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February Round-up

March 8, 2016 by Bel

Somehow the beginning of March seems to have escaped me already and I realised I never did my monthly round-up! Despite the fact February actually ended at the beginning of last week, I thought I should make the time to sum up anyway!

Watching: Vampire Diaries (Seasons 3-6), new series X-Files, current series NCIS, Limitless, Blindspot, Mean Girls, Tron Legacy, Moulin Rouge, Terminator Genisys, Ant Man, Deadpool, The Walking Dead,
Reading: George’s Marvelous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox, Six Lies
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): Custom dresses – it’s been really nice to sew a few different things. I made a Snow White fabric dress, a Mickey travel themed dress, an Alice in Wonderland fabric dress and a Thumper fabric dress. I also made a few other dresses including Belle (blue) and Honey Lemon. There was a Marauders Map passport cover and a few new pencil cases too. Finally I knocked up a Wendy Disney-bounding dress for Amy to wear on her birthday in WDW.
I also pimped out a Locker for a competition and I’ve done a fair bit of cooking this month!

And in other news…
– Spent the first week of the month feeling completely ill! Was so glad when I finally got over it.
– Pancakes on Pancake Day – yum! We had stuffed savoury pancakes for mains and sweet ones for dessert.
– Had probably one of the best Valentine’s Days ever. We spent it as a family and it was fab from start to finish.
– Lily was in a class assembly and Megan was in her first Shine assembly of the year.
– Booked extra tickets for the same Harry Potter convention as before, this time for a Yule Ball.
– Celebrated a belated Galentine’s Day, Amy’s birthday and Easter, all in three days while Amy visited.
– Lily had her first ever sleepover – and I cried because she’s growing up!
– Chris and I traveled to London and Walker Stalker. It was a bit of a flop but we made the best of a bad situation. We did have a nice hotel room, bought a few nice things and had a lovely meal out.
– Finally made headway with the house. We made a list of all the DIY to do, booked people to come and do valuations on the house and started looking for houses to buy.
– The girls attended their first school disco together, at the same time. Usually Lily fell in to the lower school part and Megan the higher, but for the first year they are together. They looked so grown up too!
– My GBF Adam came to visit for the weekend. I only saw him once last year so it was really nice he came to visit so early in the year!
– My mum finally returned from holiday. She went away from 1st Feb to 29th Feb and it felt like a long time! I cried when we first chatted afterwards…

Looking forward to in March:
– Finding out which secondary school Megan will go to (I know by the time I wrote this since it was 1st, but it was a major point in March). This will begin our house hunting.
– Lily’s 8th birthday. Technically this has already happened by the time I wrote this post but I definitely was looking forward to it.
– Chris’ birthday. It falls a little later in the month but I always enjoy celebrating anything with him.
– Getting a handle on selling the house. Making a good dint in the DIY and getting the house on the market.
– Closing Closet Geek for 10 days. This is connected to the last one really but because of all the DIY we have to do, I’m closing my store for just over a week. I do love to work and sew but it will be nice to have a break too.
– Easter Holiday. Just like Half Term in February, I enjoy having the kids off school. This is partly because I enjoy their company and partly because I love not having to trek out in the morning and can stay in my PJs!

January Round-up

February 1, 2016 by Bel

Last year I gave up on my weekly round up posts during about October, having done them for all 2015 and all 2014 as well. Instead I’ve decided to try and tackle monthly updates instead!

Watching: The Fall (Season 1 & 2), Making a Murderer, Criminal Minds (Season 1-3), House (Season 1-6), Before I Go To Sleep, Thor 2, James and the Giant Peach.
Reading: An Abundance of Katherines, Disney After Dark (Kingdom Keepers)
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): As well as the usual; Young Lottie from The Princess and the Frog, Hiro from Big Hero 6, Marauders Map cushion, Valentine themed hair bows, mouse ears, scrunchies and bows on bobbles.And in other news…
– At the beginning of the month, we all wrote our New Year resolutions. We sealed them up to reveal on NYE, but I honestly don’t remember what half of them were already!
– We’ve been lucky enough to eat out a few times this month; once for breakfast at Mill Lodge, once at The Nosey Parker and again at Gateway Park.
– We finished decorating our bedroom on January 10th. This is about 6 months after we started!
– Booked to go to a Harry Potter convention in August.
– We had the first snow on 14th, but sadly it didn’t stick around. We’ve had a lot of cold weather this month but still no settled snow!
– Bought a new toaster for the kitchen. I’m gradually getting all red bits.
– Tried to diet and failed miserably. January has been a tough month, with motivation and with being busy. February is my start over, so we’ll see how it goes.
– I did something really crazy and paid a deposit to do Lincoln Christmas Market this year. It’s a 4 day event and god knows how I will manage to get stock ready for it, but I’m committed to doing it now! I also decided cancel another event I had paid a deposit on, realising it was going to make life too crazy.

