Journeys Are My Diary

Life, Adventures, Entertainment and more - A little bit of everything blog!

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Contact & PR
  • Regular Features
    • 52 Project
    • Book Reviews
    • Sewing Projects
    • Cakes I Made
    • Product Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
    • Murder Mysteries
    • Where We Went
    • Where We Ate

Week 8 – Monday Round-up

February 23, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Once again I haven’t managed to keep on top of my week, so I’m writing this all from memory after the whole week has passed. It’s been a really busy week and I honestly can’t believe how tired I’ve felt every day, but its been a lovely week, full of surprises and unexpected plans!

Monday began with a lie-in, because both the girls had stayed at their dad’s the night before. Chris was working at 12.30pm though so it did mean we had to get up eventually. While Chris spent the first part of the morning on his computer, I spent mine watching TV. Chris then came down and joined me, while getting himself ready for work. A parcel arrived in the post and it was a HUGE Hot Topic order that I had placed at Christmas and sent to my friend who lives in the USA. She had finally got around to mailing it to me and I was so excited to get it opened. However Chris was just leaving for work and I was running a bath so I only looked at it briefly before saying goodbye to Chris and then going for my bath. I had my new Unicorn Horn in the bath, a little late for Valentine’s Day but good nonetheless. Afterwards I went to get dressed and ended up trying on all of my Hot Topic dresses!

Without really meaning to, I ended up texting Amy for the majority of my morning and into the afternoon. We discussed her birthday, Florida, Hot Topic and even all my new dresses. I even ended up sending her pics of me wearing each dress! Eventually I went downstairs again and Nat arrived to spend the afternoon with me. We didn’t really do much but we sat and drank tea, chatting and catching up, planning what we might do to earn us some money! It was actually pretty late on by the time Nat left, I would guess around 7.30-8pm and so I fixed myself some dinner and settled down for the evening. Next I knew I was making plans with Amy for her to come and visit the very next day! Chris arrived home eventually and we sat down to watch the next episode of The Walking Dead. It was almost as dull as the week before, though the last five minutes was marginally more interesting. We headed to bed as we had lots to fit in the next day and already I was realising it would be a busy week!

Tuesday we got up around 9am, still no kids to wake us! We got ready and dressed, heading out to the Plumb Centre in order to get a part for mum’s sink. We then headed over to mum’s house and fitted the pipe for her. It didn’t go 100% to plan but we got there in the end. Not long after we finished, mum turned up with the kids. She’d picked them up from their dad’s and taken them to see some mutual friends that morning, but I was collecting them from her and then going to pick up Amy and Olivia from the station. We headed straight off to get Amy and arrived a little early so had to wait. However at around 12.30pm they arrived and we all set off back to Gainsborough. When we got back, we headed to Tesco as we needed a few essentials, along with some food for dinner and also ingredients for pancakes (Tuesday was Pancake Day!). Finally we got back home, unpacked and relaxed for a while but then I remembered I needed to go into town and everyone bar Chris decided to come too. After going to the Post Office, we went to buy Tsum Tsum’s for Amy and Liv, but Lily ended up getting some too. We then also went for a wander around Gainsborough before eventually heading back again. I cooked Lasagne for dinner which we all ate and then after Liv was in bed I made pancakes for everyone. I was so stuffed and well over my calorie allowance for the day!

Lily went to bed too and Chris was upstairs on his computer with his friend Jon. Amy and I sat chatting for the evening, eventually sending Megan to bed around 10pm. I don’t honestly remember what we chatted about but I know it mostly revolved around Florida. Either way the evening went fast and it was gone midnight before we were heading to bed. On Wednesday we all got up and Chris was getting ready to go to work, while we were planning the first of Lily’s birthday celebrations. Unfortunately her best friend is away over her birthday (a week each side), as is my mum, so we’re really limited by what we can do and what she’ll enjoy. Instead of having a party without her friend, we decided to have a day out in half term with Ciara, then a meal out just me, Megan and Lily on her birthday, then a small party/murder mystery a week after that. Ultimately she’ll be celebrating over a period of about a month but I’m sure she won’t mind! Anyway, we booked Orange Wednesday tickets for 6 of us, meaning we only paid for 3 and then tried to book ASK for lunch but unfortunately it wasn’t open before the time we needed to leave the house. We headed off out around 11.30am and went to pick Ciara up from her house in Saxilby. We then went into Lincoln and parked the car, heading to ASK for lunch. Unfortunately they claimed to have no room for us (depsite being half empty) so we headed off to Prezzo instead. I was a little upset by this as I’d converted all my Tesco vouchers into ASK vouchers, in order to save myself money and instead had to pay out full price in Prezzo and have ASK vouchers I couldn’t use. Luckily though I found a 25% off code for Prezzo on my phone and the three younger girls all ate off a kids menu that only cost £3.50 anyway.

