Virtual Reality!

This morning was my usual visit to My Monday Recycled Teenager, we had our usual catch up and I did a bit of hoovering for her, before we headed out to Morrisons.

Teen One spent the morning finishing her assignment...

 

 

 

...and having taken it into Uni, returned library books, she is now a lady of leisure!

 

 

 

After lunch Teen Two and I popped into town and as usual he wanted a look round Game.

They have refurbished our local store, and part of it is now a place to play on games stations and also a virtual reality set.

Teen Two was eager to have a go, and at £5 for ten minutes, whilst it seemed a bit steep....I thought ten minutes was probably about as much time as I would want his head being in a virtual world!

In actual fact, they gave him extra time and he had 20minutes!

He really loved it and will no doubt spend some of his pennies on it again.

 

 

 

Back home it was time for some bunny hugging for him...

 

 

 

...and for me it was a spot of sock knitting, with Milly cosying up next to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Missing Those Early Years!

 

This morning was the usual sort of morning, church first thing, followed by a roast dinner

and then an afternoon of games for Grandma

 

 

There was also some more bunny hugging with Flora...

 

 

 

...as well as some gaming...

 

 

...whilst Grandma wrote out a message to later on type out to her niece in Australia, to express her sadness at the loss of her dad this week.

Hubby showed Grandma how to use the keypad, but it did not come naturally!

Bless her she did at least try!

 

 

 

 

Poor Teen One had no day of rest at all, it was on with the assignment.

It is true, she COULD have had the day off, but as her friend is going in to Uni tomorrow to drop her own work off, it makes more sense to go in with her, rather than have to make a special trip Tues or Weds, which is the deadline.

She is almost finished she tells me and has tomorrow morning to add the final touches.

 

 

 

 

For me...it was an hour of knitting, but true to form, I thought I could shortcut what the pattern said...basically because I had lost track of where I was in the round and didn't think it matter!
But when the pattern says about rearranging stitches...it really does matter...

 

 

 

 

....this is NOT a good look and is probably highly uncomfortable!

Well, I decided I need peace and quiet to work out where I should have the stitches on the needles, so will do that Tuesday when the house is quiet.

I might even have a go at grafting, I failed miserably some years ago, but with the advent of YouTube  I might be more successful.

So,  I cracked on with the second sock instead.

I am at the easy peasy enjoyable bit at the moment, which is bliss!

 

 

 

It was back to church this evening and tonight's preacher brought along his little family, a two year old and 6mth old.....lots of hugs and cuddles for Teen One and I after....simply delightful!

And contrary to what is so often said...I did not want to hand her back!

I could do the preschool years all over again!

I remember dreading the teenage years when the Teens were Tots, and wondered how Grandma coped with five teenagers!

"I enjoyed all the stages of our children growing up" she said....I thought that was just not possible...surely teenagers are troublesome, moody, money pits!

But nope, I have to agree with her....I have enjoyed all the stages of our children......but I do miss those early years!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pangs Of Guilt!

 

This morning I was awake before Hubby, so I did the honours and took him and Teen Two a cuppa and a bowl of cereal  to have in bed....setting the pace of the day...well for Teen Two and I at least!

 

 

 

Teen One spent the entire day ( stopping only for lunch) getting an assignment done, and is still at it now ( having stopped for dinner)

 

 

 

for the first time in many years, I was able to understand what her maths was!

 

 

I kept her supplied with one of her favourite hot drinks!

 

 

 

Hubby spent most of the day finishing off putting the new fence up, it is now complete...it has needed doing for years so is a really good job out of the way...it is supposed to be weatherproof for the next ten years, so we wont have to worry for a while.

Lets see how the bushes come up next year now, we hacked them to the ground!

 

 

 

 

I spent the morning wrapping more Friday Club presents and now have three Ikea bags full...which is definitely the bulk of it done.

I know there are a few still to do, but I forgot to bring the registers home so will have to do the last few tomorrow when I bring them back from church, then triple check  all names are accounted for.

 

 

This means the attic floor is much clearer ( there was no walking space at all before!)

 

 

 

The bed also is no longer covered in wrapping paper, empty bags and all manner of Christmassy things.

Hidden from view of this shot is the piles of family presents  (exciting aye...piles!!) which will get wrapped as soon as things are a bit calmer!

At least there isn't the Dec 24th  deadline with these ones...but I would like to have them done before then.

 

 

With lunch out of the way, and upstairs looking tidier than it has since mid November, I felt like a relaxing afternoon....a cheesy Christmas film and some knitting.

