Journeys Are My Diary

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Looking back on 2017 – A Year in Review

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I was looking through my Facebook feed in search of something that happened earlier in 2017, only to be reminded of some pretty great things that had happened, that I’d completely forgotten about. I decided I would go back to the beginning and make a note of everything great we did, so I can look back more easily and remember.

We started New Year, as always, with the kids staying up till midnight and toasting in the New Year. We all obviously headed to bed then and New Year’s Day was spent as a family, having mum and my brother’s family around for lunch. Chris wrote his car off on the way to work one morning which resulted in a new car hunt. Chris and I had a day out seeing Rogue One and Yo Yo’s for lunch (plus looking for a car), then a day having breakfast and a milkshake at Meat Inc. (while looking for a car). Megan has a boyfriend (Daniel) throughout the month and I met his family, plus took him out to the cinema and for dinner. Megan also had her first Parent’s Evening at Secondary School and it was fantastic. We took a very brief trip to DLP towards the end of January, to celebrate Liv’s birthday, but Chris couldn’t come as he was working. I smashed my car at the airport which resulted in a very long and very expensive trip home.

Megan drew a picture of Sleeping Beauty’s castle and then digitalised it. I thought it came out amazing.

February saw Lily chop all her long hair off, into a cute little shoulder length bob. It was a total shocker but I thought she looked awesome. We went to the cinema to see Sing and not long after that, Lego Batman Movie. The Batman movie was part of our Valentine’s Day celebrations where we traditionally each buy a gift for the other three, then go out for dinner and a movie. We had Burger King as Chris had been working and we were in a rush on the way to the cinema. Chris and I also had a mini celebration of our own the day before Valentine’s, with an M&S meal.

March saw World Book Day and Lily dressed as Dr Harleen Quinzell. She loves to be a version of Harley wherever possible. Megan also split up with her boyfriend and I introduced her and Lily to retail therapy after a heart break! March was Lily’s 9th birthday and also Chris’ 33rd. For Lily’s birthday we went out to Pizza Hut for dinner, with family and some of her friends. We also had an offer on the house, which in turn did become actually selling the house, though we held our breath for months. I went on Lily’s school trip to Cadbury World and our SOLD sign went up on the house. For Chris’ birthday we went out for dinner to Frankie and Benny’s, then did an Escape the Room with friends. We had a great time for our first experience. Lily got given the part of the Pharaoh in Joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat at school and she was chuffed to bits. I made the costume for both her and Joseph to wear. It was Mother’s Day (we went to Meat Inc.) and Lily’s school play and we started to look for houses to rent. March saw Lily getting words in her Church service and also in her Class Assembly. We went to see Beauty and the Beast live action, somewhere in the middle too though I honestly have no recollection of the date or even an entry on social media to look back on!

April was Easter Holidays and almost as soon as they kicked in, we got sick as a household. Lily and Megan got hit first, then me and as we were gradually getting better, Chris got ill too. We spent almost the full two weeks of holiday feeling rough and Chris and I slept in separate rooms for almost four weeks. Lily spent all of her Christmas and Birthday Amazon vouchers in one go, over £100 worth, completely buying Lego. We had fun putting it altogether though.  We looked back and reminisced on and off, about how our Florida trip was 2 years previously. After finally starting to feel a bit better, the kids and I went to the cinema to see Boss Baby. It was funny and exactly what we needed after being cooped up in the house for almost two weeks. In mid April, we went to see Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat in Skegness, with Joe McElderry in it. Lily loved it so much after being in a production herself, I treated her to the CD as a souvenir and we ended up playing it every car journey from then on. We celebrated Easter at Mum’s, as a full family. We played a board game of Beat the Parents and adults totally kicked the ass of the kids.

Megan did a readathon via school and managed 6 books. I don’t think she’s read as many before or since then but she made about £40 for charity. Chris and I had a huge amount of paperwork to fill in for selling the house and almost lost our minds over figuring out where the soakaway was! Nat and I made our first attempt at getting Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets and failed miserably. Lily went away on her residential trip – she loved it and I hated having her away three days. One of the last things we did in April was attend a Storybrooke convention in Blackpool, with Nat. We stayed in a fairly grotty B&B but had a lovely time – the girls enjoyed collecting autographs and meeting some stars.