wpid-20150222013746.jpg wpid-20150222013811.jpg

Though it felt a bit rushed, we headed out of Prezzo and over to the Odeon. We were in plenty of time for the movie though and all settled down to watch the trailers. All of us loved the movie as we were seeing Big Hero 6 again, though it was the first time for Lily’s friend Ciara. By the time the movie ended, it was almost 4pm. We headed out to the car and then drove Ciara home. After dropping her off we were all so exhausted that we barely spoke on the way home and Liv even fell asleep. When we got back to the house the girls had to fit in their Disney task – which was dress up Disney. Amy didn’t think that Olivia had the energy to participate but as soon as my girls were dressed as princesses, she wanted to join in too. After that it was a case of basic but fast dinner for the kids, so Liv could get to bed, shortly followed by Lily and then Megan too. Amy and I spent a large part of the evening on phones/computers, barely talking as we were both tired. Eventually Chris came home from work and joined us so we put on some TV, just to chill out. First we watched Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, then came Beauty & the Geek and finally we watched a ridiculous program called Virgin Coaches. It was 1am by the time we all headed to bed which was ridiculous considering how tired we had all been!

On Thursday we really did an awful lot of nothing. Amy was heading home that day but not until 4pm. However this sort of made it feel like we couldn’t do anything for the day so instead just lounged around. I don’t think any of us really minded as we were all still tired though. After lunch Megan started to get a headache and so she headed upstairs for a lie down. Eventually Amy had to leave and so Lily and I went with them to the station. There was nowhere to park at the station though and we very almost missed the train for them! Once they were safely aboard, Lily and I went to Tesco again. We bought a few bits we needed but also some things for Megan with the hope she would feel better soon. In the evening we caught up on Hunchback of Notre Dame and then the girls went to bed. I spent the evening catching up on my blog and trying to fight off tiredness that eventually led to an early night!

Friday we were all going to Meadowhall however Chris had woken in the night with a terrible sore throat and had ended up downstairs for the majority of the night. Though it woke and disturbed me at the time, it actually lead to me sleeping a little longer in the morning so I woke feeling very refreshed. At 9am I made sure the girls were up and ready, dressed and had breakfast. Mum arrived for us at 10am and all four of us set off, along with mum and my sister Pippa. We arrived at Meadowhall around 11am and agreed to go our separate ways and meet for lunch at 12.30pm. The girls, Chris and I headed for Next as both the girls had vouchers to spend and then we went next door to Primark for the bulk of their shopping. At Christmas I had bought the girls a lot of new dresses and am also making them some Disney themed ones too. As such we were only looking for cardigans, shoes, sunglasses and sunhats. Even still it took the whole hour and a half, meaning we had to rush to meet mum and Pippa for lunch. When we found them, they were ordering jacket potatoes so we found a table and then Chris and I went to get our lunch. Me, Chris and Lily all had Pizza Hut Express, while Megan had McDonalds. After lunch we nipped the shopping to the car and then went back to where we left off. We made our way all around the top level of Meadowhall, before then tackling the bottom level. Mum text to say she was done and waiting in the car but not to rush. In the end we were about another hour after that. When we got back to the car, mum drove us home and when we got there we were all exhausted again. However we needed to have dinner and watch a Disney movie so while we sat and did that, I sorted out all the clothes we’d bought.

wpid-20150222035144.jpg wpid-20150222035123.jpg

While the girls just had a microwave pizza (Lily) and toast (Megan), Chris ordered chinese takeaway for us. I had a little but I was stuffed really fast so I left the rest for him. While we had been out that day, I’d had a parcel arrive and be left in the back garden. Turned out it was a mannequin that I’d ordered so Chris very kindly put her together for me and while I was so tempted to get using her, I was exhausted. Instead Chris went on his computer and I sorted out the clothes and suitcases with the kids. After they were in bed I went for a nice relaxing bath and then laid on the bed for a while, playing on my phone. Eventually I came downstairs and watched some TV, Chris coming downstairs to join me. We didn’t stay up late though as he hadn’t slept well the night before and he had work the next day.

Chris woke at 6am and sneaked out fairly quietly to head off to work. I managed to get straight back to sleep and it was about 8.30am before I woke again but I managed to doze until about 9.30am. Eventually I got up and got the girls ready. Mum was calling for us at 11.30am and we were all going out for lunch to celebrate my sister’s birthday. The morning flew by and I didn’t even have chance to get a cup of tea. In the end I grabbed a can of diet pepsi as we left the house and then mum drove us all to Scunthorpe to meet with my brother and his girlfriend. We then headed out to a pub in pretty much the middle of nowhere, where we almost enjoyed a lunch together. Afterwards my brother and his girlfriend headed off and mum had to take Pippa home. Obviously we went with her as she’d picked us up but afterwards she drove us into Gainsborough so I could pop to the Post Office and go and collect Chris’ contact lenses from the Opticians. We then came back to the house and mum came in for a cup of tea and a chat. She ended up staying way longer than she intended to and Chris was arriving back from work just as she was leaving. Once mum was gone and Chris was back, it was time for the girls to have dinner and Chris was going to make himself some food. I had a bit of a headache so between Chris and Megan, they made me a cup of tea and organised both girls’ dinner. Chris then sat down with his food and we spent some of the evening together, before I headed upstairs to put Lily to bed. Once she was in bed, Chris went for a bath so Megan got her homework done and I sat on my computer. Once Chris was out of the bath it was pretty much time for Megan to go to bed and so she did and then Chris and I watched TV together. I was too tired again to do anything constructive so I ended up turning off my computer and just watching TV snuggled up with Chris. In the end we headed to bed though as we were both exhausted.

