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

This week my Word of the Week is:

I could easily have used the word football again as I have watched a lot over the past week and have been planning my evenings around the matches. Of course, I was celebrating England's win! 4 - 2 against Croatia. It sounds like a convincing win but watching it was stressful, especially with the penalty having to be retaken. I had never seen that before. One of the things I have really enjoyed is seeing some of the so called smaller teams giving the big teams a run for their money. It was great to see Portugal, Brazil and Spain only manage draws against teams that many people wouldn't have expected them to struggle against. It just goes to show that anything can happen in football. 

On Sunday we went out for a family lunch, an early one for Father's Day as Becky is at work tomorrow. It turned into a full day event. We had a lovely lunch out, went to another pub to watch the Grand Prix and then another pub closer to home just because we wanted to stay out and we ended up playing pool, watching football and singing along to lots of Queen songs. Those are my favourite family days, the ones that aren't planned!

I've had a really quiet week, I've not been up to anything exciting at all. I've stayed home and mostly just pottered around. It has been nice. It feels a bit like the calm before the excitement starts. Life is quiet now but we have lots of things happening over the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Stu has had a good week at work. Better than good actually. He was given a £200 bonus as he was the best in his team and what makes it even better is that it's a voucher so he won't be taxed on it. Also, a year or so ago, Stu was told that he could finish work at half past four instead of 5pm if he only had a half-hour lunch break but at the time it was pointless as the bus came at 4:45pm and it was a good 14 minute walk to the bus stop so he never made it in time and then had to wait until half five for his usual bus anyway. Early this week it came up in conversation and Stu realised the bus timetable had changed and now there's a bus at 5pm which he has been getting. Him getting home half an hour earlier has made such a difference to our evenings and the first evening it happened it surprised the girls so much. Becky thought she had slept in for her night shift as she is usually on her way out of the door when Stu is coming in and Ellie was just confused. I knew he was getting in early, they didn't! hehehe

I took my dad his Father's Day gift yesterday and I was told off. Stop wasting your money, he said to me and then got excited because I had bought all of his favourite treats. He does make me laugh. He is so hard to buy for, so I always buy him a foodie gift for special occasions, as he says he's at the age now where he has everything he needs or wants and if he doesn't, he just goes out and buys it. I think the only thing he could possibly want at the moment is for someone to come and do the paint work on one of his vintage cars. It's a long process and he has been on with it for around 2 weeks but I do think he's enjoying it.

Happy Father's Day for tomorrow to all the amazing dads, stepdads, grandads, father figures and those who take on that special role and sending extra love and hugs to anyone whose dad is no longer here, those spending today missing them, remembering them and wishing they could have just one more Father's Day together. Thinking of you all!

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!

My favourite things about my dad! #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a good week. Usually my Friday Favourites include all the things that I have loved over the past week but this week is going to be a bit different. With Father's Day coming up I thought I would share the best things about my dad. I am of course still linking up with Erika and Andrea to share as I think it is still classed as a favourites post!

He has supported me all through my life!

My dad has always been there cheering me on. From the days when I was sat on the floor crying about not understanding my maths homework, he sat for hours explaining it to me until I did understand and only the other week to last week, when I needed a lift somewhere. After my mother left, he really stepped up and did the job of two parents.

He gives the best advice, even when I don't want to hear it!

My dad is the first person I speak to when I need advice about anything, as nine times out of ten he's lived it and knows what to say or do. Sometimes I don't agree with his advice, as he has a way of telling it like it is, which can seem quite harsh but he helps me see things from a different perspective and looking back, he's usually been right more often than I'd like to admit.

He worked hard for his family!

As a child, you don't really think about how much your parents do, you just assume the bills get paid and food appears in the cupboards. Looking back now, I can see just how hard my dad worked for my family. He wasn't somebody who worked one job and then came home to put his feet up. He was a milkman delivering milk early in the morning, then running his skip hire business during the day and then working on the farm in the evening. He's 78 years old now and he's still working. Every year he says he's going to retire soon. Every year we all nod and pretend to believe him. I think he's been planning to retire for at least 10 years.

He always helps when something needs fixing!