May was when we finally started making appointments to view some rented properties. We hadn’t dared before that for fear of the house sale falling through. However we were still left hanging the whole of May, not knowing if we were moving or not. It was really quite stressful in the end. Megan made a cake in Home Ec at school but ended up so disappointed with it that we had to re-jig it when she got home. It looked pretty awesome in the end and tasted fine too. This was given to me as a birthday cake. Took a day trip down to London and met Amy there, were we had Tale as Old as Time afternoon tea. Despite being expensive, didn’t like half the food etc. the experience felt pretty darn amazing and will remain a good memory for many years to come! Went down to London again for my birthday. We stayed in a Travelodge, went to Comic Con and met Amy and Liv there, then went out for Ask in the evening, followed by another night at Travelodge and then Harry Potter Studios on my birthday itself. We stopped at Damons on the way home which was an extra treat but – Yuck, 38!

June saw the 20th Anniversary of the first Harry Potter book and as such I bought myself and the girls some special editions. Lily managed a full length of the pool at swimming. I had my first Eskimoo. The girls and I went out to vote for Labour, but sadly in the scheme of things it didn’t make much difference. Lily was in Shine assembly. We finally found out what date we would be moving, selling, signing contracts etc. We got the keys to the new house on June 14th, then moved on June 17th. We were sold as off the 22nd. Found a multitude of missing items, when moving and unpacking. There was Lily’s lost iPod, my sewing machine foot, Megan’s watch, Megan’s headphones and the Xbox remote. Chris and I shared our last meal on the floor at 2 Ruskin Street, after spending the evening cleaning. We had Indian from our favourite takeaway there.

a picture Megan took at Hartsholme Park

In July we were still unpacking and settling in. I found a bunch of old compilation CDs and spent days listening to them all the way through on the car journeys. My friend Adam came to visit, which was the first time all year and of course to the new house. While he was here, we ordered Dominos just for dessert and pigged out on Chocolate Pizza for the first time, along with amazing cookies. Went to Geekabilia in Lincoln, a very small comic con compared to what we usually go to, but Megan won a brand new 3DS and a Pokemon game. After much persuasion she kept the console for herself and gave the game to Lily (she wanted to give her both!). Game of Thrones began again, which resulted in mum coming over every week on a Monday to watch with us. We had takeaway pretty much every week which was nice too. I got asked to join a Blogger Board Game club. This has since resulted in us playing Ticket to Ride: First Journey, Cortex and Carcassonne. The kids broke up from school and we headed out to watch Despicable Me at the cinema. We also tried Chimichanga’s for the first time. We took a walk in Hartsholme Park after dinner and it was a really nice day. Amy and Liv came to visit for a few days and it rained pretty much constantly. Took a crazy quick break down to London, all to go to Comic Con and meet Wil Wheaton. We stayed at a Travelodge after traveling down late after Chris’ work, then spent the day at Comic Con and meeting Wil, before driving home. It was crazy but fun.

August was all summer holidays and largely we did nothing! There was one day when we completed a jigsaw and another when Lily tried to learn how to ride her bike. The gardener came around and smashed some of our windows, but he came a few days later to fix them! Megan and I spent the day at Meadowhall, had food from Ed’s Diner but weren’t really impressed. Lily visited the opticians and needed glasses, Megan got an update on her presciption but that also lead to new glasses. We went camping down to Chichester, to see the girls’ grandparent’s. Despite being a long way, we always enjoy the few days away camping. We called at Uxbridge on the way home, did some shopping and also grabbed Five Guys! Celebrated 2 Years of owning Closet Geek. Honestly can’t believe how much time has flown by. Lily cracked riding her bike, on only her second time trying – all thanks to Chris’ patience. We went out to Frankie and Benny’s to celebrate. We went to Bradford for the day, to the National Science and Media museum – the kids seemed to enjoy it but it wasn’t what I had remembered from childhood. The girls had a friend each around and I took them all to the Maize Maze. Lily’s friend stayed just for the day and Megan’s stayed overnight.

Chichester

Just before school restarted, a few days into September, we had our first BBQ of the summer and it was very impromptu. The girls went back to school, first Lily and then Megan. We had our first house inspection at the new house. Megan got voted Form Rep for the first time ever and she was really chuffed. Lily and I attempted to get Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets, for a second time. We were much more prepared this time and managed to successfully get not one but three lots of tickets for everyone we knew who wanted them. Megan started TRSPA which costs me almost £200 a term but gives her three hours of drama, dance and singing every week. She genuinely seems to enjoy it. Great British Bake Off was on TV and Chris and I bought something to do with the theme each week to eat, so we didn’t crave it whilst watching. The new series of Star Trek began on Netflix and we started watching that too. Plans were made for a major USA holiday, but nothing was officially booked. There was A LOT of planning though.