So there you have it – the highlights of January.

Looking forward to:
– Valentine’s Day. For me it’s not so much about it being a romantic day, but showing love to my family. All four of us are planning a special day together, followed by a special meal.
– Amy coming to visit. Though I saw her briefly in December, it feels like a long time since we had a proper catch up! It will be nice to drink wine, probably order takeaway at least once and catch up.
– Walker Stalker. Chris and I have booked a one day ticket at London’s Walker Stalker and I’m really looking forward to it. Not so much for the con (though I hope to meet Norman Reedus) but also because we’ve booked one night in a nice hotel and it will be nice to spend time as a couple.
– Half Term. We don’t have any plans, other than Amy visiting and technically Walker Stalker falls into that week, but I love not having to get up and dressed, take the kids to school etc. I also really enjoy having the kids around the house.

Making a Cosplay Costume

November 10, 2015 by Bel

In Summer, Amy and I (plus Kariss who we met there) attended SFCC (Sheffield Film and Comic Con). Last year we were attending LFCC (London Film and Comic Con) but unfortunately the timing just wasn’t right to get to that one this year. I’ve also attended MCM Comic Con in London this year, back in May. However in the end we decided not to cosplay for that, so SFCC was our first cosplay of the year.

Amy and I decided on Disney cosplay (surprise surprise). She was going as Briar Rose and I was Belle. Both choices are their “peasant” dresses, so in a way we’ll be a pair.

I started on Amy’s first as I couldn’t get the fabric I needed for mine without ordering. The first thing I did was find a pattern that would work for what I wanted (I only ever work from patterns). It was pretty easy and didn’t take me too long. Ironically it was another Disney pattern, one used to make Elsa’s Coronation dress. Use a quick-setting adhesive for joints of the costume you’re making. You may order a japanese samurai sword from the internet if you plan to be a samurai or ninja for Halloween.

Next was to pick out some colours. Luckily both costumes comprise of basic block colours, so cotton poplin is perfect for what we need. I headed off to Boyes, picked out come colours and then started to work with the pattern and fabrics.

So once I cut out all the pattern pieces I was sure about, there was the grey to figure out. I picked one that I thought might be a bit dark and when placed together with all the other fabrics, it was decided between Amy and I, that it was too dark. Sadly this began our own 50 Shades of Grey disaster which took about 8 fabric samples from Ebay before locating. However with the grey only effecting the skirt, it was easy to still continue and make a start.

Once the top was done and the grey was found, it didn’t take long to sew it all together and add the zip. It was lucky too as I ended up making Kariss an Alice in Wonderland dress and apron, before also making my own Belle outfit. I was fairly pleased with how they all turned out too.

I have a post on Closet Geek dedicated to all the Cosplay outfits I’ve made so far. But keep an eye out as I will be updating it before too long I’m sure!

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July 19, 2015 by Bel

Sharing two this week as it was just too cute not to. The girls have taken to fimo/sculpting clay modeling this weekend. It was my suggestion for something for Megan to try but of course Lily wanted to get involved too. They spent Saturday late afternoon and evening making some bits, even roping Nat in when she arrived in the evening. The they spent a large amount of Sunday too. I snapped a picture of them both concentrating on it but when they realised I was taking a photo they were quick to pose too.