 

 

By the time the film was finished I had knitted the bootees, sewn them up and sewn up the hat.

I have to say, having seen a newborn in the week, the hat seems rather big...it was first size too!

Oh well, I guess it will last a long time!

I hope to sew up the jacket tonight ( hate the sewing up!)

I can then get back to some sock knitting, which I have really missed!

 

I think sewing up must be a recent "hate" as I remember back in the 80's, when intarsia jumpers were the rage, a friend in Scotland had a little business making jumpers on her knitting machine.

The knitting didn't take long, but the sewing did.

She had four children and her husband had been made redundant, but he still had lots of contacts in the office we worked for.

My friend always had orders from the office, and at one point had trouble keeping up with them. As this was their only income, she was keen to not refuse any orders, but was getting snowed under with it all.

So I asked her to see if it was viable to post the knitted items down to me, I would then sew them and post them back to her.

She made such a profit on the jumpers that believe it or not, it was worthwhile (I didn't take any money for doing it of course.)

So for months that was how my evenings after work were spent!

Maybe that's were the "hate" started??

 

 

Teen Two spent the afternoon bunny hugging.

Little One (or "Flora" as she has been re named) whilst hard to catch, was happy to sit for almost two hours being loved and stroked.

Hubby has put the hutch out in the garden now, so tonight is their first time back in the open air...

...I feel a little guilty I must admit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has It Really Been A Year?

 

Today has been all about the last minute preparations for the Friday Club Christmas Party.

It doesn't seem a year since we were doing it last!

It takes a lot of organising and over the years less and less of us are around to do it, so it gets harder and harder...and we get older and older!

Grandma deserves a medal to still be in the thick of it at 82!

The Teens got the balloons blown up  whilst I did a hundred and one other things...

 

 

 

...the jam jar corner has become very popular and every year the kids have to remind me to find out who won each jar!

 

 

In a bid to make the party (just a little) healthier ( it is a party after all!) we had reduced the number of sweets we give out.

In the past we used to hand out sweets during Treasure Hunt, which was old coins hidden around the church, and exchanged for a sweet.

Nowadays we save our pennies and let them keep any they find, you wouldn't believe how excited they are to find and keep a penny!

 

 

Last year Teen Two created a load of mini lego figures and hid them around the church hall...this year, inspired by the Pokémon Go craze he downloaded a load of Pokémon characters....

 

 

 

...and created a tick list for the kids to go off exploring with ( sorry for the rubbish shot!)

They made great warming up games, keeping the kids amused until everyone had arrived.

 

 

 

 

It was then time for the team games...Hubby had created four Christmassy team names and got creative himself with posters for each team corner.

I have to say...it was the NOISIEST party ever!
The kids really really love the team games we play...we have been playing for decades...long before I was around even!

But they are tried and tested and very much loved.

The cheering as each team won was unbelievable.

A small handful found it too much ( you ALWAYS get kids who don't like games, don't like noise and don't like food....one wonders why they come!) and for those we had a quiet corner ( well as quiet as we could make it!) with colouring and a few toys.

The buzz from the rest of them was amazing and for the first year ever, we didn't have to tell anyone off.

We HATE HATE HATE having to tell some one off, anywhere, let alone the party...but the behaviour of some kids is just unbelievable...well you teachers out there will know exactly what I mean.

Their behaviour spoils the fun for everyone...but this year (with the odd bit of cheating exluded, which we turned a blind eye to) there wasn't one child who spoilt the fun for anyone...not only that, we didn't have any injuries...someone generally gets hurt somehow, and no one cried...that is generally a given with that number of children and the level of excitement!

So...what a party it was!

 

 

The colour in table cloth was a big hit and I will look out for some for next year.

 

 

We seem to have got the food just about right...pizza, nuggets, hot dogs, potato shapes....

and the surprising favourite was ...watermelon Christmas trees!

I only bought a portion of watermelon, but everyone was asking for more, so next year I will buy a whole one.

We also put jelly and ice cream back on the menu with a 99flake added ( which Tesco have stopped selling they told me today so I had to make a trip to Morrisons as well, which I was not too pleased at!)

After tea the kids wanted to go back for more games but it was home time by then...for which we were very grateful, because of course we had been at church two and a half hours before the kids arrived and would be there over an hour after clearing up!

So we are now home, exhausted with aching feet, but happy to have provided some memories for our local kids.

 

On a sad note, we heard in the week Hubby's uncle in Australia, who we were looking forward to staying with in April, was diagnosed with cancer....this morning we woke to the news he had died very suddenly of a heart attack.

