What I have loved this week! Week 22. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a good week. We've had a great one. It feels like I haven't stopped but in a good way, with lots of fun things happening. I am of course linking up with Erika and Andrea to share the things that I have loved over the last week.

The Canadian Grand Prix!

Oh my goodness, what a race!! I think that was one of the most exciting races I have watched in such a long time. It had everything. Drama, chaos, rain, confusion, stress, people sliding about everywhere and everyone panicking over tyres. The weather made everything so much more exciting because nobody really knew what tyres were the right choice. George Russell was throwing bits of his car on the track when it broke down and was given a fine. Formula 1 really does love adding extra drama when it’s not needed but the best thing about it was that it started at 9pm so I could watch it live as it was happening!

The Wonders of Moominvalley!

Earlier in the week, the girls and I had a little outing to Hull. We had a few bits to do there anyway and ended up going to an art gallery because they had just opened a Moomins exhibition. I don’t think I realised quite how nostalgic it would make me feel until we got there. Ellie had absolutely no idea who the Moomins even were, which made me feel about a hundred years old. Becky vaguely remembered them from when she was younger but I used to watch them all the time when I was a child. The exhibition was lovely. There was artwork, sketches and information about the stories and characters. Even the girls enjoyed it more than they expected.

Getting lots done in the garden!

On Monday, which was the first the hottest day of the year so far, I decided it would be a brilliant idea to do some gardening. I started pulling weeds and moving pots around. I dragged Stu and Ellie out and he cut the grass while Ellie was sweeping and tidying up. We'd work for 10 minutes, then we'd go into the shade to cool down a little, then get back to it. The grass in the back garden finally looks nice again instead of the jungle it was. We got rid of loads of weeds, tidied bits and pieces and made everything look much more presentable. I also moved some of my plants into bigger pots and now all the ones which were on the kitchen windowsill are in the little greenhouses.

Ranch sauce!

I know ranch dressing is a massive thing in America but here in England it’s never really been something even seen in the shops or even tried, until now! I finally bought a bottle to try and now I completely understand why people are obsessed with it. I have been putting it on everything! Chips, wraps, chicken, random snacks and have even been using it as a dip! To me, it tastes like garlic mayonnaise mixed with tartar sauce with a little something extra thrown in.

Hot weather!

When I say we’ve had hot weather this week, I mean proper hot weather, which is not normal for May! We had the hottest day ever in May and then the record was broken again the next day when it went just over 35C! (95f) We are not built for this kind of heat but I've enjoyed the excitement of it all. We’ve spent loads of time in the garden, eaten far too many ice lollies and ice cream. Even my eldest, who normally refuses to show her legs, wore shorts this week. I think everyone looks a bit healthier after some sunshine too, we’re all slightly less pale. It has cooled down now, which I am happy about as I can sleep properly again but it was nice while it lasted.

This photo of me and my girls.

It does make me chuckle though, we are the sunglasses squad. lol

Stu's afternoon off work.

I love hearing about my fellas' work, sometimes it sounds chaotic but a lot of fun! He works for a phone company and every few months, Samsung come in to show off their new phones and products and for him and most of the staff it's just an afternoon off work. This time they got free ice cream. Stu ended up with two as his friend didn't want theirs and a fancy Samsung-branded Stanley Cup. It had better be better than the fan he got last year which worked for about 10 minutes and then gave up. lol There was a photo booth and everyone got lots of photos with their work besties! It was nice to finally put some faces to the names I keep hearing.

What have you loved over the past week?

Things I pretend I understand about gardening!

There are lots of things about gardening that I nod along to, smile about and pretend to understand. I love gardening, I really do. I like getting my hands dirty, buying plants with lots of hope and then watching to see what survives but there is so much that I don't understand. Today I thought I’d share the things I pretend I understand about gardening.

Soil types!