A new IKEA opened in October, near Meadowhall in Sheffield. We visited within a few days of it opening but got evacuated before we could check out. The following day, Chris and I went to Nottingham IKEA, had breakfast and bought the things we had originally had in our basket at Sheffield – including meatballs! Found out Denny’s was opening in the UK but only in Swansea to begin with. That might be a future trip in the making. Found out a Flying Tiger was opening in Lincoln – got a little overexcited as we loved the one we discovered in Watford for my birthday. Went to see “The Band” in Sheffield, which was mum’s birthday present. The show was so much better than I was expecting (not that I was expecting it to be bad) and I cried far too much. Lily had a Greek Day at school and we got to reuse her Pharaoh costume for a Greek Goddess – win. Chris and I celebrated 5 years of being together. He bought me a beautiful Beast Danielle Nicole bag which I’ve had my eye on ever since I saw it. We had breakfast at Damons, then spent the rest of the day getting ready to go on holiday. We went to Jersey for a week, as a family and with mum. It was fairly cold and sometimes even miserable but we had a nice time and took loads of pictures. On seeing  strenuous effort of 600 – toronto food photographer , Lily got a real love for photography while we were there. By some miracle I managed to update my blog daily while on holiday, up until the last day. During the Jersey holiday, mum and I started to make bookings for our USA holiday in 2018. After the holiday, Megan went back to school a day before Lily and so Lily and I took a crazy trip down to London, saw the Primark store that was all done out with Harry Potter theme, the Disney Store and then back home again in time for Megan finishing school.

November came around and Christmas season began whether we wanted it to or not. We had our first Christmas Costa and Christmas Starbucks within days of each other. After going to Jersey and starting to feel fat, I tried to eat a bit better and lose some weight. I managed a few pounds but I’m sure they were gained again in the scheme of Christmas. I’m yet to brave the scales again. We went to the Christmas light switch on, back in Gainsborough, even though we live in Lincoln now. We made Christmas pudding at mum’s house, had a stir each and made a wish. Lily was in her class assembly and we worked on her school project for most of the month. Megan had her second Secondary School parent’s evening and it was just as good as the previous one. I updated my phone to an iPhone 8 Plus. I love my new phone. Mum treated us to a meal at the new Greek restaurant at Burton Waters. It was absolutely amazing and I realised I like aubergine. I don’t know if I’ll be brave enough to cook it at home though.

Lily had her whole school share, which featured a homework exhibition of their Greek Projects. I thought Lily’s looked great and she got a lot of nice comments. The girls got advent calendars – Megan’s was a make up one and Lily’s was mostly stationery, gadgets etc. Lily made a YouTube video every day and posted it to Double the Geek. Together with mum, the girls also got me an advent calendar this year. It was liquorice and I have to admit it was definitely an interesting experience each day. We went to Doddington Hall and bought our first real Christmas tree. In hindsight we probably got it too early as the pine needles were everywhere come Boxing Day and I ended up taking down the tree then (I left up the other decorations though). We also bought too big of a tree and had to re-house a bookcase, to fit the tree in the dining room. We also visited the Food and Gift fair at Lincolnshire Showground. We all really enjoyed it and ate way too much. It was lucky we visited though, as it had a lot of the same stalls from Lincoln Christmas Market and that got cancelled for the Sunday this year, which is the day we had planned to go. Chris and I went out for dinner at the Swanholme Pub and had a really nice dinner. I started watching Christmas movies and think I got to about 15 by the end of the year. Lily managed her 100 metres swimming badge at school and I was so proud of her as swimming has always been daunting to her.

Megan’s birthday celebrations seem to take up 3-4 days. She had some friends for a sleepover, then the following day was collected by a limo, to pick up some other friends too and then take everyone to bowling. After bowling there was Pizza Hut for lunch and though we had originally hoped to go to Christmas Market (it got cancelled, as mentioned), an evening of opening gifts. The following day, which was her actual birthday, was spent mostly at school but then a family dinner at Damons, which made a nice change from Pizza Hut as in previous years. Once the kids broke up from school, we went to Meadowhall and all got our hair cut as a Christmas treat. We then spent a few days preparing for Christmas, before it was upon us. We spent Christmas morning at home, before going to Mum’s for lunch, then seeing the girls’ dad briefly and home (with the girls for a change). The following day we went to see Chris’ dad and nan and a few days after that we had an extended family lunch at my Auntie’s house with all my cousins and their kids. Finally we spent New Year’s Eve at home, waiting for Chris to get back from work before having a Roast Pork dinner. We then played board games (Competition Kitchen and Code Names) before watching the first Lord of the Rings movie. We saw in midnight with some fizz and the fireworks on BBC1. We then had ten minutes of LOTRs to watch before we all headed to bed.

