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Week 17 – Monday Round-up

April 27, 2015 by Bel

As you’ll have seen, my blog was all scheduled and planned while I was away on holiday, and when I got back – it all went dead! I really wasn’t expecting to be as tired as I was when we got home, then of course Lily was poorly last week and now I’ve ended up a bit under the weather myself. As such, this week’s round up should be pretty brief and I’m really looking forward to getting it out of the way and moving on to holiday updates.

Anyway! Monday was back to school for the girls but Chris was off work. It was nice to have the day without them and alone with Chris as we hadn’t had much time by ourselves. We didn’t really do an awful lot, just hung out and watched some TV. Afterwards we went to pick the girls up from school and then we all came home and chilled out some more. During the night, Lily woke up poorly and this was the start of the rest of the week off. Megan went to school as normal though, all except Thursday when she was feeling a little under the weather too.

Tuesday Chris was off work but because Lily was home sick, we couldn’t really catch up on our TV. Instead Lily and I watched TV all day and waited for Megan to be brought home by her dad. On Wednesday Lily actually felt sick and I didn’t want to drag her out so mum came to pick Megan up for school and in the end drove her home as well. Lily and I spent the day watching movies and it was actually really nice. As I mentioned Megan was off school on Thursday so that lead to a really lazy day when we didn’t even have to leave the house. I wasn’t feeling the best myself either, so I took a nap which is so unheard of these days! Mum came around in the evening as it was her birthday and we had soup with fresh rolls, followed by Tiramisu cupcakes.

Finally it was Friday and Megan went back to school but Lily was still off. I dropped Lily at my mum’s as Nat and I had already arranged to go to the cinema and we saw Avengers: Age of Ultron. The showing was at 10.30am but it took majority of the day as I picked Nat up and dropped her off. I was back at mum’s for about 2.30pm and then stayed for a cuppa before heading off with Lily to pick up Megan. We went home, had takeaway for dinner and just chilled out. Saturday was a lazy day as well (no surprise, right?) and the girls didn’t even get dressed. Megan decided she wanted to make a cheesecake though and I needed a present for Morgan so I popped out shopping briefly and then gave Megan a hand making the cake.

No doubt I’ll post the recipe here soon but it was really good cheesecake. It’s actually all gone already. Anyway that was basically our Saturday. Then Sunday was the only day with plans but even then they weren’t till afternoon. We had a lazy morning but Megan got her homework done and then after lunch we headed out. We drove to Scunthorpe to meet my brother and his family and go bowling. It was actually a really nice afternoon – just the kids bowled and we all stood around chatting. Afterwards the kids had food and all in all it was very pleasant. We headed off around 5pm and came home. Chris ordered me and him some chinese takeaway and though I spent some of the evening with the girls before they went to bed, I then spent the evening with Chris watching TV.

It’s been such a quiet and easy week but at the same time I’ve really got nothing done. This week promises to be more interesting, especially as I start a new job tomorrow.

Week 12 – Monday Round-up

March 23, 2015 by Bel

This week I have managed to make notes in a draft post so writing this round-up doesn’t seem half as daunting! Yay me! So… Monday Chris was at work early and the girls went to school. I spent majority of my day on the computer, catching up with blogging and getting ready for my scheduled posts during my April holiday. The girls didn’t have any Singing Stars this week but instead we had the dentist. I picked them up from school and we headed there, via my mum’s to brush our teeth. When we got to the Dentists it was straight in and out pretty much and so I called Chris to see if he wanted to meet for Burger King and then have a lift home. On the way to pick him up I got a flat tyre and with no wheel wrench and no jack I was pretty screwed. I called my insurance/breakdown recovery, only to find out I didn’t have any so by the time Chris got to me, I sent him to find a wheel wrench and jack to get us sorted. Eventually we managed to get the flat tyre off and the spare on, so headed to Burger King and grabbed some food before heading home. Chris and I spent the evening watching TV, while I blogged and then we also watched The Walking Dead.