Every family seems to have that person who can sort things out and for us, that's my Dad. If something breaks, I phone my dad and chances are that he knows how to fix it. He is amazing when it comes to any DIY. He mostly built my childhood home, so there isn't much that he can't do. The only thing letting him down now is his knees. He blames the fact he used to be a jockey and all the pressure and stress went on his knees. He seems to think outside the box when it comes to fixing things. Like when we were saying if only Ellie could move her bed she would have more room. He came up with the idea of shortening her bed and moving it against the wall, which created more space.

He loves his grandchildren!

Seeing my dad as a grandad has made me appreciate him even more. The love and pride he has for his grandchildren is lovely to see, even if they do sometimes test his patience but even then, he has all the time in the world for them. When my brother and I were growing up, there wasn't money for regular McDonald's trips. We had rules and we definitely weren't getting cake before meals but now the grandkids get everything and can do no wrong! There have been occasions where my girls have done something and he's laughed it off, saying they're only kids while I'm standing there thinking, I'd have been grounded because of that. lol

He stays calm in a crisis!

When everyone else is panicking, my dad somehow stays calm. Over the years there have been plenty of family dramas, emergencies and stressful situations. While I'm usually stood there crying and imagining the worst, my dad is already working out what needs doing. He'll arrive, see what's going on, give everyone jobs and somehow get things under control. I don't know how he does it!

He has a great sense of humour!

My dad's sense of humour has created so many funny memories over the years. He is the worst at telling jokes but they always make us laugh. Some of his jokes are so bad but I think that's part of being a dad; The dad jokes. Even in the worst situations, he can calm me down by cracking a joke. Sometimes he's not always politically correct and would probably offend some people but that is just the way he is. I have seen myself cringing hard when he's said something and whispering that you can't say that. He mostly knows when to be on his best behaviour but knows when a joke is needed to lighten the mood.

I love how excited he gets about his cars!

My dad's weakness is battered, broken vintage cars and machinery. He will buy them and spend months doing them up and every time I go to his he is so proud to show off the progress he has made. It all started with one car and he said he would sell it when it was finished. It is still in his garage. He has got another 4 since and they are all in garages. In fact, he had to build more garages to store them. lol

He still treats me like his child!

Even though I'm a grown woman with adult children of my own, he'll still check in on me every day or try to help with something when I am quite capable of doing it myself. When I visit him, he always feeds me and I never leave his place empty handed. Fruit from his trees in the Autumn, random things that he has bought and has extra or things that he thinks I will find useful.

He always wants to help!

My dad is the type of person who will help anyone if he can, not just family. He doesn't do it for praise or for someone to say that he's a good guy. It's simply who he is. Growing up, I thought everyone's dad was like that. It wasn't until I got older that I realised just how lucky I was.

I could list 100 reasons why my dad is the best. He isn't perfect and he wouldn't claim to be but he's exactly the dad I needed growing up and now as an adult. I'm incredibly lucky to call him my dad and I wouldn't change that for the world.

What I listened to in May!

At the start of the year, I started listening to audiobooks. I always wanted to be a reader but couldn't/wouldn't make the time, so audiobooks were a way around it. I could be busy doing something while still listening to a book. Anyway, I thought I would share what I have been listening to. All of my audiobooks come from my local library through the app BorrowBox. I know lots of what I listen to might be considered old but they are all new to me!

This is what I listened to in May:

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page!

When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. But mainly because Joe died five months ago....When she goes to pick up the present, Alfie, the bookshop owner with kind eyes, explains the gift - twelve carefully chosen books with handwritten letters from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him. At first Tilly can’t imagine sinking into a fictional world, but Joe’s tender words convince her to try, and something remarkable happens, Tilly becomes immersed in the pages, and a new chapter begins to unfold in her own life. Monthly trips to the bookstore and heartfelt conversations with Alfie give Tilly the comfort she craves and the courage to set out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to share her journey with others, her story like a book becomes more than her own.

I had heard so many good things about this book that I was scared to listen to it in case I was disappointed. I needn’t have worried because it was every bit as lovely as people said it was and maybe even more. From the start, it felt comforting, like sitting down with a cuppa and having a proper catch up with an old friend. The story was sweet, emotional and full of moments that made me stop and smile. I loved how real the characters felt and how easy it was to care about them. It had such a warm feeling running through it the whole way through and by the end I didn’t want it to finish. It really was like a warm hug in book form.

