyeliner pencils from Amy. Between Chris and I, Amy also bought us a Beauty and the Beast print, though Chris insisted it was definitely more for me!

After all the gifts were opened, the girls went to play upstairs for a while and I sorted out the lounge, the wrapping paper and gifts etc. A little while later we headed out to Chris’ Nan’s house, stopping for about 30 minutes to exchange gifts and spend a little time there. We then headed off to my mum’s house, where we would eat lunch and open a few more gifts. Chris and I got dollars from both her and Pippa, but we also got a “little extra” each from my mum – mine being a Tear and Share bowl for baking bread (which I then used a few days later). We all had lunch and relaxed, it was a really lovely lunch. I took shed loads of pictures and even let Lily have a play with the camera too – meaning even more were taken. That’s where this week’s 52 Project photos comes from!

Eventually at about 3pm we left my mum’s and I dropped the girls off with their other grandparents. We stopped briefly but Namu, Chris and I were tired and glad to be heading straight home. For about two hours we all just sat in the lounge and sort of zoned out. I played on my iPad and the other two played on their phones. Chris made me cups of tea every now and again but we all barely spoke. Eventually we seemed to find some energy and we began to chat a little, put the TV on etc. However we all headed to bed early as it had been an early start and a long day.

Friday was Boxing Day and we had nothing planned except for getting the girls back from my mum. Luckily she had agreed to drop them off and so we didn’t really need to do anything. Unfortunately I did need to head out to Tesco as Christmas Day also brought with it the discovery of headlice for Megan, so I needed to go out and get shampoo. While I was out, I bought some things for brunch and when I got back we all had a fry up.

After that Megan and Lily spent majority of the day playing on Disney Infinity, until I had to be Nit Nurse at least. I treated Megan, then Lily and then Chris, before finally doing my own. Once we were all done, the girls were in their PJs and they’d had dinner, I set to work on my Tiramisu cake. You may remember back in April that I made it for my mum, well Chris and Mum requested it for Christmas so I made it on Friday, ready for Saturday. I also made a mini one so we could sample it that night! Afterwards, Chris made quiche and a little later in the evening, Namu, Chris and I got to have a little quiche and a little cake for our dinner. Namu and I also managed to find time to FaceTime our mutual friend Jaime. While doing so, my mum phoned to say it was snowing – to which I squealed and ran outside!

By the time we finished on FaceTime, it was pretty much time for bed. We all headed up, ready for a busy day the next day. Saturday was our biggest family get-together of the holiday. My brother and his family hadn’t been able to make it for Christmas Day lunch, so we were all getting together for a buffet lunch on the Saturday. Not only was there my family (me, Chris and the girls), but also there was Namu, my mum, my sister Pippa and then my brother Chris with his girlfriend Erika, her son Charlie and my three nephews Morgan, Rhys and Ewan. Though I had a bit of a hectic morning in the kitchen, it all came together in the end. We all enjoyed a nice family lunch together and my bread came out almost perfect.

As well as making an effort to take more pictures on Christmas Day, I also made a conscious effort to take pictures on this day – as all our family were together. At one point it felt very “photoshoot” but I’m really glad we made the effort to take various group pictures, as some of them came out truly beautiful.

By far my favourite pictures are the ones of my family – both with and without my mum in them. It’s rare that we all take a nice picture at the same time and when I look at these pictures I just feel this warm and fuzzy feeling, because I know we’re all happy.

Once everyone was gone, I set about tidying up the kitchen and sorting out the dining room. Everyone else chilled out and while I did have some downtime too (uploading photos to Facebook), it was nice to feel like I was getting the house straight. Eventually the girls went to bed and since Namu wasn’t feeling very well, she went upstairs for a lie down. I took down the Christmas tree, along with the decorations and gave the downstairs a good clean and tidy.