Finally it was around to Sunday and none of us had to be up but it was also the last day of half term so I wanted to make the most of my time with the girls. Chris spent majority of the day upstairs on his computer but I spent the day making sure Megan had got various homework (and blog posts) done and Lily helped me tidy and sort out clothes. We had lunch and watched Monsters Inc as it was our Disney task of the day and by the time we were finished it was late in the afternoon. The girls went for a bath and then had dinner, before sorting out their room, their clothes for school and eventually getting them to bed. Chris and I spent the evening watching TV before eventually heading to bed.

It’s been a good week and I’m actually sad that half term is over. However there’s definitely something to be said about the routine of a school week and time flying by. There is now just over 5 weeks till we go to Florida and I can’t believe how fast its all going. I have so much to do still but at the same time I can’t wait!

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: Amy, Big Hero 6, Chris, cinema, Disney, Hot Topic, Lily, Lily's birthday, meadowhall, Megan, Olivia, pancakes, pippa, prezzo, Sheffield, shopping

Week 8 – Monday Round-up

February 24, 2014 by Bel 1 Comment

It’s that time again, where I round up the whole of my week! I’m going to keep it quick though as I have a million and one things to do tonight!

My week this week, has been a week off work and for the most part it has been heaven. Last Sunday saw the girls’ dad pick them up and have them overnight, leaving me a Monday to myself as Chris was at work. Sadly I spent the whole day feeling ill, even resorting back to bed by the afternoon. It was a complete waste of a day though I have to admit I’d pick that over a day at work feeling that awful. Tuesday I was supposed to pick the girls up from their dad’s, but since I wasn’t feeling good still, my mum offered to get them and I gratefully accepted. Luckily I started to feel better during the day, which was good as I had a cake to make.

At 5pm the girls and I picked Chris up from work and headed over to my mums. It was my sister’s birthday party and so we all got together for a small birthday celebration. Afterwards we headed home and happily I was feeling much better by then.

Wednesday rolled around and my best friend Amy arrived around midday. We spent majority of the day chatting and catching up, while also taking Megan over to stay with her best friend overnight. When we got back to Gainsborough, we nipped into town to let Lily buy a face mask and some nail polish for her pamper evening that night (my way of making sure she didn’t miss Megan too much).

Lily had a chocolate facemask which minutes after putting on, she was desperate to take off. I also painted her nails pink and added these strange ball nail decorations which we’d bought in town. To make her feel extra special, Chris even made her, her own quiche for dinner.

Thursday we did a Spy Trail, which I blogged about here. It took up pretty much the whole day, but in the evening Amy, Chris and I sat down with a couple of bottles of wine and watched The Bachelorette. FYI I wouldn’t recommend the movie. A good cast but a week plot, poorly executed. Give it a watch if you’re bored, but don’t expect much from it!

Friday was very much a chill out day. Knowing Amy was heading home later that day, we didn’t plan to do anything. Chris was also at work from midday so it was nice just to sit around and relax. Amy and I did manage to pop into town again to grab a few bits for Lily’s birthday, so it wasn’t a total waste of a day. Amy headed home around 4pm and I discovered a new cake supply shop that I never knew existed!

By Saturday I was realising just how fast the week off had gone by. I was torn between taking the girls to see the new Tinkerbell movie and going to my first ever Blogger Meet! The Blog Meet won out but I took the girls with me so as not to feel too guilty for ditching them. We all had fun and the girls especially liked the trip to the Disney Store after the meet. I treated them (and me) to a mug each, for being so good!

Sunday, Chris was off work which I hadn’t realised and was a nice surprise. Again we didn’t really do much but it was good to all spend time together as a family, watch some TV, read some books and play some games.

For a week off, it went incredibly fast and while we didn’t do all that much, it felt pretty busy. Sadly its all back to work and back to school now, but only another 5 and a bit weeks until I’m off again, this time for almost 3 weeks!

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: Amy, busy week, cake, children, Chris, Disney, half term, kids, life, Lily, Megan, movie, pamper, pippa, school holidays, update

Hi, my name is Bel!


I’m a thirty something, mother of two, self-confessed geek!

Here on my blog you’ll find;
books I’ve read, clothes I’ve made, movies I’ve watched, cakes I’ve baked, products I’ve tried, places I’ve been, pictures I’ve taken… plus lots and lots of DISNEY!!

I’m a lifestyle blogger – covering a little of everything I love <3

Follow Me

Follow

2017 Reading Challenge

Bel has read 0 books toward her goal of 12 books.
hide
0 of 12 (0%)
view books

Find Me

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Search Me

Blog Archive

Copyright © 2018 · Arabella on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in