GoT Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

Week 25 – Monday Round-up

June 22, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Last week I was late with this particular post and this week is no different either! Where Monday and Tuesday of last week were spent catching up on the decorating from over the weekend, this week has been spent catching up on catching up!

Monday I spent pretty much the whole day with Nat, after dropping the kids off at school. It was her youngest son Harry’s 2nd birthday and my gift to him was a mattress (a bed, a stairgate and a bedside…). Strange gift I know but basically Nat was wanting to move him into a big bed so I headed over there with a divan bed for Josh (her oldest son), which after we took the cot apart and put in the loft (oh I took a ladder too but that wasn’t for them to keep!) we moved Josh’s bed to Harry’s room, put the new mattress on it and then put the divan in Josh’s room. We put new bedding on Harry’s bed, added the bedside and also put up a stairgate. Afterwards Nat and I went to the tip and then Asda Living for a fitted sheet, all before I headed back to get the kids from school. The evening was spent trying to relax, even though there was still decorating to do. We did watch the Game of Thrones finale however *sob sob*.

On Tuesday Chris was off work so we made an effort to get our bedroom a bit straighter. We hoovered and tidied, moved furniture and most importantly put up a curtain rail so we could hang curtains and sleep back in there that night. We also wandered into town for a few hours to buy shelves and new curtains. We spent the afternoon finishing everything off and finally moving back into our room. It isn’t finished sadly (even now as I write this a week on) but it’s getting there slowly. I have had a lot to do since last Tuesday though so I haven’t done anything further on it.

In the evening we moved the wardrobe forward (which is so heavy we had to empty it all out first) so I could paint the last wall. Since it was so heavy and all the stuff out of it made such a mess (and I didn’t want to put it back in, only to take it out again), I spent the whole evening giving the wall five coats of paint, one every half an hour. Chris and I then moved the wardrobe back, had a sort through our clothes and then crawled into bed!

On Wednesday I had a catch up blog day. I was so behind on posts I was supposed to write that it took me all day to catch up and I still wasn’t done. However I did manage to write about five for my own blog and two for TTM. Thursday started off with a breakfast from Morrisons as I offered to give Chris a lift to work and he treated me. When I got back home though I properly cracked on with a murder mystery I’ve been writing – a sort of gift for my friend’s birthday at the end of this current week. I made some progress but it all seemed very slow. I also accidentally loaded $100 into my Fiverr account which was a slap on the forehead moment. I worked all day and into the evening on the Murder Mystery but didn’t get all that far.

Friday was another day working on the Murder Mystery but it ended up more of a blog/internet day. I still felt so behind on everything I needed to do so I spent most of my time getting organised, but the evening spent on the murder mystery again. After that, my whole weekend was swallowed by the murder mystery and I’m not even kidding. I spent all day Saturday and all day Sunday, breaking only briefly to make tea, feed the kids, put some washing on etc. It genuinely felt like I was getting somewhere the whole time but in the same token it seemed like I had loads left to do.

In the end I could feel myself getting annoyed and snappy so I took Sunday evening off. I watched some TV and then decided to turn that off even and read a book. I read two short stories and then started on the second book in a series I’ve been reading and enjoying. I will write a review shortly of the first book – Sanctum (Guards of the Shadowlands, #1).

Other than that, I won’t get into my Monday and Tuesday so far but needless to say they’ve been busy again. Right now I have emails to go through and some housey bits to get done, but I’m hoping to actually see my sewing machine this evening – fingers crossed!

My Top 5 TV Dads

June 9, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Father’s Day is always a somber sort of time for me. My dad passed away over 10 years ago and since my husband and I separated, the girls don’t see their dad on Father’s Day either. As such, when I found out Curry’s PC World were hosting a competition about people’s top five tv dads, I decided it would be a great thing to do, to give some positivity to this time of year! All the terms can be found here if you’re wanting to enter. Here are my picks (in no particular order).

Phil Dunphy – Modern Family

I have watched Modern Family since it first came out and Phil Dunphy has always been one of my favourite characters. He’s so incredibly down to earth, so normal, such an idiot. He’s completely loveable and how he puts up with Claire, I really don’t know. Sad part is that half the time I think our family functions a little like the Dunphy household. That makes me Claire, I know, but it’s true! The thing I like most about Phil is that he’s just very real. TV shows us a lot of perfect people, a lot of perfect parents and very few people are actually like that in real life. Phil rocks – thumbs up Ty Burrell.

