365 Days Of Gratitude. In October I was grateful for...

I have seen many people on social media list something every day that they are grateful for and thought I would join in. I have done this for the whole of the last few of years and it has really made me realise that even on bad days I have something to be grateful for.

October was another blink and you missed it month! Things were busy here for the first half of the month but then calmed down! Phew! We had lots of fun things going on and I can't see things slowing down until the end of the year. Eek!

In October I was grateful for:

Day 274 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that the tracksuit bottoms I ordered Stu were the right ones and the right size! Phew!

Day 275 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a nice time with my dad today. He made us lunch, we had a good chat and a few giggles.

Day 276 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a nice meal out!

Day 277 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a day in front of the TV.

Day 278 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful my dad rang me to remind me I was supposed to be at his today to help him out with some things on the computer. I had totally forgotten. Oops!

Day 279 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful I got all my jobs done quickly this morning so I could spend a few hours catching up on things on my laptop!

Day 280 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that I didn't have to go out in the rain and could stay home.

Day 281 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for my slow cooker, making tea so much easier!

Day 282 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that my dad made my lunch! Omelette sandwiches!

Day 283 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for Netflix and wrestling on the TV!

Day 284 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful my girls have told me their plans for the week. I am not going to remember everything but at least I have a fair idea what's going on.

Day 285 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful it wasn't as cold as it looked outside, I got some tidying up in the garden done.

Day 286 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for lunch from Greggs. The sweet mince pie roll is yummy!

Day 287 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that I finally got my Provisional Driving Licence through the post! They sure took their time to send it out.

Day 288 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful the girls had a good time at Hull fair and Becky sent candy floss home with Ellie for me!

Day 289 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a full refund from the DVLA. I don't understand how as I received my Provisional Driving Licence on Wednesday. lol I think it's because I paid for a first time one and they found record of my old paper one I lost when I was about 20 years old. I'm going to give them a ring on Monday.

Day 290 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful to have some time on my laptop tonight to catch up on things.

Day 291 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for an afternoon in front of the TV watching films and a bit of Ted Lasso.

Day 292 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that Stu cooked tea! Pie and mash!

Day 293 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that Stu is on early finishes this week! Getting home half 45 minutes earlier makes such a difference.

Day 294 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for soup for tea. It seems ages since I had basic tinned soup. My family had a cheesy macaroni meal that I didn't want.

Day 295 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for my dad giving Ellie a lift to somewhere she needed to be and home again. He had errands to run so she went along with him as well. She had the best time.

Day 296 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a bag of apples off my dad! I made an apple pie!

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Today I am grateful I could stay inside where it was warm and dry!

Day 298 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for an unexpected evening with Becky. She has training at work next week so had tonight off!

Day 299 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that I got some more Christmas presents bought.

Day 300 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a walk out into town with Becky while she got her hair cut.

Day 301 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful my parcels were delivered. I have a Halloween costume ready and someone's birthday presents!

Day 302 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful that mine and Ellie's hair dye went on well.

Day 303 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful Ellie had a fab night out with her friends and that her make up and outfit worked out!

Day 304 of #365DaysOfGratitude

Today I am grateful for a fun night out in town!

What were you grateful for in October?

Our weekly meal plan! 2nd - 8th November! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! We had a great one here with a very fun night out. We were all dressed up and so were most people in town. I lost count of the number of times I told people I loved their costumes. There was everything from zombies to Disney Princesses, witches to Toy Story characters. It was brilliant seeing how much effort everyone had gone to. Just in case anyone is offended by my devil horns in the Halloween photos, they are just a bit of Halloween fun and no offence is intended. You never know these days, so I'm just covering all bases before anyone gets their pitchforks out!

Last week's meal plan went well. All the meals were enjoyed and the hearty beef & mushroom pie was really appreciated when it was a really chilly day! My family were fighting over the smoky cheddar mummy sausage rolls as they were so good! Who'd have thought adding cheese to sausage meat would be so good!

I don't have much planned for this week, in fact I can't think of anything I have to really have to do this week but these are the weeks that always seem to end up being busy. The girls are going to a firework display on Bonfire night and I will be staying home, I hate fireworks!

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Pork and apple sausages with potato wedges and mushrooms and peas!

We're starting the week with something nice and easy. I really like pork and apple sausages, they just seem a bit more interesting than plain sausages. I'll pop the potato wedges in the air fryer, the mushrooms fried and we'll have peas on the side too.

Tuesday - Tuna pasta bake!

This is another meal that we've not had in a while. Tuna pasta bake is one of those meals that is easy to throw together and doesn't need loads of ingredients. It always goes down well with my family wanting seconds.

Wednesday - Veggie fajitas!

It has been a while since we have had fajitas. I love meals where everyone can put their own food together.

Thursday - A freezer dive!

This is the night the girls are going to a firework display and they will be getting food there, so it's just Stu and I at home to think about feeding. I haven't planned anything for us because I think we will just have leftovers out of the freezer. Emptying the freezer is on my to-do list this month, so this seems like a good place to start.

Friday - A takeaway of some sort!

Friday night is an easy night for me. I don't cook and we order takeaway. It could be Chinese or Indian food or even ordering from the fish and chip shop. We will decide on the day what we fancy.

Saturday - Gousto meal - Loaded Sausage & Egg Naan With Coriander Chutney!

This is something a bit different. Naan bread topped with sausages, a fried egg, minty sauce, chutney and a diced shallot salad. It also comes with tomatoey roasties on the side.

Sunday - A help yourself evening!