All in all its been a pretty fab 2017 and I’m going into 2018 feeling very hopeful that it will continue to be great.

Movies at the Cinema:
Star Wars: Rogue One
A Monster Calls
Sing
The Lego Batman Movie
Live Action: Beauty and the Beast
Boss Baby
Despicable Me

Looking back on 2017 – Resolutions

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The first thing I want to reflect on is the “resolutions” I made for 2017. I made a post here that outlined what I hoped to achieve, so I figured I’d start with seeing how I got on.

Of the resolutions I vowed to definitely do, I managed three of the four. Getting down my finances, working hard on Closet Geek and spending time enjoying family life. Since moving house in June (which is another tick on the list), I have generally felt so much happier in life and working hard but spending time with family has seemed even easier since then. Finances have drastically improved, though there is still a long way to go. Sadly Christmas pushed me to the limits on some of my credit cards but I’m several other accounts down altogether.

Of the resolutions I said I would like to do, I pretty much managed both. We sold the house to a company buying properties in new jersey and moved which was one of them, then booking a holiday abroad was the other. Though we technically went for a week to Jersey (which is abroad, but also not really) it didn’t really feel like abroad. Luckily though we have booked something for 2018 which I can’t wait to share my plans for!

Finally I had some ideas for things I would try to do, but were really only lifestyle improvements. There was getting things done and not putting off till tomorrow, there was going swimming and there was spending more time with friends. On some ocassions I definitely succeeded with theses, but on others I know I failed. I hope to try a lot harder this year with some of the points but perhaps with others its best just left as is.

Though I don’t want to dwell on the things I didn’t manage to do, weight loss was a big no (though I did try at times) and posting on my blog personally, wasn’t as often as I liked. I hope to work on some new resolutions for this coming year and I will update once I’ve figured them out!

Preparing to go on Holiday

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Planning a holiday is one of my absolute favourite things to do and right now I’m planning what I hope will be the holiday of a lifetime. I’m very lucky to be able to say, we do go away quite often. It’s not always for very long or even very far, but a few times a year we get away as a family. This year we have been away to Blackpool, Chichester, London and Paris. Later this month we’re going to Jersey for a week as well. Last year we managed France twice, Scarborough, Chichester and London – while the year before we had an amazing trip to Florida.

Packing is pretty much my least favourite part of the holiday. I love the planning; where, when, how aspects and even writing a list of what we need to take, what we need to buy before going etc. but the actual packing I just find a bane. That said, the unpacking when you get home is even worse so I suppose packing is at least better than that. As a mum of two girls, it’s important to always be prepared. We try to pack light but at the same time, I like to know we have everything we might need. Throwing in clothes is the basics, but remembering a hat and suntan lotion, or raincoats and umbrellas, those are the things I try to remember.

Before heading off on holiday, we of course take out holiday insurance. Touch wood, I have never had anything bad happen on a holiday before but I always like to make sure I’m covered. After that I think it’s important to remember you can get a free EHIC card for when travelling in Europe but you need to remember to apply at least a week or so in advance to allow time for it to arrive. After that, there is a lot of common sense involved – what things can you take from home that you might appreciate when on holiday – Capol for kids, paracetamol or ibuprofen for adults, plasters, tweezers, antiseptic wipes and cream etc. Other holiday essentials include sun hats, suncream and glasses for hot weather and warm clothes for cold (and of course the anticipation of it being the opposite to what you expect).

If you travel abroad on an airplane, its important to stay hydrated as high altitudes can make the air very dry. Unfortunately can’t help being trapped in the small space, with everyones bugs and germs, but keeping yourself hydrated can help fend off colds and flu. Walking around will also keep your blood circulated and hopefully avoid deep vein thrombosis.

Hand sanitiser and wipes are also great for holidays. You can wipe down places that you think may be more likely to carry germs and of course also for your own hands.

Eating well and also sensibly is important. For a start, drinking bottled water is always advisable while abroad. Also be careful of any food you wouldn’t normally eat and any food known to be highly likely to cause food poisoning when cooked or prepared wrong.

It goes without saying to make sure you wear a hat, sunscreen, glasses etc. when out in the heat. This will avoid sunstroke, sunburn and so on. When we were in Florida, my youngest daughter had her whole face swell up for the first few days and after that we were much more careful in the sun than we had been to begin with. Getting too hot can also lead to headaches and overheating so always be sensible with the sun. Being careful with alcohol consumption, especially in the sun, is also something to be advised. This can lead to dehydration.