Joe West – The Flash

This is a bit of a cheat answer, because while Joe West is a dad, it’s not his relationship with daughter Iris that I like him for. Instead, his surrogate/foster dad relationship with Barry Allen in The Flash, is what makes me love him. Though The Flash is only in it’s first series, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it from start to end. I can’t tell you how many times the show has had me in tears. And, without spoiling the season finale, the last episode where Joe and Barry might lose the bond/relationship they currently share, is by far one of the most heartbreaking moments I’ve watched recently.

Marshall Eriksen – How I Met Your Mother

Now if I had to pick a best character from HIMYM, Barney Stinson would win hands down for me. However when it comes to being the best father, Barney doesn’t really come close (until the last ever episode of course). However Marshall Eriksen is awesome. He may not be the first person that springs to mind when you think of TV dads, but I think he would have been so cool to have as a father. Not only that, but with a husband/wife relationship like Marshall and Lily, what more could you want from your parents? He’s a big kid himself but I’m sure he would have been such a fun and loving dad. He’s definitely in my top five picks.

Ned Stark – Game of Thrones

As always, Sean Bean died far too early in the scheme of Game of Thrones series. However the character of Ned Stark was one of the best there has been. Though also a husband, I really only think of Ned as his role as a father. His four/five kids really did have a great role model to look up to. Even to the end he showed that honour was one of the best qualities you can have – even if it gets you killed!

Pop Larkin – The Darling Buds of May

This last choice is a little bit nostalgic as it brings back memories of weekends as my Nan and Grandad’s, watching episodes of TDBOM. David Jason has always been one of my favourite actors and I absolutely adored him as Pop Larkin. The dynamics of the family as a whole were really what made the series, but Pop himself was the core and heart of the Larkin family. To be absolutely truthful I don’t remember a lot about the series itself (I was a lot younger then) but I do know I enjoyed it a lot. I’m pretty sure I wanted to live with the Larkin’s at one stage so that says a lot for both Ma and Pop.

It was really hard to narrow down my top 5 TV dads and so I want to give a notable mention to; Philip Banks (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), Cliff Huxtable (Crosby Show), Luke Dane (Gilmore Girls) and Sandy Cohen (The O.C.). I’m sure there are plenty more TV dads that I love though but that’s all I can think of for now!

Who is your favourite TV dad?

In memory of the best dad – my dad.

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!

Week 7 – Monday Round-up

February 16, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Some weeks I really hate the fact I do this round up thing – haha. I honestly right now can’t remember what I did yesterday, let alone a week ago. I’m going to try though, but it might be brief! On Monday Chris had the day off and the girls were at school. We had a very lazy day that started with bacon butties and moved on to cheese toasties at lunch. I spent majority of the day on my computer and then rang my car insurance to add Chris to it. After that he drove us to Saxilby – which was probably the most scary experience of my life. We picked the girls up from school and this time I drove home. When we got back Chris had offered to get us Indian for dinner and since I knew the girls wouldn’t want that, I ordered them pizza and a chicken burger from takeaway instead. During the day time my order for Ravenclaw material had finally arrived and so I spent the early part of the evening, cutting out the pattern pieces. Before putting the girls to bed I read them some more of the Never Girls book and then Chris and I watched the next few episodes of 100 before then watching the new Walking Dead episode. Not long afterwards, we headed to bed.

On Tuesday I have less of a recollection for the events. I know I took the girls to school and then headed pretty much straight home. I started to sew Amy’s Ravenclaw skirt and watch TV at the same time. After I finished that, I finished my T-Shirt Tuesday project which was the Game of Thrones handbag and finally after that I took a bath, knowing I didn’t have to pick up the girls from school. Honestly I don’t remember much more of the day, though no doubt blogging about my handbag was part of the day! Wednesday I was off to London, to see the Game of Thrones Exhibit at the O2. I took the girls to school and then headed to Newark where I would be parking the car for the day and catching the train. I headed off to London and went straight to the O2. The exhibition was pretty good but doing it alone just wasn’t as fun as I’d hoped it would be. After I’d looked around the exhibit, I caught the tube to Oxford Street and did some shopping. I went to the Disney Store, Primark, H&M and Lush. After all that I popped to M&S to grab a salad and then headed back to Kings Cross. I caught my train around 6pm and was back at Newark for about 7.30pm. I then drove home to Chris who was home by then too. I snuggled up on the sofa with him but was pretty tired so we headed to bed about 10pm.

