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Monthly Round-up – March

April 14, 2017 by Bel

Watching: Given that it’s mid-April before I write this, I have very little recollection of what I watched, other than what I made a note of in my phone. I watched several Netflix series including; The OA, Friends with Better Lives,
Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, and Iron Fist but I don’t remember which others. I watched the newest Annie movie. I also re-watched Cinderella and Guardians of the Galaxy. As well as keeping up with Bones, Holby City, Casualty, Riverdale, Grimm, New Girl etc. I saw Beauty and the Beast at the cinema.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): March was pretty crazy for orders, always seeming like I had a few more than I could cope with. However I managed to get through them and that’s what counts! I announced a Wonderland Giveaway for the monthly box, plus made LOADS of ears and bows, along with a Belle dress, two Briar Rose dresses, a Boys Woody top and waistcoat and a girls Woody dress. There was also a huge wave of orders for Infinity scarves after Roisin from Disneyfind, shared the scarf I sent her. I think I made 15 in one week and since then the orders dribble in still! Of course there was a technicolour dreamcoat and a pharaoh costume too which you can read more about below! Finally with the upcoming 25th Anniversary for DLP, I designed some ears which have proved very popular too!

And in other news…
– One of the first things that happened this month was Lily’s birthday, when she turned 9. We had a very calm day, making lego in the morning, Pizza Hut for lunch and then chilling out when we got home until bedtime.
– World Book Day was also at the beginning of this month and since last year Lily had gone as Harley Quinn, before it was super popular to be Harley Quinn, this year she went as Dr Harleen Quinzel. She looked absolutely fabulous. Megan didn’t get to dress up now she’s at secondary school, which is sad!

– Megan broke up with her boyfriend – her choice. It wasn’t especially dramatic but she did feel pretty bad afterwards so us three girls went shopping and I taught the girls about retail therapy ;)
– One of the most life changing things that happened this month is that we finally got an offer on the house. March 13th. After having the house on the market for almost a year, and after living here for almost 4 years when we only intended it to be 1 or 2. Fingers crossed it’s all proceeding well as we have accepted the offer since then, the “sold” sign went up on 20th, we had the survey done and started to complete the forms. More info to follow!
– Lily and I went on her school trip, to Cadbury World near Birmingham. It’s always really nice to share school trips with the girls but this time it was especially nice as Lily and I even sat together on the coach. It was a long and tiring day, especially as Lily was full of cold but we both enjoyed ourselves.
– Amy and Liv came to visit for the weekend and although we didn’t do a lot, we seemed to keep busy. We didn’t pick them up till fairly late on Friday so all we did was drink and catch up, but then Saturday we saw Beauty and the Beast, plus went to Meadowhall and had Five Guys. On Sunday we just hung out while I got some work done, until eventually I took them back to the station.
– Chris’ birthday was the 20th and it was nice to spend the day together, even though the girls weren’t around to enjoy it at all. We went into Lincoln in the morning to do some shopping but it threw it down with rain all day so we cut it short and came home. In the evening we met with friends and went to Frankie and Benny’s for dinner and then did an “Escape the Room” game which was amazing. Hopefully I will post about that soon!
– Not really a big fan of Red Nose Day (or Children in Need for that matter) but always happy to donate £1 to non-uniform and a red nose etc. However I did love that there was a “Red Nose Day Actually” short, like an update to Love Actually – and I cried and found it amazing too.
– Then came Mother’s Day. The girls made a mistake with my gift and ended up upset but it really didn’t matter as it was lovely to spend the day with them and then with my own mum too at lunch time. We went out to a restaurant called Meat Inc. that does amazing burgers and I was really hoping to review but completely forgot to take pics! Maybe next time we visit I will remember.
– I can’t remember if I mentioned this last month or not but Lily was given the part of Pharaoh in her school play – Joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat. She was really excited (and nervous) as it was a big part but I knew she would be amazing (AND SHE WAS!). I offered to make the technicolour dreamcoat for school and Lily’s Pharaoh costume too. I was the last of the family to see her play (with everyone else seeing it Monday and Tuesday, and Megan and I waiting till Wednesday) but it was pretty decent. I got embarrassed at the end however as I got given a bunch of flowers and a very public thank you, for helping with the costumes.
– One of the last things we did in March was have some friends around for socialising. We played Jackbox all night and it was a lot of fun. I’m really glad we’re finding more time to do that, although I do wonder if moving will effect these nights!