Of course there are many more things you can do, but these are some of the main points. That said, you can’t always prepare for everything that might happen and sometimes you do end up ill or having an accident on holiday. At this point you should look into holiday claims by Your Legal Friend as they can help you claim for all sorts of aspects that may have ruined your holiday.

Planning well is always the best idea for a good holiday and I’m still hoping that my holidays continue to go smoothly. I can’t wait to start booking my next holiday and then of course, everything else that goes with it to make it the perfect holiday.

 

Our Summer Holidays so far!

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The kids have now been off for two full weeks (and a couple of days) so I thought I would update with what we’ve been up to so far – especially since I’m not keeping up with my monthly updates at the moment.

The school holidays couldn’t really have been off to a worse start, than a weather forecast like this ^^ However, I am grateful to work from home and so no matter what the weather, at least I get to spend time with the kids! As they broke up on the Wednesday, we had a couple of extra days that week, to fit in some fun. Thursday was one of my favourite days actually as we went to see Despicable Me 3 (which was average in my opinion), then went to Chimichanga for dinner (which we had never been to before) and finally we went to our local park – Hartsholme – for a lovely walk around the lake.

On the Friday, the girls made a video of themselves doing the Beanboozled challenge and I really must remember to upload it, plus we seemed to watch a ton of movies over the first few days including; Definitely Maybe, 10 Things I Hate About You, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Phantom of the Opera and Save the Last Dance. We also got an invite to my mum’s on Sunday for a roast dinner and that was amazing.

The following week was the first full week and for the first four days we had visitors in the form of Amy and Liv. The girls were at their dad’s on the Monday so Amy and I just spent time catching up, then in the evening Chris, Amy and I had chinese takeaway and watched Game of Thrones. The other days were mostly spent sewing, though Amy and I did manage to go fabric shopping too.

The weather was fairly rubbish all week, starting off raining and ending up sunny or vice versa. After dropping Amy and Liv at the station though, the girls and I took a trip to Norton Disney (a place we had joked about visiting for a while) and luckily the sun stayed out for some pics.

That weekend, we went to LFCC (which is London Film and Comic Con). I had been once before and really enjoyed it, but this time was a flying visit really – all so I could meet Wil Wheaton. Chris was working until 4.30pm Saturday so we headed off down to London after that and stayed at a Travelodge near Heathrow. In the morning we drove to North Ealing station, parked there and caught the train to Earl’s Court and then walked to London Olympia. Grabbing a virtual ticket for Wil Wheaton’s queue was first priority but after that we did some shopping and wandered around stalls. We ate lunch and shopped some more until finally we could meet Wil Wheaton. I had taken a blank Flux card with me for signing and had decided a CREEPER would be best. These are cards that if laid in front of you in the game, means you can’t win. Since Wil is pretty notorious for not winning on his YouTube show “Tabletop”, I thought this would be perfect. He seemed to agree and wrote “IT SUCKS TO BE YOU” and then signed it. Sadly as he was passing it back, he smudged the card but I didn’t mind as I still knew what it was. He said “Now it really sucks to be you!” which made us all laugh.

As I’m writing this post, I realise this all happened almost a week ago (it was Sunday and today is Friday) but it honestly only feels like yesterday! Anyway the next day the girls were with their dad and went to a National Park and built a den. They have a video of that too which I hope to upload soon. The rest of this week has really just been spent at home. I had a lot of work to catch up on after Amy’s visit and so the girls have really just entertained themselves on Minecraft, Slime Rancher, Theme Hospital etc. Yesterday though they started a jigsaw with my mum and once my work was done I joined in too. Then mum left and I couldn’t bear to leave the jigsaw unfinished so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening making sure it got done!

That pretty much sums up the last two weeks and I’m so glad its been a combination of lots and nothing. I always think its important to have plenty of down days during the holidays so you don’t feel completely knackered, but you also need days were you do things together, or else you end the holidays feeling like you didn’t do anything! Hopefully I’ll update again soon with whatever else we get up to!

Quick Life Update!

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I’ve been very AWOL recently, owing to selling the house, moving house, finding a new house etc. However we are now moved and settled, most boxes unpacked and I hope to be back to updating shortly. I have quite a few things I would like to get posting about, so fingers crossed I will be able to make some time. Thanks for sticking with me – hopefully normal service will resume later this week!

Harry Potter turns 20!