On Thursday I managed a lay-in as the girls had stopped at Grandma’s and she was taking them to school. However as Chris wasn’t at work till late as well, it meant I didn’t get much of a sleep as sadly he wakes me! We eventually did get up and lounged around for a while, before heading out to take Chris to work. I was due to go around to my mum’s to get our electronic registration for visas done but as she wasn’t in, I popped into town for an hour first. After that I went to my mum’s and spent the afternoon there until going to get the kids. We then came straight home and hung out together for the evening. Just before bedtime, Megan started to feel unwell and so it was decided if she didn’t feel great the next morning, she wouldn’t go to school. I also realised that if Megan didn’t go, Lily probably wouldn’t want to either. Anyway in the morning neither girl felt well and so they didn’t go to school. Chris went out on his driving lesson and then straight to work afterwards and so the girls and I spent the day together. We popped out to the shops to get a few bits and pieces but for the most part we spent the day chilling out. We did have to make some Disney inspired food but that was pretty good fun. After the girls were in bed I spent the evening on my computer, watching TV and waiting for Chris to come home. When he did get back though I was so tired that we pretty much went straight to bed.

On Saturday morning the kids woke us up at about 9am with cards they’d made for us. We all got up and got dressed, heading out for “all you can eat” breakfast. After that we dropped Chris at the station and headed home. The girls got changed into fancy dress and we all watched a movie together as our Valentine’s treat. At 3.30pm the girls got changed again as Lily was heading out to a party. We dropped her off at the leisure centre and then Megan and I got some dinner and went for a coffee. Afterwards we went for a wander, in and out of shops, before heading back to get Lily and then go home. We then settled down to watch another movie together before the girls went to bed. On and off during the day I managed to sew Megan’s Ravenclaw dress and a Villains skirt for Lily too. Chris was home for 10pm and we watched a bit of TV before heading to bed. Finally it was Sunday and we had another fairly full day planned. We headed out to take Chris to work at 11.30am but we had to have so much stuff with us, that we spent most of the morning getting organised. We dropped Chris off at work and headed into town for a while. Lily bought a Tsum Tsum as they were released in the UK that day and then we all went to BHS for lunch. It was a bit of a bust AND we were late back to the car and I got a ticket.

We then went to my mum’s for the afternoon and despite planning to watch a DVD there, that didn’t work out either. At 3.30pm I had to take Megan to a party and then pop to Grandma’s to pick up a bag I’d left earlier in the week. I got caught chatting for a while but then got back to mum’s. The girls’ dad let me know he would be having them overnight and so I went to pick Megan up from her party and when I got back to mum’s, he was just arriving there too. I saw both the girls off and then stayed at mum’s for the evening to save on petrol and picking Chris up from work. At 9pm I went to get Chris but we popped back to mum’s as I’d offered up Chris’ services for fixing the pipe under her sink. After a quick look and removal of a few pipes, we headed home and sat together to watch some TV. We eventually headed to bed, to end our week!

That sums up my week haha. I’m sure I missed stuff but that’s the general jist. As usual these days, it was a good week and I look forward to the next one!

T-Shirt Thursday

February 5, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Okay so its not Tuesday, its Thurday… but what’s a few days between friends? This week on Tuesday I a) didn’t wear a t-shirt and b) ended up out of the house far too long to actually get around to making this post. As such I decided that I’d push it back a few days and bring you T-Shirt Thursday!

First let’s get around to the t-shirt I’ve been wearing today. It’s one of the ones I’ve owned for the longest and I love it!

Today’s tee is a nice bright red one, that crosses Disney’s “The Incredibles” with the Princess Bride and its well known expression “Inconceivable”. The design is by ZombieDollars and is called, surprisingly, The Inconceivables. I originally bought it from Qwertee, way back in September of 2012. It is currently for sale in a variety of places including TeeFury and TeePublic. ZombieDollars is also know as Nik Holmes and you can check out all his designs on his website www.nikholmes.com (I definitely recommend you do!)

After that, we move onto this week’s t-shirt project. If you’re new to T-shirt Tuesday or even my blog, I’ll quickly fill you in. A few weeks ago I went through my mountains of tees and picked out a few that I didn’t really wear for one reason or another. I have decided to up-cycle and re-purpose some of them, blogging about them here on a Tuesday (or in this case Thursday!). This week’s project is Game of Thrones themed, as next week I’m traveling to the O2 in London, to see the Game of Thrones Exhibition.

This tee is a cross between not only Game of Thrones, but also computer games such as Street Fighter or Tekken. The design is called “Throne Fighter” and I loved it from the moment I saw it. However I don’t really like the t-shirt I bought it on, so I’ll be recycling it this week into something else I can use! Check back here next week to see how I’ve got on…. *hint* it won’t be a dress this time!

