What I have loved this week! Week 37. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a good week. We have had a great one. I am keeping this short and sweet because we have a birthday to celebrate and I am having to write this on Wednesday while I have the time. Things seem so busy here at the moment but I am of course linking up with Erika and Andrea to share what I loved this week!

My eldest turned 24!

By the time you read this, Becky will have turned 24. I am sure she had a great celebration as she was off out with friends to town on Wednesday night. I have always thought it strange having a big night out mid-week but apparently it's a thing aimed at students with cheap drinks and the bars stay open late. Then yesterday there was a family meal out. The table was booked at another one of our favourite places to eat and I already know that I am getting the fish and chips as they cook their fish perfectly! Then it's home to open presents and probably an early night as we might have plans for over the weekend.

Harry Potter!

Harry Potter has made its annual appearance in our house! I rewatch all the movies every year and on Sunday I started from the beginning. This year I am trying to spread them all out a little and not rush through them in a few days. I am planning on watching one a week and so far so good. Harry Potter is one of those film series that I can watch over and over and still notice little things I didn't notice before.

Sorting the garden out!

Our garden has gone from looking rather sad to needing a good tidy up in a matter of weeks. A couple of weeks ago, the grass in our front and back garden was dead, burned and all yellow. We'd had such a dry spell and there wasn't much we could do about it apart from wait for some rain because of the hosepipe ban. I really didn't fancy filling the watering can over and over and doing it that way. We've had quite a bit of rain over the last two weeks and it has all come back to life. Suddenly we went from worrying about the grass being dead to realising it needed mowing! Stu did that while I did some weeding. I would have done more but the garden bin was full. I think that was a pretty good excuse to stop. hehehe Stu also fixed the guttering around our little shed. It had been on his to-do list for ages and he finally got around to it. Now the end of the guttering is right above the water barrel so we can collect water to water the plants.

Lasagne!

We went off the meal plan on Tuesday! Becky decided she wanted to make lasagne from scratch with the mince, lasagne sheets and different sauces. It's something I never make from scratch, so it felt like a real treat for the family. They had it with chips and garlic bread. I don't eat lasagne, I am allergic to lots of cheeses, so it's never taken my fancy, although I do always think it smells amazing when it's cooking! Becky also baked a basic sponge cake to have with custard. I didn't complain about that one! It was so nice to have a night off from cooking but Becky did make me laugh, she thought it was such hard work cooking a whole meal from scratch and seemed to forget that I do that probably 4 or 5 times a week. lol

Voicemails for Isabelle!

I watched Voicemails for Isabelle on Netflix this week and this was another one of those films that I put on not expecting much but I really enjoyed it. It is a romantic comedy-drama about a grieving pastry chef named Jill who copes with her sister's death by leaving long, confessional voice messages on Isabelle's old phone number. Unbeknown to Jill, her sister's old phone number had been reassigned to Wes, an Austin, Texas-based real estate agent. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but I really enjoyed it. It definitely has that feel good rom com thing going on but there are quite a few moments that really tug at your heart. It was a lovely film and well worth a watch if you fancy something that is funny, romantic but also has some more emotional moments thrown in.

What have you loved this week?

My eldest is 24!

Today Becky turns 24 and I have said it again and I will probably say it every year. I can't believe how quickly another year has gone. Becky has had quite a year and if I had to sum up her 23rd year, I think I would say engaged, making plans, growing up, finding her feet and happily living her best life. There have been some big changes, some exciting plans for the future and lots of moments that have made me sit back and think about how she has grown up so fast!

Becky found the love of her life a few years ago and one of the biggest moments of the past year was when she got engaged. It was the best couple of days for her as her and her partner went off to Newcastle Upon Tyne to see Alex Warren in concert and that is when it happened. It still feels strange saying that my daughter is engaged and now she's planning a future with someone she loves. It really is something special seeing your daughter find someone she wants to share the rest of her life with. She's happy, she's excited and she's looking forward to what comes next.

Of course, getting engaged also means there are now lots of conversations about the future with wedding plans, homes, kids, money and what comes next. She's at that stage of life where there are so many possibilities ahead of her and I am excited for her and to be part of the planning. Another big step this year has been making plans to move out and get her own place. She's now looking for somewhere that she can call home, which I wasn't very happy about at first but we talked things over and I came around to the idea. It's not that I didn't want her to move out. I just would have preferred she saved and bought somewhere rather than rent but it's her life and her choice. I will be there beside her, supporting her where I can and so far, that has been with filling out forms. I keep joking that she needs to buy new ink for the printer because I've lost count of all the printing that she has done.