Week 23 – Monday Round-up

June 8, 2015 by Bel

For once I’m actually writing this a little early. It’s Sunday night and tomorrow I’m going on Megan’s school trip with her and we won’t be back till quite late. I know I’ll be exhausted so I figured I may as well get this done now and scheduled if possible. It’s been a nice week, the kids back at school and life returning to its usual routine – though I’ll admit to feeling sad when they go back as I actually love school holidays these days.

I didn’t go into school any days this week as I decided I needed to focus on things for me. Monday I spent the day catching up – as I often do on a Monday. There is blog stuff to be done, housework, jewellery orders etc. I meant to get some things listed on Ebay too but time just escaped me. I also went back to really trying with my diet. Ever since returning from Florida I’ve struggled and I’ve been far from perfect this week, but I have at least tried. Having put on a few more pounds in the last few weeks, its definitely time to make an effort. I got back on MyFitnessPal and so far it seems to be working out – bar the odd moment of weakness.

I don’t honestly remember what I did most evenings in the week but I’m pretty sure Monday night Chris and I watched TV. The following day Chris was off work and we finished watching the first series of The Flash and I cried! In the afternoon Chris and I both went on our computers and I went for a bath. Then I lay on the bed reading until the kids got home. We watched TV that evening too, almost caught up on everything we watch now!

Wednesday I waited in as I knew I had a few parcels to be delivered but also because Nat was coming around. We spent majority of the day chatting and catching up, whilst also watching Fifty Shades of Grey for this month’s From Page to Screen. After all the was done, we both headed off to get the kids from school. The evening was spent blogging – I had my From Page to Screen to write – and then I caught up on some of my TV.

On Thursday I took the girls to school, came back briefly to see Chris before he went to work and then took a wander into town. I needed a few bits but mostly I just wanted to look around. I got a few charity shop bargains, including a Doctor Who tardis that I’ve placed my business cards in.

I spent the afternoon working on my new business venture, I ordered business cards and tried to sort out a website. Its a long process and sadly I get distracted by blogging, house DIY etc etc and there always seems to be something else I should be doing! Anyway mum had the kids overnight so it meant I had the whole afternoon and evening to work on things.

On Friday morning I tried for a lie-in but sadly due to Chris getting up for work and next door being noisy (as usual) I didn’t get one. Instead I got up and started working on a murder mystery party idea and also continued looking into a website. My belated present from Amy arrived – which is Mrs Potts and Chip – and since my brother had given me £20 for my birthday, I treated myself to a new Disney Couture necklace from my wishlist. I headed over to mum’s to pick up the girls’ iPads and then picked the girls up from school. We headed home and relaxed, since in our eyes it was now officially the weekend.

The next day Chris was at work early and I held out hope for a lie-in as its much easier to get back to sleep the earlier he goes. Sadly it was not to be the case though as a combination of Lily, next door and the postman woke me this time. I got up and managed to lose myself in an app on my phone before killing my battery. I then walked down to Aldi to get some food for lunch and then came home and the girls and I got food. My brother called to see if we wanted to go to a BBQ that evening and also my new necklace arrived!

After popping back to Aldi to get a few bits (a food and drink contribution for the BBQ), the girls and I headed out to get Chris from work and then headed over to my brother’s. We spent a nice couple of hours there before coming home and the girls going to bed. Chris decided he was going on the computer for the evening so I just chilled out in front of the TV until we went to bed.

Finally it was Sunday (today as I’m writing this) and while we did lie-in a little while, I was still woken by next door. Chris and I got up and mooched around for a bit. He played on the Xbox while I did some tidying (Lily helping too) and then before I knew it, it was lunch time. I made lunch for us all to sit down and have together and that was lovely. The girls then spent the afternoon on their computers, while Chris went upstairs on his computer. I spent some time taking pictures of things for Ebay and then more tidying. Eventually I sat down to do some sewing only to find the foot for my sewing machine was missing and after a thorough look for it, had to order a new one. With sewing out the window I sat down to make a few hair bows before giving up and going back to the lounge. In the end I made everyone dinner and Megan and I packed our lunches for the next day (school trip). I packed Lily off to bed early and then Megan only an hour after that (though Lily was still awake) and then went for a bath. Randomly I decided to make flapjack while the bath was running so that delayed me somewhat but after my bath I then came on my computer and made this blog post while Chris watched Little Shop of Horrors. It’s now just gone 11pm and we’re heading to bed. I have to set the alarm for 6.30am – boo!