It was most unexpected, but a sweet release for him, he has missed his dear wife so badly since she died five months ago, and clearly was very unwell himself too.

Its been a real shock and I guess the busyness of the day has kept it from our minds, we do feel for the closer family who have lost both parents so close together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Counting More Blessings

 

When I took Grandma shopping yesterday, she said she wanted to get daffodil bulbs for us grown ups as our Christmas present.

I rather liked that idea, but wasn't sure bulbs were still around, I had seen them some weeks ago in the shops and had FQ2FF's blog comment in my mind about planting her bulbs late.

It seems it is not daffy time, however, I saw these spring bulbs and thought they would make excellent gifts and only £10....

 

 

 

...they come in a terracotta pot as well, so will be a very welcome addition to the garden patio come the spring.

Grandma decided to dispense with wrapping ours and gave me ours to bring home, so that is officially our first Christmas present!

Hubby did not look on them so enthusiastically as I did!

I think he would have preferred the usual tin of biscuits or socks!

 

 

After a very hectic morning at Parent and Toddlers ( with a delightful new born to admire!)
and then making a head start with getting the tables ready for tomorrow's children's party, I  was looking forward to a quiet afternoon, finishing off the cards posting.

However, as I was driving home I saw Teen One walking round the pond, having just been dropped off from Uni, so I thought I would make the most of her being home and pop into town to get a few bits for the party.

We decided to have a Subway for lunch, since we were both starving and needed some sustenance to keep us going!

 

 

 

Back home, having cleared some piles of paperwork that had accumulated, and a bolognaise put in the oven, I started to flag big time!

So, with a cuppa by my side I finished the cards, folding up all the "our year in pictures" sheets Hubby does every year for me.

Its a good way to keep family and friends we don't see very often, up with how the Teens are growing and a little of what we have been up to.

I thought I had it all done, but as I am typing this have thought of two people I missed out!

Tomorrow I will go to the Post Office ... I am estimating its going to be a whopping bill of around £40!!

Scary isn't it!

Maybe one day we will all do ecards instead!

 

 

Having handed in one assignment today, Teen One is straight on with another one to be handed in next week...then her holidays begin!

 

We learned yesterday that a girl Teen One went to school with has cancer and is part way through chemo.

Even with her hair shaved off she looks beautiful, which is amazing.

We do pray the chemo will be successful.

It's one of those days to count our blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are We Over The Top?

 

This morning Grandma wanted to go to the large M&S in Southampton.

I was a little disappointed they didn't have a few bits and pieces I had seen in the Food hall in Bognor, but the disappointment was not long lived....not when there was salted caramel latte and carrot cake in the offing!

 

 

When I came home a friend had called in, making use of our wifi to do some school work in between appointments.

Teen One had made her a cuppa and she too had work to do so the two of them had an industrious morning by the sounds of it.

I had spent last night winding up little balls of wool, to make into kits to include with the Pompomania book for the Friday Club older girls.

This afternoon I finally finished wrapping all the girls presents up....phew so glad that's done!

Just need to get the boys sorted.

Someone else had offered to buy the boys presents but to date I don't think they have...so I will chase that up and I expect will end up getting them myself!

Some folk are very well meaning aren't they...but working to a deadline isn't everyone's forte!

 

 

On Sunday Grandma told me the decorating had gone over the top in our house ( don't you just love the loose tongues of older folk!!)

Well what do you think....most of my decorations are gifts and often handmade....

Above was a card received two or three years ago, and has come out every year since then...

 

 

 

...this is one of my favourite pressies from a couple of years ago....

 

 

...the JOY wooden letterings were made by a friend about a decade ago 

(I also have LOVE PEACE)

The bunting was a swap I was involved in some years ago...

 

 

 

...I love the way the letters create a shadow on the wall....really pretty at night time...

 

 

...the Lladro Nativity scene ( well a small part of it) started off with the Shepherdess on the right, and was bequeathed to me by a dear friend in the US.

I  bought the other pieces VERY CHEAPLY on ebay a few years later...

 

 

...the sign was a pressie last year, the woodland pot pourri a gift several years ago,

the Coca Cola lorry Hubby bought this year in a charity shop and the red house was bought for £1 in the sale at Atlantic Village 2-3 years ago...

 

 

...finally, the angel was a sewing swap a few years ago and the mitts came from Poundland last year...25p a pair!

 

So...what do you think...is it over the top??

Hardly!