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn!

Alix Watson knows one thing: unlike people, books will never let her down. Working dead-end jobs to make ends meet, she takes nightly refuge in the reading room at the Boston Public Library, dreaming of far-off lands. Until she stumbles through a hidden door and is transported to The Astral Library, a place where the lost find sanctuary within their beloved stories. But when a shadowy enemy threatens to destroy the library, Alix must flee from danger through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen and the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes’ London as danger closes in.

I went into listening to The Astral Library by Kate Quinn completely blind and had no idea it was a fantasy story filled with magic. If I'd known that beforehand, I probably wouldn't have picked it to listen to, as fantasy isn't usually my go to genre. I'm so glad I didn't know because from the very beginning, I found myself enjoying the story and eager to find out what would happen next. The magical world was imaginative without being too much and the words brought the characters and setting to life. I could just imagine the library in my head. This book ended up being a fantastic surprise and a reminder that sometimes the books I least expect to enjoy turn out to be the ones I love the most.

You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto!

Influencer Meredith Lee didn't teach Aspen Palmer how to blossom on social media just to be ditched as soon as Aspen became big. So can anyone really blame Mer for doing a little stalking? Nothing serious, more like Stalking Lite. Then, Mer gets lucky; she finds one of Aspen's kids' iPads and swipes it. Now, she has access to everything: the family calendar and Aspen's social media accounts. Would anyone else be able to resist tweaking things a little here and there, showing up in Aspen's place for meetings with potential sponsors? Mer's only taking back what she deserves, what should have been hers. Meanwhile, Aspen doesn't understand why her perfectly filtered life is falling apart. Sponsors are dropping her, fellow influencers are ghosting her, and even her own husband seems to find her repulsive. If she doesn't find out who's behind everything, she might just lose it all. What everyone seems to forget is that Aspen didn't become one of TikTok's biggest momfluencers by being naive. When Meredith suddenly goes missing, Aspen's world is upended and mysterious threats begin to arrive but she won't let anything get in the way of her perfect life again.

Being in the blogging world myself, I could really relate to some of the pressures shown in You Will Never Be Me. There can be a lot of pressure to make life look perfect online and while I used to get caught up in that years ago, these days I'm much more comfortable showing real life as it is. The story does a great job of exploring the darker side of social media, how we compare ourselves to others and the lengths some people will go to in order to maintain that carefully crafted image. If someone had told me at the start where this story was going to end up, I wouldn't have believed them. Every time I thought I knew what was happening, another twist came along and changed things.

The Wish by Heather Morris!

Jesse is fifteen. She loves her friends, her little brother and her parents, even when they’re arguing, which feels constant these days. But most of all, she loves playing video games. Even from her hospital bed. Alex is twenty-nine. He doesn't love a lot of things and isn’t really sure he knows how to. A virtual reality games designer, his work desk is empty except for his computer, much like his life sometimes feels. Then Jesse makes a wish. A simple a video experience made of her life, something to be there, just in case she isn’t. One loving teenager. One lonely adult. Which one will get the happy ending?

This was the story of two people from very different walks of life, coming together in the saddest of circumstances. It was hard-hitting and very emotional but it kind of went between sad moments and then these little bits of hope that stop it from feeling too much. I enjoyed this even if I did shed quite a few tears.

Berserk by Ally Kennen!

What happens when there's no-one around to tell you when to stop? When fifteen year old Chas finds a website asking people to write to prisoners on Death Row, he thinks it would be funny to get letters from a murderer. He writes to an inmate, pretending to be his mum. When his new pen-pal is unexpectedly released, Chas' already problematic life spirals horribly out of control.

I went into it thinking it would be one thing and it turned out to be completely different. It has characters that are so different from characters I’m used to listening to and that was interesting. When I was a teenager I knew a few boys like Chas, troublemakers but with a good heart deep down. What surprised me most was that I found it funny in bits where I think it was probably meant to feel more serious or dramatic. The audiobook was easy to get through and never felt like a slog. 

What have you been reading or listening to lately?

The Wednesday Hodgepodge #60

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. June 17th, 1994 was the day of the infamous O.J. Simpson car chase. What were you doing in 1994? I'm guessing somebody is going to tell me they weren't born yet but that's part of the fun of the Hodgepodge. Lots of generations are represented here.