I have no plans for Sunday at all. Everyone can help themselves to whatever they fancy and use up bits from the fridge, freezer and cupboards. There is always something that needs using up.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 25th - 31st October Week 44 of #Project365

Happy Sunday!! I hope you had a great Halloween. I am hoping we did. I am writing this yesterday afternoon before I get ready for a night on the town with Stu and maybe the girls and their friends. They have plans but I have a feeling they will end up hanging out with their old parents. hehehe Yesterday was spent getting all the boring jobs out of the way. I did the housework, got the food shop delivered and then spent some time trying to do fancy eyeshadow. I'm not sure why I always think I'm going to magically become a make up artist when I have somewhere nice to go.

It's been another week of everyday bits and pieces, a little bit of Halloween preparation, new hair do's and some good food. I also have a lovely local story to share before I get on with this week's photos.

Over the last few months I have been following the story of Karl Bushby. He is a man from Hull, the biggest city near me. He set himself a challenge back in 1998. He set off from Punta Arenas in Chile and decided he was going to walk all the way around the world and then walk home. He gave himself two rules, he wasn't allowed to use transport and he couldn't return home until he had completed the challenge. Along the way he's crossed dangerous jungles, deserts and frozen landscapes, walked across the Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska and even swam across the Caspian Sea. Earlier this month he arrived back on British soil after swimming the English Channel after travelling through 29 countries and more than 30,000 miles. He still has the final stretch to walk to his home city of Hull. Today he is on the final stretch, he is passing through a little town near me and will be crossing the Humber Bridge into Hull, hoping to arrive back at his mum's house tomorrow morning! I think it's such a heart warming story and I imagine it's going to be all over our local news for the next couple of days.

Now for a photo every day!

298/365 25th October

It was the United States Grand Prix on Sunday and we all watched it here. It was nice having an 8pm start. It was a pretty chilled race with not much drama but I still enjoyed it. All eyes are now on Kimi Antonelli. He's on the verge of becoming the youngest F1 world champion!

299/365 26th October

Isn't this little ghost cute? I spotted this while I was out and I did almost buy it but I don't decorate for Halloween, so there wasn't much point. So I left the little ghost behind. I'm sure somebody else took him and gave him a lovely home!

300/365 27th October

Becky took me along with her while she got her hair cut. She hates going by herself and I really don't know why because the man who does her hair knows her and knows how she likes it cut. The guy is a friend of my dad's and such a lovely guy, so it's always nice to have a little chat with him.

301/365 28th October

It was hair day for me on Wednesday! I cut and dyed my hair and yes, I did it all myself. I've been doing my own hair for years now and I probably save myself about £100 each time. I don't mind doing it myself but I still panic that something is going to go wrong. This time was a huge success. I got the colour I wanted and didn't leave the bathroom looking like a murder scene with red hair dye everywhere! I do like being able to do these little jobs myself.

302/365 29th October

I made the Smoky Cheddar "Mummy" Sausage Rolls from Gousto and my family ended up fighting over them as they were that tasty! I don't eat much cheese so it would never have crossed my mind to add cheese to the sausage meat. My family said they were the best thing ever! I had mine without the cheese.

303/365 30th October

Here's Ellie's first Halloween look! She went for white face paint, lots of black eyeliner and some spider webs around her eyes. I thought it looked really good and it was a great start to her Halloween. It's nice having Halloween as an excuse to try something a bit different with make-up.

304/365 31st October

I ordered some Halloween temporary face tattoos and they arrived just in time. I only really wanted them for the little details around my eyes because, as I've already mentioned, I'm rubbish at doing fancy eye make up. I'll hopefully have some photos to share sometime over the next week!

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This week my Word of the Week is: Halloween!! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

I think it's a pretty obvious choice seeing as today is Halloween! Do you have anything planned?

Yesterday I found myself carving pumpkins and I had so much fun. I wasn't sure how much help I was going to get from the girls because they weren't interested in anything like that. Becky took herself off to bed after her night shift and I was left with Ellie. The girls are at an age now where carving pumpkins is not cool! I was quite happy getting stuck in and before long Ellie was hovering around giving me hints and tips on what to do and what not to do. She was dying to join in but didn't want to admit it. hehehe

Ellie had a Halloween party last night and got all dressed up. She went all out with her outfit and covered her face in face paint. She looked great but I am really hoping the face paint washes off without too much trouble because she's got another something to go to tonight and she's wearing a completely different costume. Tonight's look is full on glam so the last thing she needs is yesterday's face paint hanging around! We always say that Halloween is Ellie's time to shine. She usually wears goth and emo-style clothes, so this time of year suits her perfectly.

I'm still laughing at my attempt to sort out a Halloween costume this week. A last minute thing is happening and it was decided that I need a Halloween costume. I spent about two hours scrolling through costumes on Amazon looking at different styles and trying to find the perfect one. I found one I liked, placed my order and waited for it to arrive. The excitement didn't last long as when I tried it on, it was too big! Oops! I did think about returning it but thought I could fix it with a bit of sewing. hahaha I have plenty of skills but sewing is not one of them. It wasn't my finest moment. The costume has now been donated and I have decided that my sewing career is over. In the end, I went back to my wardrobe and decided to wear a dress that I've had for ages but have never been brave enough to wear. I always feel like you can dress completely different on Halloween and no one bats and eyelid. I've bought a couple of accessories to go with the dress and I'm really excited about wearing it. Of course, there will be photos coming soon!

What makes the whole costume situation even funnier is that Stu doesn't have a clue that I am dressing up. The people we're going out with are all dressing up in fancy dress and he thinks I'm just wearing a black dress with little skulls on. I'm keeping it a surprise because I think his reaction is going to be quite funny. I'm quite looking forward to seeing his face when I walk in. I think that's one of the things I like about Halloween. It's a chance to have a bit of fun, be a little silly and do things you wouldn't normally do.

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one! I am of course linking up with Anne who blogs at Raisie Bay to join in with her Word of the Week linky!