On Tuesday morning I was tasked with returning the jack we had borrowed (we bought the wheel wrench) and so I dropped off the kids and then took the jack back. I headed to Tanvic to get my tyres sorted and while they were being done I headed into town. Whilst in Primark, the Be Our Guest breakfast reservations became available and so Amy and I had a few moments of madness while we tried to organise that. The tyre place rang to say that they didn’t actually have my tyre in stock but could order it and I could go back the next day. Unfortunately my car was already booked in the garage for the next day so instead I said I’d take it back Thursday. I headed home for a while and chilled while watching TV and getting some more blogging done. I was feeling a bit blah and so when Chris arrived home he ordered us pizza and chips and we vegged out while waiting for the girls to get home. They arrived back around 7pm and Lily went straight to bed, while Megan was still up when Jon and my brother Chris arrived. However Megs went to bed fairly soon and we all sat down at the dining table to play board games – this was Chris’ birthday party. The first game we played was called “Cash ‘n’ Guns and it was fantastic. Really simple and easy to play, fairly quick for each round and hilariously funny. We ended up playing it three times and genuinely I loved it.

After Cash n Guns, we played a Walking Dead board game that Chris got last year for his birthday and we never got around to playing. Sadly it was pretty crap and so I don’t imagine we’ll be playing that again! Such a shame too as the simpler (and cheaper) Walking Dead card game that he also got last year was actually pretty good. The boys finished off with a few rounds of Inn Fighting, a dice and card game that didn’t really interest me. I moved through to the lounge and waited for everyone to leave, heading to bed when they did.

On Wednesday I dropped the girls off at school and then took my car to the garage, where mum picked me up. We headed back to her house for the day and watched Divergent, since she’s just recently read the book series. Mum went out over lunch so I wrote some blog posts and got myself some food. Megan ended up coming home with mum from school as she was feeling unwell. At the end of school time, mum gave me a lift down to get my car and then she collected Lily from school and took her home. I went to school myself but it was Parent’s Evening so I hung around and waited for my appointment. Both girls are doing really well which I was incredibly pleased to hear and this was by far Lily’s best parent’s evening to date as well. I drove back to mum’s to pick up the girls and then we headed back home and the girls went to bed. I made myself some dinner and watched TV, while I waited for Chris to come home from work. Afterwards he was home we watched some Kitchen Nightmares before heading to bed.

Some of Lily’s class work that I took a picture of at Parent’s Evening

On Thursday I headed out to take the girls to school but met my mum midway who actually took Megan off me and took her to Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar. Megan was participating in a Maths competition that morning and my mum had volunteered to provide lifts. After dropping Lily off at school it was back to Tanvic to get my tyres done but this time instead of heading into town I just sat and waited. My tyres were done by about 10am and so I headed to Tesco and got some shopping done before heading home. The majority of the day was spent tidying the house and then afterwards I went to get the girls from school. Megan had done really well in the Maths competition and her team had come first, beating all the other schools that had taken part! I was so incredibly proud of her. When we got back we had three Disney tasks to fit in – one from the day before (dress up Disney), one from that day (make or draw Disney) and one from the previous week (watch The Lion King). It was sort of hectic but we got dinner and then managed to fit it all in. I even made Chris a Cornflake Tart (his request, instead of a birthday cake). Once Lily was in bed, Megan and I wrapped Chris’ presents, as well as two for my nephews as it was their birthday party at the weekend. Megan then headed to bed and I worked some more on my blog. When Chris got home he had some of his cornflake tart and we both had a glass of wine. We headed to bed around 11pm as we were both too tired to stick it out till midnight.

When we woke up on Friday morning, it was of course Chris’ birthday. The girls came into our room and we opened presents and cards in bed. After that we all had to get ready as usual as the girls still had school and we were even going that morning too. Megan was in Shine Assembly and she got a certificate for her work. She was also in Assembly for the Maths competition the day before, where they all got certificates for coming first. As assembly ended the Eclipse was happening and so Year 5 and 6 were going into the Playground to watch it. Mum asked if we could stay and watch from there and so we did.