I can just about remember the car chase being on TV but I was too busy being a teenager to bother much with it. I was around 14 and a half years old in June 1994 living a carefree life. 1994 was a big year for my family as it was the year my parents sold our farm and we moved to a big town, which was such a shock for me, who had grown up in a tiny village in the countryside. That last summer at the farm was brilliant. Most of my time was spent outdoors, riding horses, camping out in fields with my friends and I made the most of the freedom that comes with growing up in the countryside. I also had my first experience of getting drunk that summer. It was not my finest moment and all these years later I can still remember exactly how awful I felt afterwards, which is probably why I still can't stand gin. School was going well too. I had a good group of friends, plenty of laughs and all the usual teenage dramas that seemed like the end of the world at the time but mean very little now.

2. What's your favorite summer salad that isn't the traditional tossed green lettuce kind of salad? Do you like fresh fruit in a salad (other than in a fruit salad of course)?

I have never really liked green, leafy salads and I always seem to go for pasta salads. My favourite is a tuna and sweetcorn one. It's simple to make; pasta, mayonnaise, tuna and sweetcorn all mixed together. It's filling and perfect when it's hot out. I usually make a big tub full and everyone will help themselves out of the fridge.

I like fresh fruit in salads. Pomegranate seeds go with everything, grapes are nice in pasta salads, pineapple goes well with ham and I also really like apple in coleslaw. I saw a recipe for watermelon, feta and a mint salad that I want to try sometime soon.

3. Is chivalry dead? Should it be?

I don't think chivalry is dead but I do think it has changed over the years. If we're talking about things like holding doors open, carrying heavy bags, offering someone your seat, or offering a coat when it's cold, then I do see that happening all the time. The biggest difference now is that those things are not seen as something that men should do specifically for women. To me, it seems more of an act of kindness that anyone can do for anyone else. I think that is a good thing. No, I don't think chivalry is dead and I don't think it should be.

4. Would you rather spend a week of your summer vacation in Hawaii or Alaska? Have you ever been to either? Are they two places you really would like to see? How do you feel about 'Hawaiian pizza' aka pineapple on a pizza? Have you ever eaten Baked Alaska?

I would love to spend a week in Hawaii with the sunshine, sandy beaches and warm sea. I could just see myself sitting on a beach, looking out to the sea with a cocktail in my hand. Alaska does look amazing but I think I'd probably spend half the holiday complaining about being too cold. I've never been to either place but I would love to visit both. Hawaii feels like a dream holiday, while Alaska feels like one of those once in a lifetime trips you go on just to see the scenery!

Pineapple belongs on pizza, not all pizzas but it goes so well with ham and mushroom! I have eaten Baked Alaska before but it was years ago and I am sure I must have liked it.

5. World Cup play is happening now...are you interested? Watching any matches? Did you or your children play soccer/futbol? There are eleven US cities hosting matches - Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York with the stadium in NJ, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle along with three cities in Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey) and two in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) - You get free tickets to one of these matches. Which city do you choose? Tell us why.

Football is a big deal here in England and at the moment the whole country is very excited about the World Cup. Even people who don't usually watch football follow along. I've been watching as many matches as I can and I'm really enjoying it. I always find myself rooting for the underdogs and wanting them to win. As I am writing this on Monday afternoon, I am watching the Germany V Curacao match that I recorded on Sunday. I have been trying to avoid the scores before I watch the matches I have recorded but I couldn't avoid the score since Germany won 7-1! If you are not a football fan, that is a lot of goals! Usually, matches end 2-1 or 1-0. What a game, at least Curacao got one goal and could have their moment celebrating!

If I could have free tickets to any World Cup match, I'd choose Dallas and watch England play tonight against Croatia in their first match in the tournament. I can imagine the atmosphere being amazing and how cool would it be to see your country play! I am just going to have to make do with watching it in my living room.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Phew! I am all sorted for Father's Day! I have bought my dad a hamper of some delicious treats that he's had in the past and loved. We don't have any plans for Sunday as Becky is at work and my dad has plans. Eesh! We did have a family meal out on Sunday as a treat for Stu and we all left with full bellies after a delicious lunch! The girls have got him some fab gifts and I can't wait to see his reaction when he opens them.