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Can you believe that on June 26th 2017, JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” has been publish for 20 years?! It seems no time at all, since I discovered my love for Harry Potter and his Wizarding World but despite being 38 years old this weekend and having gotten both my daughters to love Harry Potter too, I find it hard to believe that it really has been twenty years since the start of my favourite book series.

That said, I wasn’t one of the first people to jump aboard the Harry Potter band wagon. In fact, when both my mum and dad were raving about the books, I was actually wondering what the hell was going on with all these adults loving a “kids book”. It wasn’t until 1999 (Philosopher’s Stone was 1997), not long after Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published, that I finally caved to peer pressure and borrowed my parent’s copy of the first book. In typical “child” fashion, I hated to admit when my parents were right, but oh my god I loved the first book. So much so that it was read within a few days, despite working full time. Book two was then devoured within days, followed by book three. It was official, I was hooked. I was desperate for the fourth book… and I suppose that was when I truly became a Harry Potter fan.

Book Four – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was pre-ordered. When it arrived, I couldn’t wait to get reading and I literally didn’t put it down until I was done. This became the same for all the other books, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and finally The Deathly Hallows. I have never before, or since, been so hooked on a book series. And it didn’t end with just the books either. I went to see every movie that was released, if not on the very first day, within very few days of released. The Deathly Hallows Part 1 was released not long after my ex and I split up and having no one who was immediately free to go to the cinema with, I ventured for the first time by myself to see a movie – rather than wait too long and go with someone else. When the final movie was released, myself and fifteen other friends, all gathered for a party of sorts. We all went to the first midnight showing of the movie and some of us even got Deathly Hallows tattoos to remember the occasion – this was my first ever tattoo.

This week I have been to London and of course a visit to the Platform 9 3/4 shop is an essential part of that trip. Not only that, but as I mentioned earlier – I turn 38 at the end of this week and guess what I’m doing for my birthday? A trip to Watford and the Harry Potter Studios (it will be my third time!). I’m really a huge Harry Potter geek and I don’t care if I should be too old for it or whatever. I have loved Harry Potter for (almost) twenty years and I will continue to do so for at least twenty more. I have loved sharing the stories with my children and hope they will continue to share the books with their own children too. This weekend we are also attending MCM London Comic Con and they have pre-releases of the 20th Anniversary “house” editions of the Philosopher’s Stone and I’m so tempted to get one (or all of them…)! Harry Potter books are the one and only set of books I would never be parted with, over all the books I own.

As a final thought and conclusion to my post, I wanted to share this infograph, put together by Cartridge Save. It has loads of fun facts about most used words and phrases, along with how many copies have been sold and how many words are in each book etc. If you’re yet to read Harry Potter, no matter what the reason, I honestly recommend you give it a try! You have nothing to lose and a whole lot of love to gain!

Escape the Room

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Back in March it was Chris’ birthday and we never really know what to do for it as he’s one of those “I’m not really bothered” people. However I love to throw a party so I always want to try and do something. Over the time we’ve been together, we’ve had an Alice in Wonderland murder mystery, a board games night and also just going out for dinner with a group of friends. However this year we had tossed around the idea of an “Escape the Room” (sometimes called Exit Room). Having looked into it locally, to see what was available, we decided it was definitely something we could do, if enough of our friends were interested. Obviously there would be Chris and I, so that was already two and most rooms only allow for five/six people (some do go higher but it’s not common and some are even just five – which is awkward when you’re in couples!). We asked my friend Nat and her partner Dan, who Chris gets on well with, along with Chris’ friend Jon and his partner Becka. We also asked my brother and his partner, but they weren’t able to make it – which in the end turned out better with us only being able to accommodate six players. We did however decide to go out for dinner at Frankie and Benny’s beforehand and my brother (who is also Chris) and his partner Erika, came along to join us for that.

It’s then amazing how much a Bristol hen do can be elevated with a dash of adventure. An escape room experience offers the perfect balance of excitement and teamwork, which is why it’s growing in popularity. Visit the most thrilling escape room in Bristol for a hen do that promises unforgettable memories and unique bonding moments.

Before I get too ahead of myself, for those of you who are wondering “what is an escape room?” well the answer is fairly simple and pretty much as it sounds. You are placed in a room – and you need to escape. There are always varying scenarios, whereby you’re trapped, locked in etc and you need to find the way out. It’s not as simple as just finding the door, or a key etc. it’s supposed to last up to an hour and so it’s a series of clues and puzzles. Usually, the game is timed and you have 60 minutes – the concept being that you get locked in for good if you can’t escape in that time. However of course, they have to let you out so they can continue to let other people play – but it’s fun to pretend and I guess you walk away as either a winner for managing it or a loser for not managing it.