Sunday was Chris’ last day off and Namu’s last full day with us. For the most part we all had a chilled out day but the girls and I managed to tidy their bedroom and make Mickey Mouse Oreo cookies. For lunch we all went out for Subway again – a reward for the girls working on their room and also a lazy lunch for me. We needed to pick up milk and bread too so we did that while we were out. When we got home, we sat and watched TV for majority of the evening, though Chris went upstairs on his computer. Our Disney task of the day was to watch a Disney movie and the girls picked Tinker Bell and The Pirate Fairy as we hadn’t seen it before. Once it was finished, Lily went to bed and then Megan was only an hour after that. I finally got around to watching some of the TV I wanted to watch and also tried to sew a dress Namu had brought with her. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out – though I did manage to get Twice the Mum moved to self-hosting and WordPress. It’s a work in progress but I’ll be moving this blog shortly too!

Like I said before, its been a great week. Christmas was great and so was spending time with family. It’s so nice to know I’m not heading back to work in a week, even though I know its only half way through the holiday. Mentally I’m feeling in a much better place and I can’t wait for the New Year and all the plans, resolutions and goals I want to make. This week, if I get time, I’ll be focusing my blog on rounding up my year and looking forward to the next. Stay tuned for all my plans!

Disney Countdown – Days 100 – 94

December 29, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Making a countdown has made me notice just how fast the days fly by. It was 121 when we started and now we’re down to day 93! Crazy! I seriously can’t believe we’re a quarter of the way through.

Monday (100) – Dec 22nd – Frozen Workshop – Day 1
Tuesday (99) – Dec 23rd – Frozen Workshop – Day 2
Wednesday (98) – Dec 24th – Christmas Eve (Disney PJs)
Thursday (97) – Dec 25th – Christmas Day (Disney everywhere!)
Friday (96) – Dec 26th – Boxing Day (Disney Infinity)
Saturday (95) – Dec 27th – Make Disney themed food
Sunday (94) – Dec 28th – Watch a random Disney movie – (Tinker Bell) The Pirate Fairy

Majority of this week, we didn’t set specific tasks as we knew it would be a busy week. However, without trying sometimes, we’ve managed to make the week very full of Disney. On Monday and Tuesday the girls were attending a Frozen drama workshop. They were out of the house from 10am till 4pm on both days and they put on a performance at 3pm on the second day. While the production was very basic, the girls loved the workshop and Megan even got the part of Young (middle) Elsa which had two lines (haha). I really enjoyed seeing them perform and somehow I’m still not sick of Frozen! Next came Christmas Eve and again we had nothing planned. That said, we all had new Disney PJs to wear (even the adults) so that was our Disney input for the day. Christmas Day and Boxing Day were a similar situation. Christmas Day we all got at least one Disney themed gift though and Boxing Day the girls played with a lot of their toys, especially Disney Infinity 2.0 which I’d purchased for them and Chris to share. Having a few non-festive days meant we had scheduled a few tasks and so there was making Disney themed food on Saturday and watching a movie on Sunday. In the end we were pretty busy Saturday as the whole family came around for lunch, so both tasks were completed on Sunday. We made Mickey Mouse Oreo cookies as our Disney themed food and then watched Tinker Bell and The Pirate Fairy as our random Disney movie. Its been a really great week and I’m looking forward to the next one!

Week 51 – Monday Round-up

December 22, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Well wow… what a week it has been! We headed into the week, knowing it was the last week of work (and school) for me (and the kids) but what I didn’t know is that it would actually be my last EVER week of work! While I won’t go into the details (not publically at least) I basically had a big blow out with my boss and ended up walking out half way through my shift on Wednesday. As I had Thursday and Friday left to work, I took them as sick days and am working out my notice period over the Christmas holidays. At first I was pretty devastated but now I’ve come to terms with being quite so irresponsible, I believe its for the best and I’m genuinely so much happier now.

Anyway! Monday to Thursday was school for the kids and Monday to Wednesday was work for me. The kids didn’t have Singing Stars after school on Monday and it was so nice that we got to come straight home. We had dinner, chilled out and the Megan made a Loomband Anna. The evening was spent with Chris, watching Arrow, as was most nights that week! I also had a bath with my Father Christmas bath bomb.

Tuesday the kids were with their dad and while I had every intention to come home and get their Anna and Elsa dresses finished. However I just ended up bumming around, watching TV and doing some last minute Christmas shopping online, as well as buying some new dress patterns to work on soon. When the girls got home we read more of “in a blink”, taking our selfies while we do (a weird tradition we’ve started) and enjoying some family time. Again once the girls were in bed, Chris and spent the evening watching Arrow together.