Looking forward to in April:
– Easter Holidays! I love love LOVE having the girls off school – not just for having them around, but also for saving myself three hours in a car for the school run. We don’t have too much planned but you never know!
– We have tickets to see Joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat at Skegness on Easter Weekend. After it was announced that Lily’s school would be doing the play, she took such an interest that I suggested booking tickets. I’m so glad I did as she was then given a great part and really loved the play. I can’t wait for her to see it done on a big stage.
– Mum’s birthday is in April. We probably won’t do much but I’ve already bought her present and no doubt we’ll all go out for lunch.

March Round-up

April 11, 2016 by Bel

I thought that doing a monthly round-up would be easier than doing a weekly one but seems instead that months just escape me and I end up so late doing my round-up! It won’t be very accurate, but here is my March.

Watching: Catching up on loads of TV in the evening, as we only did DIY in the day. I/We caught up on SHIELD, Agent Carter, Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Grimm, Dance Moms, The Walking Dead, NCIS, Blindspot, X-Files, Gotham, Catfish, The 100, Limitless, Ink Master, Casualty, Holby City and probably more that I don’t remember. I also got quite addicted to watching old episodes of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA.
Reading: Fantastic Mr Fox, Six Lies, Kingdom Keepers: Disney at Dawn, Fated,.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): Several custom dresses with Disney fabric including; Inside Out, Jungle Book and Lion King. Also a Belle inspired dress and an Aurora inspired dress. An adult Alice in Wonderland dress. A Jessie Dress and Pinocchio outfit from my store listings. I made Aurora and Rapunzel bows on custom request too. Closet Geek was closed for 2 weeks for DIY though.

And in other news…
– Mum got back from New Zealand! After spending the whole of February away, it was really nice to have her back at the very beginning of March. I didn’t realise quite how much I missed her.
– Megan got accepted into her first choice for Secondary School. To be honest I had expected as much but considering 90% of her class/year at her school didn’t, it made me even more grateful. We took her out to dinner at NYC bar and grill to celebrate.
– World Book day was fun! Lily went as Harley Quinn and Megan went as Wenda from Where’s Wally/Waldo.
– Lily was in Shine assembly and it was also the last week for her teacher before going on maternity leave. It was a really sweet but sad moment in assembly and Lily even got to give Mrs Riley her leaving gift.
– Lily’s birthday happened! She turned 8 and honestly as usual, she just grew up overnight. We had a lovely day with birthday lunch out at Pizza Hut but relaxing for the most part. It’s always nice when a birthday falls at the weekend.
– It was a busy weekend with Lily’s birthday Saturday and then Mother’s Day on Sunday. It was lovely though and I was spoilt by the girls. I got a new Disney Tradition ornament and a new Disney Pop Funko too. We went out for lunch with my mum, my sister, my brother and his girlfriend and son too. It was nice to get together as a family.
– I finally edited the girls’ first YouTube video and it was pretty funny to watch. I have no idea when we’ll get around to doing another!
– Some MAJOR DIY took place in our house during March. We started with the kitchen floor on a day off but moved to finishing off the whole house during 10 days off that Chris had booked (and I closed Closet Geek).
– Chris’ birthday was mid-March. He’s way too laid back about doing anything on his bday so it was hard to figure out a fun day. In the end we played mini-golf in Sheffield and then went to Meadowhall where we shopped a bit and had Five Guys for dinner.
– Chris and I tried Cosmos for the first time. Cosmo is a chain restaurant of buffet food. However where most are Chinese and/or Indian, this one is sort of everything. You do still get Chinese and Indian but you also get English (like roast dinner stuff), Italian (like pizza and pasta), loads of nibbly bits like chips, onion rings, curly fries etc. Japanese (like Sushi) and so much more. On a lunchtime it’s £7.50 for as much as you want so it’s really not that bad.
– The girls broke up from school and we celebrated (as always) with Pizza Hut for dinner. It was nice as Chris was actually off work for a change so we all got to go together.
– We celebrated Easter at my brother’s house as it was also a birthday party for his twin boys. It was nice for the girls to get to spend time with their cousins and other kids their age – not to mention play out in the garden and have an easter egg hunt.
– I finished off the month feeling really ill. I totally burnt myself out with all the DIY and letting myself get tired. I was pretty ill for 2-3 days and then had a bad headache for another 1-2 after that. It sort of sucked after achieving so much with the house.