After leaving school we headed to the garage as there had been a car there on Wednesday that might have been suitable for Chris. However it was sold already so that was that! Chris and I headed into town and got McDonalds breakfast for his birthday treat. He then went to work for 11am and I headed into town. I really only went to Primark as the time before I’d ended up dumping all my stuff without paying for it (don’t ask!). I bought a few things for holiday and then headed back to my car. I went home for a few hours and then turned out again to get the girls. When we got back from school they had dinner and we watched The Incredibles. After that they went to bed and I blogged while waiting for Chris to come home. When he was back he had more cornflake tart and this time I made him some custard to go with it! We headed to bed around 11pm as I was feeling pretty tired.

On Saturday Chris let me have a bit of a lie-in and so when I got up it was nearly 10am. His dad called around for a while and so to let them talk, the girls and I started to properly pack their suitcases and check off their lists. After Chris’ dad was gone we all headed downstairs and then girls help me set the table and cook brunch (though more like lunch) for us all. I’d originally promised Chris a fried breakfast for his birthday but because we’d gone to Assembly it hadn’t been possible and this was to make up for it. After food we were all stuffed and it was hard to find the energy to do anything. However I worked on some sewing projects, cutting out pieces and doing as much as I could with the fabric I had. The Disney task was to cook Disney food and so we put Baymax faces on marshmallows and toasted them. It was simple but fun and nice to do something a little different for a change. In the early evening we all settled down to watch Cars and we ordered takeaway (another treat for Chris’ birthday). Once it was finished and the girls were in bed, Chris and I took turns to have a bath and then I worked on Lily’s latest dress bodice until we headed to bed.

Sunday came and went far too fast! Lily woke us early and Chris was in a fairly foul temper all day. I tried to ride it out but for the most part I just kept the girls out of his way so as not to annoy him more! At 10am I popped out to Boyes as I needed some material and when I got back I worked on my sewing. At 11.30am we headed out to Scunthorpe and to my brother’s house, as it was his twin boys birthday party and we were invited. After arriving at around 12.15pm, we stayed for a couple of hours and left at around 2.30pm. It was a lovely time and it was so nice to see my nephews after quite some time. When we got home, I went back to my sewing projects. The girls ended up sitting with me and making dolls clothes which was harder than they expected but very cute. We spent hours in the dining room, eventually making dinner and all sitting in there to eat it as well. Afterwards Lily went to bed and I started working on some blog stuff for Twice the Mum – sorting out some books and movies for our From Page to Screen feature. Once that was done I made a start on some actually sewing on my sewing machine but it didn’t feel like I got much done before eventually heading to bed!

It’s been a funny sort of a week, that’s felt incredibly busy. I can’t wait till the girls have finished this one last week of school so I can just concentrate on getting ready for Florida!

Week 45 – Monday Round-up

November 10, 2014 by Bel

Back to work and back to being miserable! That pretty much sums up last week. Luckily that’s a bit melodramatic, but you get the idea…

Monday to Friday was work and school for all of us. It was the first week back after a few weeks off too, which is always the worst. Work is still up and down as always, except since the chef left at the end of last term, we now have an agency chef – which brings with it, several pros and cons! Anyway, work was meh some days and okay the others.

In all honesty, I don’t remember a lot of what happened this week. I remember that Monday I felt pretty miserable and that it was work related, but otherwise I have no idea what I did in the evening – other than I probably watched TV with Chris and/or wrote blog posts. The girls had Singing Stars after school, that’s pretty much all I know! Tuesday I know the kids were with their dad after school so Chris and I spent time together. Again, sadly I don’t really remember much more. I think I had a blog catch up night though! Wednesday I know Chris was working and the girls and I were at home relaxing. In the evening I had a Lush bath and it was heaven. I tried out loads of new products – all of which I’ll be reviewing on my blog soon.

Thursday Chris was working again and the girls were home so we just chilled out. In the evening, Nat came around and the evening flew by way faster than expected. Amy also sent me a box of Lush which was much appreciated, especially as it had all my favourite things in it! When Chris came home, it was his last shift of his current job. Next week he starts a new job at BT and I think he’s looking forward to it.