Becky is living her best life and probably the thing I love most about this past year is seeing her happy. She works hard but she also knows when it's time to have fun and has done so many fantastic things over the last year. Had trips away, been to concerts and shows, had some fantastic nights out and had plenty of downtime too, playing games on her laptop, watching football and binging TV shows. At the moment, she is halfway through Geordie Shore. That was a blast from the past. I used to watch it about 15 years ago. lol As I am writing this she is off to the beach with her friends, like I said, living her best life!

There have also been plenty of those little everyday moments that don't sound exciting when you write them down but are the things I will remember. The chats we have, watching the wrestling together, the laughs we have, the random TikToks she sends me, hearing about what she's been up to and all the little bits of her life that she shares with me. Those are the things that remind me that even though she's growing up and becoming more independent, I am still lucky enough to be part of her life.

At 24, Becky is still young enough to have loads of time ahead of her but also old enough to start making some big decisions and that is exactly what she has done over the last year. If I could wish anything for Becky at 24, it would be that she stays happy, keeps laughing, looks after herself and never feels like she has to have everything figured out.

The Wednesday Hodgepodge #72

I hope you are all having a good week. It's Wednesday, which means it's time to join in with the Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond! Each week there are 6 questions, we answer and then link up. Simple!

1. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? On a scale of 1-10 how much of a fan are you? (10 is never miss a game and 1 is I'm just here for the snacks). Who's your team? If you're playing along today, but live outside the US feel free to sub your feelings about futbol for the more American sport of football.

I am going to be talking about futbol or soccer as it's sometimes called. Here in England it's just called football, it's the one with the round ball. I am a pretty big fan. I would say an 8 out of 10. As I am typing this, I have football on the TV. Birmingham V Wolves. I don't really have much interest in either team but it is a good match. My family's team is Newcastle United but I have found myself supporting our more local team, Hull who moved up to the Premier League this season. They were not expected to be doing as well as they are. I hope it lasts until the end of the season but there's a long way to go.

2. What's something you currently have a game plan for managing?

At the moment, I’ve got a bit of a game plan for getting organised for autumn. Sorting out the house, getting back into a proper routine after summer, sticking to the meal plan and making a list of things I want to get done before Christmas suddenly appears out of nowhere! I’m trying to tackle things one at a time rather than making a massive list and then getting overwhelmed by it. There are little jobs around the house that I’ve been putting off, things that need cleaning or sorting, cupboards that could do with a good clear out and hopefully, by the time this goes live, I have had a big sort out in the garden, weeding and pulling up the plants which didn't survive the heatwaves!

3. Do you like chicken wings? Hot, mild, or some other flavor? What's a must have food for you on a tailgate menu? I know tailgating isn't as big of a thing outside the US of A as it is inside the US of A, but you can also answer the question this way-what's a must have food for you at a sporting event viewing party?

I like the idea of chicken wings but I don’t like eating anything off the bone! Chicken wings always look so good, especially when they’re covered in a nice sauce but I find eating them far too messy. I’d much rather have chicken without the bone so I can just get stuck in without worrying about sauce all over my hands. If I was choosing a flavour I’d go for something mild rather than really hot.

I’d never really thought about tailgating before, I actually had to Google what a tailgate event was because it’s not really a thing here in England. I’ve seen it on American TV and in films but I never really understood what everyone was doing. Now I know, it actually sounds like such a fun way to spend the day before a sporting event. We don’t really have anything quite like that here. Whenever we go to a sporting event, we usually get the train or bus because there’s no point driving when you're heading somewhere with thousands of other people. Finding somewhere to park would probably be a challenge.

If we were watching sport at home, I’d definitely want pizza and probably a take-away one as watching sport seems like a whole event, so it needs to be celebrated. There would also have to be crisps, dips and plenty of little finger foods that you can grab along with fizzy drinks like Coca-Cola.

4. Teams typically have strict playbooks they follow. What is one unwritten rule or piece of advice in your 'life playbook' you think everyone should know?

One unwritten rule in my life playbook that I think everyone should know is: never pass up the chance to go pee! If you’re leaving the house, go before you leave. If you’re out somewhere and you’re thinking, you probably don’t need to go, go anyway! If someone says, Do you want to use the toilet before we set off? The answer is always yes! There is nothing worse than getting halfway somewhere and suddenly thinking, why didn’t I go before we left? My advice is simple: always go before you leave!

5. This is the week we remember and mourn all that was lost and changed on September 11, 2001. I always include a spot for bloggers to share anything they'd like to share about 9/11. Share as much or as little as you like.