So given where we live, the best choices for us were Lincoln, Doncaster and Scunthorpe for the Escape Rooms. Lincoln however, has very “Lincoln” themed rooms – with themes like the Magna Carta, Lancaster Bomber, Time Machine (Tank related), and Lincoln Imp. None of these themes really appealed to us, so we narrowed it down to Scunthorpe and Doncaster fairly easily. Doncaster had Clueless Detective Agency, Ward 13 (Asylum), and Hostage. They have a new one called The Heist coming but that hasn’t opened yet. Scunthorpe only had two options, Sherwood and Prison. Since there wasn’t an awful lot of information or way to tell which would be best, we went for Scunthorpe as it was marginally nearer and since the Prison one had a higher difficulty rating, we went for that. In truth I think that Chris might have preferred to do Ward 13 but having never done anything like this before, I was a bit of a baby – wondering if there would be live action actors in there and then I’d get freaked out!

On the night of Chris’ birthday, after we’d had dinner, we all headed off to “Open the Door” in Scunthorpe. When we arrived, we had to read these information sheets about what we were or weren’t allowed to do, then we had to store all our coats, bags and especially phones, inside a locker. Next we had to split into two groups (though I think this was specific to this scenario). We were then blind folded and lead into the room, in the two separate groups. When we took off the blind folds, you could see why we had to break into two groups – because three of us were locked in one cell and three were locked in the other. Typically we had split into girls versus boys and I’m glad we did cos often boys annoy you when their methods are different to yours! The three of us girls worked well together too, so it all worked out.

First we had to figure out what was in the cell. There was writing on the wall, a tool box under the bed and a sink. We could also hear the boys, but not see them, as their cell was right next door to us. We could see out into the main part of the jail too – where a desk, mirror and lockers could be seen. While I don’t want to spoil the actual plot and clues for anyone who goes here, I will give you a rough idea of what we had to do – starting with the fact the boys found a torch in their sink pipe, so we thought to look in ours too and found one as well. We weren’t really against each other either, so it was nice to throw about ideas between the boys and the girls. The things on the wall lead us to believe we had to figure out some number combinations as we had two lots of combination locks in our cell. The boys had something handing from the ceiling they couldn’t reach and it turned out that one of our combination locks, opened a box that allowed a string to be lowered and they could reach the box! Anyway, we had to do multiple things in our cells, which eventually lead to finding a remote control car under the lockers out of the cell, which when driven to the cell, had keys in that meant we could unlock ourselves. Once in the main room, there were so many things we had to do, including get inside two lockers, figure out how the desk drawer unlocked, see if the telephone did anything, why the mirror was hinged etc. There was a jigsaw type puzzle, as well as some number/letter puzzles and it was really a lot of fun. In the end we made our way through to a secret room, where there was map and coordinated, a little laptop and a safe. We had so much fun and no one got mad and shouted at any point.

We made it out in 52 minutes, when the deadline is 60, so we were all pretty pleased with that. I will admit we did have a little help from the “admin” as they give you an Altech radio and occasionally point you in the right direction. For our first experience though, it was a definite thumbs up and we all agreed it was something we would love to do again. After discussing it with the kids the next day, it also sounds like something they would like to do, so we hope to do another, maybe with the girls and even my mum. All in all, I loved the idea of the puzzles and a scenario where you need to escape. It wasn’t too hard but just the right amount of adrenaline pumping, in order to get you excited. From a specific perspective, the Open the Door rooms in Scunthorpe were actually easy to miss on the street and when we had mentioned them to the waitress at Frankie and Benny’s, she didn’t even know they existed. However the service we got was fantastic and friendly, we rated them 5 stars on facebook when we got back and I would be happy to recommend their rooms to anyone. As someone who loves to throw Murder Mystery parties, I have seen they now do at home Escape the Room games and I would definitely be up for trying that too.

Have you ever done an Escape Room?

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

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Recently I’ve been finding it hard to make time for blogging. In the day time I work and due to not being fully recovered from this horrible illness, by evening my mind is a mess and there is no hope in hell for concentration. I have a list of so many things I want to catch up on, but every time I turn my laptop on, I just can’t be bothered – and that’s a horrible feeling. However, this morning we have an electrician from https://www.airnowhvac.com/electrical-services round to check our electrics – all part of completing the sale on our house. He has taken over the dining table which is where I usually work and so I’m a bit lost for what to do. Then it hit me, that I could actually use that time to go on my laptop and blog – until of course, I realised that he’d turned off multiple plug sockets, including the one the router is in! So I’m sat here, typing this into notepad, hoping that I may still find time to place it on my blog later. After all, I’m going away for a few days tomorrow and if I don’t do it today, it may never get done!