Saturday I’d agreed to help my brother move house so Chris and I dropped off the girls at my mum’s at 8.45am and then drove to the storage container to unload all the stuff my brother and his girlfriend wanted. It started to rain midway through and we all got soaked but really it was just the beginning of how the rest of the day would be! We drove to our house and swapped dinning tables, then my brother’s new house to drop stuff off. We went for dinner at Subway (my brother’s treat) and then back to his old house to collect more big furniture. We then headed to his new house one last time to unload everything, before Chris and I headed off. Luckily we weren’t responsible for moving everything, just the large pieces of furntiture. It didn’t take too long and I did catch a few amusing pictures while Chris hoisted my brother up so he could look in the loft!

After dropping off the van, Chris and I headed to mum’s to spend some time with the girls before they were going to their dad’s. I was incredibly tired and really just wanted to go home, but I also wanted to spend some time with Megan and Lily. It was about 6pm when their dad came for them and Chris and I headed straight home. He ordered takeaway and we sat down with a bottle of wine and Indian, to enjoy our evening. We caught up on “The Flash” and “Arrow” but midway through an episode I started to drop off so Chris suggested it was time for bed. It was only 9.30pm and it went so against the grain to go that early, but I agreed, knowing I needed it.

In the morning, we didn’t have much of a lay-in but it was no surprise given what time we went to bed. However we had a nice relaxing morning and just took it easy. I spent majority of the morning planning the next two party’s food and then went to Tesco to pick up a few essentials. In the afternoon Chris and I put up a huge mural on our bedroom wall and then I sorted out all of the Christmas presents I’d already bought and still need to. The girls got home at 3pm and I then hung out with them, caught up on the X Factor and just enjoyed time with them, all before they went to bed. Once Lily was asleep, Chris, Megan and I watched the Finale of “Next Great Baker” and we were pleased with the results. Once Megan was in bed too, Chris and I watched loads more Arrow until we tired enough to go to sleep.

This is the basic round up of my week, but what I do feel like overall is that November is not turning out to be as good as October. I wrote about my dieting issues over at Twice the Mum, but it goes deeper than that really. All the organising, all the motivation, all the blog plans I had during October have stopped now I’m into November. I feel like work, my emotions, everything is effecting my mood and how things are feeling now. I don’t quite know how to get back to the place I was in, but I know I want to.

Week 43 – Monday Round-up (a little late)

October 28, 2014 by Bel

All in all, its been a fab week. I honestly can’t believe how fast the week has gone though and sadly I’m left with only one more week of holiday left. However, rather than dwell on that, I’m going to tell you about the fun that this week has been!

Monday to Thursday, the kids were still at school and Chris was at work. I however, was OFF WORK all week. On Monday morning, Chris wasn’t at work so I left him in bed while I got up and took the girls to school. I headed straight back but by the time I was home, Chris was already up and watching daytime TV. We sat together for a while but then he headed upstairs to his computer and I just sat on my laptop, watching lots of terrible TV – mostly “Say Yes to the Dress”. I made chicken korma for Chris’ lunch, but also so it was ready for me and the girls to have for dinner. Chris then left for work at around 1pm and I continued on with my day of total relaxation, whilst procrastinating terribly about a job application I had to fill in. I headed out to pick the girls up from school around 3.45pm and after picking them up from their Singing Stars, I popped to meet my brother at the garage, to look at a new car he was thinking of getting. Biggest news of the day was that Lily finally lost a tooth which has been wobbly for ages. She looks so funny though bless her.

After that the girls and I headed home and got some dinner. Lily read her reading book, Megan went on the DS to practice her Brain Training and then I went back to watching “Say Yes to the Dress” (haha, I know… sad isn’t it?). Once Lily was in bed I finally got my butt into gear and worked on my CV. Mum had left me loads of notes and changes she thought I should make, so I ploughed my way through that before starting on my cover letter. It took the majority of the evening, being almost midnight by the time I completely finished, but I have to admit I was pretty pleased with it when I was done. Chris had arrived home just before 11pm and had sat playing his Xbox in order to let me finish what I was doing. We headed to bed just before midnight and then as the clock struck 12, wished each other a “Happy Anniversary” before getting some sleep.