It's crazy to think 9/11 was 25 years ago! It’s one of those moments where you can always remember where you were when you heard the news. I was at home when my mum rang me and told me to put the TV on. The news was on all the main channels, which only happened when something big was happening. At first, it didn't seem real. I remember watching and thinking it looked like something that belonged in a movie. I think that's one of the reasons 9/11 has stayed in people's memories for so long. It wasn't just the terrible events themselves but the way the whole world seemed to stop and watch the news together. Even though I was in England and thousands of miles away, it was one of those days when the whole world seemed to come together. Ordinary people had been going about their day, going to work and doing all the normal things and their lives had changed forever. It’s a reminder that sometimes a single day can change history in a way that none of us could have imagined when we woke up that morning.

6.Insert your own random thought here.

Sunday's are almost my favourite day of the week! On Sunday I slept until gone 9am, scrolled on my phone for a bit, had a shower, did some blog commenting and started writing this blog post all while watching some football. Stu made us a nice lunch, just sandwiches and a cup of tea but food always tastes better when someone else makes it. I spent the afternoon watching F1 and started rewatching the Harry Potter movies. It was a lovely, relaxing day, just what Sunday's are meant to be!

The first September in 20 years without a child going back to school!

It's September and for the first time in about 20 years, I don't have any children going back to school or college and that feels very strange to say. August would normally be spent thinking about the new school year, buying everything the girls needed and trying to get everyone ready for another year of early mornings and school runs. I'd be looking at school uniforms, buying new shoes, sorting out stationery and always wondering how on earth the six-week summer holidays had gone by so quickly but this year, none of that has happened. My girls are adults now. They have their own lives, their own routines and their own plans. They don't need me to make sure they have everything ready for school because, well, they don't go to school any more.

I am finding it all a little strange and what has surprised me most is that I'm missing things I never thought I'd miss.

I miss buying school uniforms. For years, school uniform shopping was a massive chore! Every summer there would be a list of things the girls needed and off we'd go. There were shirts, trousers, skirts, jumpers, socks, PE kits and school shoes. I remember one year I thought I would get ahead of myself and buy the school shoes not long after they had finished school for the summer. Of course, September rolled around and Ellie had gone up a size, so I had to pay twice for school shoes. I probably could have returned the pair that didn't fit but I never thought of that. I even miss the stationery shopping when the girls would try and convince me that they needed the glittery or scented pens, fluffy notebooks or really expensive pencil sharpeners. Buying new stationery made September feel like a fresh start. Now I can walk through the stationery aisle without having a reason to pick anything up. I still of course look though, who doesn't love new stationery?

For years, making packed lunches was a big part of my morning routine. I'd be in the kitchen making sandwiches, putting fruit into lunchboxes, adding a drink and whatever else I thought they might eat that day. There were days when most of it came home again, which was always slightly annoying and then there were the days when they suddenly decided they didn't like something they'd been eating happily for months but I miss those little lunchboxes sitting on the kitchen side.

I spent years wishing I could stay in bed longer and now I can, I don't want to or have to get up to use the toilet and then I am awake for the day. I miss the busy school mornings when we were all rushing around trying not to be late getting out of the door, someone not wanting the breakfast I had made and even the arguments over lost shoes that were always right in front of them! At the time, I probably didn't appreciate those mornings as much as I should have. Now I miss the noise, the chatter and even the school run. There were days when I wasn't a fan of doing the walk to and from school, especially when the weather was awful or we were running late but looking back, it was also time together which I miss now.

For around 20 years, school was just part of our lives. The school calendar was also part of our family calendar and we used to plan everything around it. September meant a new school year, October was half-term, December meant Christmas holidays, then came February half-term, Easter holidays and then another week's break sometime before the summer. It just carried on year after year until suddenly it didn't. I think that's what makes this September feel so different. We can go anywhere whenever we want to within reason.

It's not all bad though there are some big positives to not having children at school any more. I don't have to set an alarm in the morning, I don't have to remember which days are PE days and have their kit ready and I don't have to panic because someone has suddenly told me at 8pm that they need something for school tomorrow. I can make plans without checking the school calendar and I can have a slower morning without someone shouting that they're going to be late. Then there's the money. No more new school shoes, uniforms, stationery, school trips and all those little things that add up to pay for.

We spend all those years working towards this as parents but I don't think anyone really tells you how strange it feels when they get here. Yes, I miss the school days but there are some lovely things about reaching this stage too. I have more freedom, more time for myself and two grown-up daughters who are becoming their own people.