Looking forward to in April:
– Getting the house officially on the market was my main thing to look forward to in April. Since I’m late writing this post, this has actually already happened. We had the person around to take photos in early April, then the house went on the market and we got a copy of the brochure, then our “for sale” sign went up the very next day.
– Mum’s birthday. She’s actually away for her birthday (and I wish I was going to Storybrooke), but we’ll celebrate just beforehand I’m sure.
– Finding some time to work on new ideas for Closet Geek. After shutting the store for two weeks, it took about another week to get caught up. It’s been nice having the odd time here and there to try new projects and I hope to have some more this month.
– Time off with the girls. Most of Easter hols has been in April and as always I look forward to spending time with them. It’s funny how sad I feel when they go back now, rather than the relief I used to feel when they were smaller and more annoying!
– Honestly there isn’t much happening in April as far as I know so not much to look forward to!

Week 11 – Monday Round-up

March 16, 2015 by Bel

Another quickie round-up this week as I’m watching The Walking Dead and apparently it’s a good one! After the girls had a late night last weekend, this week has felt very tiring generally. Megan was okay for the most part but Lily suffered pretty badly with tiredness and that was a headache in itself. They both had school Monday to Friday as normal, Singing Stars on Monday, at their Dad’s on Tuesday and Red Nose Day on Friday. Otherwise everything was fairly standard. Monday we were supposed to be having curry and beer for dinner but when the girls requested croissants and pain au chocolat, Chris and I were swung by that too. Instead Chris and I had curry and beer on Tuesday night, when the girls were out with their dad. Wednesday after school, Lily decided to grow her own prince. it was pretty funny as we’d had this frog thing for about 3 years and never done it and she randomly came downstairs wanting to do it. The frog disintegrated and left a tiny prince, who we were assured would grow full size (full in the sense of the full size it was meant to, not life size) within 72 hours. Sure enough it did and by Saturday she had a not so handsome prince.

On Wednesday I made a skirt for Amy, in the space of about 3 hours. I was pretty pleased with it too! I did learn a few things and next time I will be making it both longer and gathered, but she seemed fairly happy with it and that’s what mattered. That same day I started on Amy’s cake and sadly it all went a bit wrong but I didn’t have time to do anything about it. On Thursday I carried on with the cake but I also had cleaning and tidying of the house to do. Finally it was Friday and I had so much to do. A huge shop and leaving my bank card at home wasn’t the best start to the day but it turned out okay. I came home and started to cook – lasagne, macaroni cheese and profiteroles stuffed with butterscotch instant whip. After lunch, Amy and Olivia arrived and I sat down with them for a while before we all headed out to get the girls from school. When we got back, I had more cooking to do, including butterscotch creme brulee. Lily then helped me sort out the dining room and set the table as it was her murder mystery party that night. Everyone got ready and then people filtered in from 7pm onwards. We got started around 8pm and I served dinner and then dessert. The murder mystery was pretty basic but it was meant for kids – Lily seemed to enjoy it and that’s what matters. Afterwards the girls went to bed and everyone stayed for a cup of tea/coffee. My mum, brother and his girlfriend ended up going home after a little while but Amy was staying here and Tom/Nat stayed a little longer too. Once everyone was gone, we all stayed up to try and see Amy’s birthday in but gave up at 11.30pm. As it happens I was still awake at midnight so I text her and then went to sleep!

In the morning I was up and got Amy’s present, cake and balloons ready for when she came downstairs. We didn’t really do an awful lot that day to be honest, but it was nice and relaxed just sitting around. We headed out around 2.30pm as we had a dinner reservation over in Lincoln at 3pm. We all ate out at Damons and it was a really lovely meal. There was me and Chris, plus our girls, Amy and Olivia, Nat and her son Harry and our mutual friend Jon. It was nearly 6pm by the time we left though and that meant that once we got home, the girls went pretty much straight to bed. At around 7.30-8pm, Nat came back over to us and as Jon was still here, the five of us spent the evening playing Cards Against Humanity. It was a fun evening and after everyone was gone we managed to stick it out till just gone midnight and see Amy’s birthday out before heading to bed.