Tuesday was another great day. It started off by receiving a letter from my Mum who said she liked my CV and cover letter. She passed comment that she would hire me even without an interview and that was nice to hear. I then got up to find that Chris had left me a card – it was our 2 year anniversary of getting together and I was very touched by the sentiment of what he wrote inside, plus the humour of the card itself.

I then took the girls to school and headed off to my mum’s house as she’d asked me to put some bread in the freezer. I think possibly she’s going crazy as there was no bread insight so either she imagined even having it, or she’d put it in the freezer herself before going away! After that I nipped to Tesco for Petrol and Asda to collect a parcel. I popped in to see Chris too and stayed with him for about twenty minutes. Eventually I headed home and ran a bath. I added Lush to make it extra special! I then made myself a cup of tea and climbed into the bath for a long soak. Finally I headed upstairs to get changed and risked trying on a pair of size 14 jeans. They were snug but they fitted properly and I was so incredibly chuffed!

I headed back downstairs and spent the next few hours sorting out tickets for the cinema, writing up another blog post, replying to emails and so on. Chris was due home around 2pm and then we were heading straight out. When he got back, he got changed and then we headed back to Lincoln. We parked in Lucy Tower and headed into the Odeon, with tickets to see The Maze Runner. I’m sure I’ll actually write a review at some point but it was really great and much better than I had even expected. After the cinema we walked a little way down the round to the Handmade Burger Company and had dinner there.

The food was amazing and as always it was nice to get out with just Chris for a while. We weren’t long eating dinner though as I’d offered to pick the girls up from their dad on the way home so we called in at Saxilby and got them. When we were home and the girls were in bed, I settled down to finish off my job application form, knowing it needed to be in the next day. Sadly it all went a bit pear-shaped and instead of it being a thirty minute job, it ended being a two hour one. Chris and I had been supposed to spend the evening watching TV but in the end Chris was too tired by the time I finished so we just headed to bed.

Wednesday started off quite busy. Lily was having a superhero day at school so we had to get her ready for that. Megan was going to a party after school so we had to make sure we had everything together for that too. As we dashed out of the front door, I luckily remembered my job application and we all headed off to school. After dropping the kids off at their classrooms I headed to the office to drop off my form. I genuinely felt a lot lighter after it was done. I headed back home and waited for Nat, who was coming over for the day to work on some stuff we had planned. We had a very productive day, stopping only to get some lunch from Morrisons and then later in the afternoon when a cake delivery arrived.

We both headed off to get the kids around 3pm and although I was only picking up Lily, I met up with Megan too to get her changed and organised ready for the party. She headed off with a huge group of friends – to go to a recording studio and then to Pizza Hut – while Lily and I headed home. We spent a really nice evening together and then eventually at about 6pm Chris arrived too. After Lily was in bed I headed out to get Megan but unfortunately they were running late and it was 8pm before I managed to get on our way home. When we got back Megan went straight to bed and Chris and I settled down to watch The Walking Dead and Gotham, which we’d been meaning to do the night before. After that we just headed to bed, since Chris was up early again the next morning.

Thursday was another busy day, again spent completely with Nat as we worked on stuff together. I’d picked her up because of her having no car which meant we needed to leave enough time for me dropping her off again when we left for school. After dropping Nat off I headed to school to pick up Lily but I wasn’t getting Megan as she was going to her friend Alex’s house for dinner. Instead Lily and I headed to the storage unit to pull out a few things and also put some things in. After that we went to my mum’s to meet my brother and we waited for him there so we could go down and help him pick up his new car. Once we were all done with that, the three of us headed to Pizza Hut and had dinner. This was largely to waste time before picking up Megan but also since Megan had been the night before, it was nice to treat Lily. After we were finished with dinner we swung by Chris’ work just to say hi and then headed to Saxilby to pick Megan up. Finally we all headed home, along with my brother who was coming to spend the evening watching OUAT. Eventually he went home and Chris arrived back from work. We headed to bed almost straight away though as we were pretty tired.

Friday was the beginning of our long weekend away and as I’m going to post about it separately, I’m not going to add it here. Not only that, but this post is already much longer than my weekly round-ups usually are, largely owing to the fact I actually did stuff, with not being a work. Keep an eye out for my weekend round-up, coming soon!