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Week 42 – Monday Round-up

October 20, 2014 by Bel

Again, another repeat of my Sunday Round up, with a little more info – my weekly round up, for Monday!

This week has seen the end of week 42. I seriously can’t believe there are only 10 weeks of the year left. That said, I’m so so pleased to see the end of this week – its been both good and bad but mostly the end of my work week has been the landmark for this whole week. I now have two weeks off and while I have more planned for it than what is physically possible, I’m really looking forward to getting stuff done, as well as some down time.

Monday to Friday were work or school for everyone in the house. The girls were supposed to have Singing Stars on Monday after school, but at the very last minute it was cancelled. In a way I was pleased because it meant we got home earlier than expected. Chris was home not long after us too, so it was nice to spend the whole evening together. While I did do some online stuff and blogging, Chris and I also spent the evening watching the new first episode of Walking Dead and the first episode of Gotham too.

Tuesday the girls were with their dad so I was able to head straight home. Chris was off so it was nice to get some time with him, but I also had stuff I wanted to get on with. I did more blog stuff and then actually took a bath. When the girls were home, they unfortunately had to go straight to bed. Chris and I spent the evening together though I was on my computer and he did a mixture of Xbox and watching TV.

Wednesday I got an email about Disney on Ice for next year, I even mentioned it to the kids in the car on the way home. Then when I checked Facebook I saw that Amy was disappointed to not have one nearby to her, so I offered for her to come over for the weekend and we could go together. When I looked at the tickets, they were selling fast so I ended up pinching Chris’ credit card and booking our tickets! After that though I just spent the evening relaxing. My head was hurting quire a lot so I ended up sitting on the sofa and reading “Insurgent”.

Thursday I woke up feeling incredibly emotional for no real reason. I burst into tears several times before I even got to work. However overall it wasn’t a terrible day and I actually picked up a job application form for a new job I want to apply for. On top of that I had another relaxing evening where I actually finished off Insurgent – expect a book review soon!

Friday was finally the end of my work and I was so pleased. I called briefly at my mum’s after school and she came up to see the girls at school with me, as she was leaving for holiday that day. When the girls and I got home we went to pick up parcels – I received 2 “My Little Box”s, of which I will be reviewing later in the week. Megan and I also started to make a cake for Chris’ Gran, as it was her 90th birthday and we planned to go around the next day. In the evening I had hoped to sew but got distracted by online shopping. I won’t even tell you what I bought…

Saturday I got up and decorated the cake for Chris’ Gran, then did a little work on my computer before finally settling down to do some sewing. In the end though we headed out to Chris’ Gran’s fairly early, staying there for about an hour before coming home and having lunch. After lunch Chris had to head to work and I went back to sewing. When I ran out of material though, the girls and I headed into town for some more. We ended up having a little bit of a wander and then I bought them a notebook each and McDonalds for dinner. Then when we got home I went back to sewing and before long I was joined by both of them to sit at the table and write stories. Eventually Lily went to bed and not long after Nat arrived. I finally got around to making myself dinner and then Megan went to bed leaving Nat and I to chat. The whole evening flew by and it didn’t feel like we covered anywhere near enough topics, but it was midnight by the time she left! When Chris got home I made him open his “My Geek Box” which had arrived during the day – I’ll be blogging about that later in the week too.

Sunday I was really hoping for a lie in but it was not to be. I got up and went straight to sew, but as the girls both came to join me, to write more, it didn’t really end up being that constructive. In the end Megan and I went to watch Saturday night’s X Factor and when that was done we all agreed we’d got out and get the weekly shopping done. We headed first to Aldi and then to Morrisons, before coming home and actually getting lunch. After that I decided to knock sewing on the head for a while and instead settled down to watch TV and get loads of blogging sorted for the week. I ended up watching Casualty, followed by The Apprentice, followed by three episodes of Doctor Who. We had pizza for dinner and the girls had a bath and after they went to bed I finally went back to my sewing. Chris was home earlier than normal as its a Sunday and we spent the evening together before heading to bed.