Sunday was Mother’s Day and the girls and Chris brought me breakfast in bed and some beautiful cards and a gift. I then got up and tidied up the house, before taking Amy to catch her train and popping to the shop for some food. I came home and cooked lunch for my mum who stayed for a few hours over lunch and left around 4pm. The girls got their homework done and then somehow it was pretty much time for them to go to bed. I was incredibly tired and just spent the evening monging out on my computer and blogging. It was a crazy sort of a week but I imagine the next two will be as well!

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

March 12, 2015 by Bel

Special days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are always a little strange in our household. I lost my dad over 10 years ago, so I no longer need to buy Father’s Day cards or presents (except for my kids and their dad of course). However my partner needs to remember – getting a gift and card for his dad. Mother’s Day is equally weird as while I’m busy inviting my mum around for lunch and buying her a gift and present, my partner Chris lost his mum before we even met and started dating, over 15 years ago.

My mum and our family

A few months ago I started watching a show called “Long Island Medium“. Its a funny story really as I first saw Theresa Caputo on another show called “Next Great Baker” and thought she was mental. However her show airs right after “Judge Judy” on TLC (honestly, Chris and I are obsessed with Judge Judy) and several times, “Long Island Medium” just came on afterwards and I let it play. After that I often chose to put on her show, intrigued by her spirit encounters and genuinely moved to tears with a lot of the stories that feature on the show. While Theresa is most definitely a “crazy American” to some extent, she is the first person to really make me believe in a spirit presence, an afterlife and the ability to contact people once they’ve passed away. I’ve always been very much a skeptic but recently I’ve been wondering about contacting a medium to see if talking to my dad is possible. It’s even crossed my mind as to whether or not it’s something Chris would want to do for talking to his mum.

Realistically I don’t know if its a step I want to make or not. I miss my dad of course, but for the most part it’s not on my mind every day. I watch the stories on TV and I’m deeply touched, to the point where it makes me cry. Would being in that position myself, be too emotional? Maybe one day it’s something I’ll do, but at the moment I’m definitely on the fence about it. I would love to speak to my dad one more time, as I’m sure Chris would with his mum, but whether it’s something we’ll ever do anything about – I don’t know!

In the meantime, this weekend is Mother’s Day and I’m looking forward to it. Not only do I get to tell my mum how special she is (though I try to tell her that more than once a year), but I also get to cook lunch for her. On top of that I’ll be celebrating as a mother myself, spending the day with my two beautiful daughter’s – who one day will no doubt be mother’s themselves.

Yummy Mummy – Lush Shower Gel

February 24, 2015 by Bel

During my trip to London a few weeks ago, I treated myself to some new Lush Shower Gel – Yummy Mummy. As you may know, I’m always interested in trying out the new shower gels from Lush and have previously reviewed Hot Toddy, So White, Prince Charming and Rose Jam. My all time favourite is most definitely Snow Fairy, a limited edition Christmas scent. This Mother’s Day, Yummy Mummy has been released as a Limited Edition.

Lovely in lilac, this super-scrummy, sweet and floral shower gel is filled with lustre for a touch of glamour.

I couldn’t quite decide what the scent of this shower gel was as I used it, but there was a definite berry-ness to it. I’m not great with my fruits to be honest so saying it smelt of berry is about the closest I’ll get. Sadly though, it seems I was completely wrong. The Lush website states orange oil, along with several floral scents! Oh well, either way I liked it.

The colour of this shower gel is simply beautiful. I absolutely adore the lilac colour of it. The consistency of the shower gel also seems a little thicker than some of the others, giving it a more smooth and conditioning feel. It lathers well too so overall its a huge thumbs up in my opinion.

If you haven’t tried it yet, you definitely should. I would assume it will be gone after Mother’s Day (March 15th) so snap it up now while you can! Also while you’re at it, grab Ultraviolet. I don’t know if its limited edition or not but its AMAZING and if you liked Bathos, you’ll love this bubble bar.