Week 5 – Monday Round-up

February 2, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

I’ve struggled again the last few weeks, to remember what I do each day of the week, especially by the following Monday. Some days seem so easy to recall while others are just a total blur. This week, since I have the time, I’m starting to document my week early on, hopefully updating it as I go along.

This week is another regular week – Chris at work and Megan/Lily at school. Monday was basically like any other Monday, except that I personally had a lot to fit into my day. I dropped the girls off and then headed around to see my friend Nat. She’d just been through some tough stuff over the weekend and I wanted to show my support and spend the morning with her. I also wanted to snag some GoT tickets from Sky Atlantic so I was naughty and took my laptop with me, along with some chocolate and a sympathy card. I spent the whole morning with her, leaving just after 12. I did manage to get my GoT tickets too, though the site crashed at 10am when the tickets were released and it took till about 11.30am (and an almost dead laptop battery) before I actually got them! I headed away from Nat’s and straight to my brother. He had a flat tyre and needed a lift to the tyre place. I was also supposed to take a jack but when I got there I realised mine had never got put back in the car (eek!). Anyway I helped my brother with his car, gave him a lift and then we went to Subway for lunch while we waited. We headed back to the tyre place, collected Erika from work and then I dropped them both off before heading back to my house. I had time for a cup of tea and a quick check of my emails, before heading back out to get the girls from school. Once I’d picked them up, we headed home and got the girls their dinner straight away. Monday is always a late night after school as the girls have Singing Stars and the evening just flies by after that. After food, the girls did homework and then they both read. By this point it was pretty much Lily’s bed time and as we had to read a story, we headed up. The girls and I read a chapter of Never Girls and then Lily went to sleep.

Chris arrived home not long after. Megan and I were in the kitchen, doing the dishwasher and making Chris’ dinner. Afterwards we started on Megan’s other homework, a sewing project she wanted to do. It took us majority of the time up to her bedtime and then she headed to sleep too. Chris was upstairs on his computer by that time so I settled in to blog. I got myself distracted by the TV though and didn’t get much done! Chris came down to join me and we watched TV together until going to bed, just as I finally finished my Monday Round-up post from last week!

On Tuesday we got up and headed out to school as normal. Once I’d dropped off the girls I headed home, knowing I had parcels to wrap and get to the post office. Once I was finally done (a lot of procrastinating later), I headed out to the Post Office and dropped off the parcels. I then nipped into Boyes to pick up some felt for Megan’s sewing project. After that I went to Lidl, to do the weekly shop. I got everything I needed for £35 and I’m pretty sure some of that will even roll over into next week! I headed home and unpacked all the shopping, then getting myself some lunch. In the afternoon I sat down to watch some TV, went on my computer for a bit, sewed up my t-shirt dress and then wrote a blog post. Once all that was done, I started on dinner. Chris let me know he was going to be late home and the girls were with their dad so the day seemed to drag quite a lot. The girls were home just after 7pm and once they’d got themselves changed, we read another chapter of the Never Girls – not because it was the day’s task, but because we are hoping to finish this next book by the end of the week. I spent the majority of the evening playing on my phone, watching TV and just generally chilling out, until Chris and I went to bed.

Wednesday it was really cold and apparently snow was forecast, though we didn’t get much that day. I took the girls to school and then came home, bumming around for majority of the day as I was just feeling in a bit of a rut. I had an awesome post day though, which included some teas to try. I also got some blogging done which I guess was constructive. When it was time, I turned out for the girls and we came straight home, getting dinner too. Megan and I then had her homework to do, finishing off a rocket that we’d started a few days earlier. We also had to paint Snow White pegdoll and Lily wanted to play Disneyland Adventures.

Lily went to bed and Megan and I continued on with the rocket until it was finished. Once it was, it was Megan’s bedtime too. I was still feeling a bit down so Chris and I spent the evening together. We watched some TV and then ended up playing on the Xbox. We had originally intended to play together, however in the end it was me playing on the Kinect and Chris just watching. I actually had a lot of fun. We headed to bed afterwards and in the night it snowed quite a lot. When we woke up on Thursday there was a fair covering, but not enough to worry about. The girls were ready nice and early so they both played on Tsum Tsum before going to school (their disney task for the day). We then set off in plenty of time, to make sure the car had time to defrost and so we didn’t need to rush.