Wednesday, was obviously my last day of work, as I mentioned above. It started off fairly normal, ending abruptly just before lunch. I then spent the afternoon with my mum, waiting to pick the girls up at the end of school. I will admit I was a bit of a mess that evening. I let all my friends know what had happened and basically spent the evening wallowing. The girls had the task of dress up like Disney and other than Lily hurting herself falling out of the car, the two of them enjoyed their evening. Chris and I again watched TV but he also brought me Cheesecake and Wine home when he got back from work.

Thursday was the girls’ last day at school and obviously I didn’t have work. I took the girls to school as usual and since Megan had a Christmas Carol service for the first half an hour, I was lucky enough to be able to stay. Afterwards I headed into town, to get some Christmas shopping, hoping it might cheer me up. Sadly it all fell a bit flat and I headed home by about lunch time. I spent the afternoon watching crappy TV, before going back to get the girls from school. Seeing them did help pull me out of my mood a little though and when we came back home, we enjoyed our evening together – especially as it had been their last day at school and they were excited. We spent the evening judging my Disney Fashion competition and then reading more of our Disney book (and taking selfies). When the kids were in bed – yep you guessed it – more Arrow and snuggling on the sofa!

Finally it was Friday and the girls were off school – and I was off work. We had a leisurely morning, then headed over to my mums as she’d planned to make cards with the girls and even though I didn’t need her to have them any more, I didn’t want to disappoint her. We stayed for a few hours and over lunch too, before heading to the girls other grandparents to pick up my Christmas present (their dad had dropped it off there). We then headed back home, putting the girls letters to Santa in the post box as we went. When we got back, our Disney task of the day was to watch Frozen so we settled down to do that and I finally got around to sewing both their dresses. We had dinner while watching the movie and when it was over, Lily went to bed. Once she was in bed, Megan helped me add the tulips to the bottom of Lily’s dress, which took ages! Chris and I spent the evening together after that, watching TV before heading to bed.

The next day was Saturday and we were all so glad to not need to get up early. Chris and I managed a small lie-in but then I hung out on the sofa majority of the morning, while he played on his computer. I gave the girls a bath and then had one myself, before heading upstairs to get dressed and get the girls ready. Namu called to say she was on the train to Gainsborough and so I quickly trimmed the girls hair and headed out to get her. When we got back here, I did some hoovering and tidying, got the girls some lunch and then Namu and I went out to get some shopping. When we got back, we put up some Christmas decorations, but mostly sat around chatting and catching up. Eventually the girls had dinner and then went to bed, while we all got ready for the murder mystery. It was a fun evening and it was good to catch up with everyone. We had takeaway for food and so I really did very little except enjoy the evening.

When everyone left, Namu, Chris and I chatted for quite a while before we eventually headed to bed around 1am. We didn’t get much of a lie in the next morning but it didn’t really matter as we had to be up anyway. That day we were going out for lunch and Anna and Elsa were going to be there. The girls got dressed into their Anna and Elsa dresses and we headed out to Lincoln. We parked up and walked to the Hotel. My first impression was that we had entered hell on earth. Loads of tiny Annas and Elsas, running around and screaming! Nightmare. We waited almost an hour to be seated and food/service was really slow. The food was okay and Anna and Elsa themselves seemed to be enjoyable for the girls, but from a parent/adult perspective the whole thing was fairly dire. In total we were there three hours and it really felt like such a chore.

After lunch we headed to my mum’s, so the girls could get changed. They had a Christingle service to attend at 4pm, they were both singing and Megan was doing a reading. We got there, found seats and settled in for the hour or so the service would take. While I’m not one for Church, I do love Christingle as it always makes me feel Christmasy. Afterwards we all headed home, popped to the shop for some essentials and then had dinner and relaxed for a while. Namu and I spent the evening together – chatting and catching up – while Chris spent the evening on his computer.

All in all, it was a good week – despite the blip in the middle. I’ve ended the week feeling much happier than when I started it and honestly can’t wait to get to Christmas! Holidays are seeming even better to me now, especially knowing I don’t actually need to go back to work. I feel like life has opened up for me – even if there are a few things I need to figure out.

Hope you’re all having a great December and that Christmas is good to you as well!