Anyway, I’ve completely side-tracked from the post I was going to make… and that was about the musical “Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat”. Theatre has always been a massive passion of mine, especially musicals but really all genres. Ever since I was old enough, I bought a programme from every show I ever saw and I still have them all to this day. Wicked and Phantom of the Opera are my favourites, having seen Wicked three times and Phantom twice. I also love Starlight Express which I have seen three times too. I won’t spend forever listing all the theatre shows I’ve seen but needless to say I was really excited to hear that Lily’s school were going to tackle Joseph for their Y3/4 play this year. When Lily was cast as the Pharaoh I was even more thrilled. In the end, I made the technicolour dreamcoat for school and Lily’s pharaoh costume. Neither were anything special but school seemed pleased with them and the play was pretty good too.

Since Lily took such an interest in the play (she watched the DVD I bought her three times, before doing the performance) and loved all the songs, I decided I would look to see if Joseph was still touring, as I knew it had been last year. Sure enough, it was doing a new tour for 2017 and Joe McElderry was still playing Joseph. Funny enough, we had nearly gone to see the play last year, because my mum likes Joe McElderry so much but in the end we had decided not to book. Anyway, there were a few options to book, one before Lily’s play and a couple afterwards. A part of us wanted to watch it before, because she felt that would help her act it better, but I also knew the school play would be nothing like the real version so instead she could just continue the enjoyment afterwards. In the end we booked for Easter Weekend in Skegness, which fell about two weeks after Lily’s play.

When we got to the theatre, I bought a programme – it was only £4. We found our seats and they were pretty great to be honest. Lily ended up almost centre of the stage, with a good clear view. The play itself was really enjoyable. Lily sang along and danced in her seat and my enjoyment definitely came from seeing her enjoy it. I have seen Joseph three times before, so this was my fourth. I’m a little sad to say, that it was probably the “poorest” version I have seen, but unfortunately you often find that with touring shows as they have to keep a budget, make it easy to travel etc. That said, the cast was great and if you forget about the fact that people play multiple characters, it wasn’t really that bad. Lily loved it and that was definitely the most important part.


Though we had traveled in my mum’s car for the most part, we had driven to my mum’s in my car and so as soon as we were back in my car – the Joseph CD went on (Lily had convinced me to buy it at the intermission) and we sang along all the way home. When we got back, Lily asked for the CD and headed to her room to keep on listening, while lying on her bed and playing on her iPad. Once the Easter holidays ended, we put the CD back in the car and now listen to it most drives to and from school. All in all, Joseph was a great success but I do hope that it becomes a West End fixture again at some point as I would love for Lily to see the full quality version.

Do you like the theatre? What’s your favourite show?

Life Lately (an April update)

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Hey everyone! You may (or may not) have noticed my substantial absence from my blog this month. To begin with, I was just busy but for the last 3 weeks (maybe even a little more), I have been so ill that I haven’t even picked up my laptop! I haven’t updated about Lily’s birthday, going to see the Live Action Beauty and the Beast movie, or the Escape The Room game that we played for Chris’ birthday. To be honest, most of March is a bit of a blur now and we’re almost half way through April too.

So I’m writing this post by way of explaining why I haven’t been around. But I’m also hoping to go back and catch up too. After posting this, I’m going to write my March round-up. I can’t promise I’ll remember much but I will give it a try! During this coming week I hope to update on Chris’ Escape the Room at least as it was such a new experience for me, but hopefully some of the other things too. Anyway I’m sorry I was gone so long but hopefully I will go back to posting at least 2-3 times a week. With moving house soon we’re going to have some life changing/exciting times and I want to make sure I document it!

Happy 9th Birthday Lily

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Just a quick update from me today and I also know I’m yet to do my February Round-up. However I couldn’t let today go by without wishing my youngest daughter Lily, a Happy Birthday. We’ve had a lovely day that’s involved opening presents, muffins for breakfast, building Lego, eating at Pizza Hut for lunch, catching up with family and then chilling out. I’m actually quite sad the day is over but I think some of that is knowing tomorrow is Monday and the school run begins again!

So once again, Happy 9th Birthday Lily. I can’t believe how much you’ve grown and what a beautiful, funny and smart girl you’re growing up to be.