After dropping the kids at school, I went to my mum’s. She’d been away for a long weekend and I wanted to see her to catch up but I also needed to drop off Megan’s iPad, as the girls were staying that night. We chatted over a cup of tea and then I headed off as she needed to go out. The snow came down pretty heavy on my way back and I was definitely glad that I wouldn’t be turning out again. I spent the day catching up on house stuff, but I also tried out some fitness games on the Xbox. In the end nothing really interested me so I bought a dance game on Ebay and since it was a download code, I set it to download. I then made dinner for Chris and I, before the girls rang for their evening chat. After that I walked down to meet Chris at the station and we both went to get a few bits from Aldi. We came home and had dinner, before Chris started making some quiche for a baking competition at work the next day. I sat and read my book for the most part and then when he came in to sit down, he played on the Xbox and I went on my computer.

We headed to bed and it was nice to know I’d get a lie-in in the morning. Chris went out to work and I managed to sleep till about 9.30am, though I stayed in bed and read my book until 10am. When I got up, I sorted out clothes for the girls to wear that evening, plus put on a load of washing. I also sorted out several piles of washing around the house and put some clothes on the radiator to dry. Amoungst all that I managed a shower and also wrote my Get Fit Friday post, all of which I did before about 2pm when I headed out to Tesco, for petrol and then to get the girls. Once I picked them up, we headed to my mum’s to get changed. She wasn’t there at first but she arrived after about half an hour, with Erika (my brother’s girlfriend) and her son Charlie.

The girls and I headed out to Toys R Us, because Megan had a voucher she still wanted to spent. We bought Groot, Baymax and Hiro in Disney Infinity figures, along with some power discs. After that we went to pick Chris up from work, sitting in McDonalds car park for about half an hour. Finally at 5.30pm he finished and we all headed to Damons, to meet the rest of the family. There was my mum, my brother, Erika, Charlie and our mutual friend Jon. We all ordered and sat chatting till the food came and then everyone tucked in. It was a great meal and good company. Afterwards we all headed home in our seperate directions and the girls had to head pretty much straight to bed, though we did fit in a few chapters of the Never Girls book, as we wanted to get Book 2 finished before the end of January. In the evening, Chris and I just sat and watched TV as we were both stuffed and feeling lazy. Eventually we headed to bed fairly early, despite it being the weekend the next day.

Chris set his alarm for 9am in the morning, as he couldn’t remember what time his driving lesson. I could have kicked him when at 9.30am his driving instructor text him to check he was still okay to go out (it was snowing again) and confirmed his lesson was 12.45pm. We had a lazy start though, Chris making us a cup of tea/coffee and lounging around in our PJs. The girls were playing Disney Infinity and eventually Chris went upstairs to play on his computer. I’d got really into my book and so I spent the whole morning reading until I finished. After crying at the ending, I got up and sorted out lunch for the girls, before making them both get dressed too. When Chris got back from his driving lesson they all played on the Xbox for a while and I made dinner early, so it was ready. After the kids and Chris had finished playing, he headed upstairs again for a bit and we made biscuits to fulfill our Disney challenge for the day.

Though we baked the cookies in the afternoon, we obviously had to wait for them to cool before decorating them. As such we had dinner and then watched Toy Story (a catch up task from the day before) before going back to finishing off the crowns and tiaras. The girls had made a heart each to use the last of the mixture up and Lily wanted to make a “you’re my hero” one and give it to Chris. Megan ended up making one too but she ate hers herself, giving Chris a crown instead. By this point it was time for Lily to go to bed and though Megan took a little longer to finish off her biscuits, she then came to sit in the lounge and read some of her book. She’s currently reading “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and I’m so proud of her as she’s really ploughing her way through them.

After Megan headed to bed, I sat on my computer for a while and Chris was upstairs on his. Eventually he came down though and we sat watching TV for a while before heading to bed. Sunday morning I was awake early, as I had a niggling feeling I would be when Chris had so annoyingly set his alarm the morning before. That said, I lazed around in bed for ages, playing on my phone. Chris brought me a cup of tea and then went to play upstairs, so eventually I headed downstairs to see what the girls were doing. We didn’t do much for the day but they did play on the iPad a bit and in the after we watched loads of POV videos on YouTube for the Disney World rides, to see if we could decide which we wanted to do. After that I was sucked into the world of Disney for the evening and other than bathing the kids and making dinner, I spent the whole evening starting to plan our trip a bit more. I made some notes, printed out some maps and text Amy a LOT. In the end though Chris and I had to head to bed early as he was awake at 6am the next morning.

It’s been a good week overall, despite feeling a bit down for the middle part. So far I’m feeling better since then and definitely a bit more motivated. I’ll see how it pans out through the week but fingers crossed!