Clay, loam, sandy, chalky. People say these words with confidence, like they were born knowing what’s under their lawn. Me, I dig a hole and think, yep, that’s dirt! Apparently, soil type affects drainage, nutrients and plant happiness. I get the idea but when someone says, "This won’t do well in a certain soil," I nod like I’ve tested mine in a lab rather than poked it with a spade and shrugged.

Pruning!

Pruning is one of those gardening skills that sounds very serious. There are rules, seasons, angles and words like "node" and "deadheading" get thrown around and I smile politely. In reality, my pruning style is best described as chopping it and seeing what happens. If it looks messy, it gets cut, if it’s poking me in the eye, it definitely gets cut and if it hasn’t done anything exciting for months, snip. I know you’re meant to prune at the right time, or you risk ruining next year’s flowers. I pretend I know when that is but half the time I’m stood there with secateurs thinking this feels like the right moment. Sometimes it works and sometimes the plant dies and I pretend that was part of the plan.

Annuals vs Perennials!

I always think I know the difference between annuals and perennials. Then spring rolls around and I’m standing in the garden centre thinking, will this come back next year or am I committing to buying this again? Annuals are for one season, gone forever and perennials come back every year. Simple! Then every single year I forget!

Feeding plants!

Plants need food. That makes sense but the advice around feeding is wild. Feed weekly, feed monthly, don’t overfeed but also don’t forget. There's liquid feed, slow release and tomato feed for everything. I pretend I have a system. I do not! What I actually have is a vague memory that I fed something recently and a fear that I might burn the roots if I do it again. Sometimes I stand there holding a bottle of feed thinking you look hungry, which is probably not how it works. Other times I forget completely and then panic feed everything at once!

Latin plant names!

I love plants, I love flowers and I love a walk around the garden centre, but the Latin names are not for me. I admire people who casually drop them into conversation. "Oh yes, my Lavandula angustifolia is doing well." All while I am saying things like I like, the purple smelly one! I pretend I recognise the names when reading labels but really I’m scanning for pictures and the words “easy care. If a plant needs me to remember a complicated name and keep it alive, that’s asking a lot.

Companion planting!

Companion planting is fascinating. Did you know that some plants help others grow, some keep pests away and some don’t get along? It’s all the garden friendship drama! I love the idea of planting things strategically so they support each other. I pretend I understand which plants should be neighbours but in reality, I just plant things where there’s space and hope they sort it out themselves.

Knowing when something is established!

People say things like "Once it’s established, it’ll be fine." When is that exactly? A week, a month, a year? I pretend I know when a plant has crossed the line into being self-sufficient. What actually happens is I either water it forever out of fear or forget about it entirely because it looked okay last time. Sometimes a plant survives despite me and other times it clearly needs more attention and I apologise to it quietly while pulling it out.

Garden tools!

There are so many tools. Apparently, each one has a specific purpose and makes life easier. I pretend I know which one to use when. Half the time, I grab whatever is closest and make it work. I own tools I’ve used once and tools I use for everything they were never designed for. I only found out a little while ago that there is a difference between a spade and a shovel!

Pests and beneficial insects!

I know we’re meant to welcome certain insects into the garden. They’re helpful, they keep things balanced and I get it and I support it from a distance. When someone points out the benefits of insects, I pretend I know what they're on about but in my head I think, as long as you’re not eating everything, we’re fine! Me and slugs are not friends. I’ve tried to be calm and nature loving about it but when they eat something I’ve been proud of, I am ready to fight!

Gardening for me is less about knowing everything and more about just having a go. I pretend I understand a lot because that’s half the fun. I learn as I go, make mistakes and laugh at myself a lot.

What don't you understand about gardening?

The Wednesday Hodgepodge #57

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. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names?

I do mostly like my name. It’s short, simple, easy to spell and easy to say. The only time it causes issues is when something official comes along and they assume my full name must be Kimberly. It’s not. It’s just Kim. My parents were both very much on the practical side when it came to names. My dad struggled to spell his surname when he was younger and my mum with her first name, so they decided not to pass that struggle on. My brother and I ended up with short names that were easy to spell and hard to mess up. Three letters each.

So much thought is put into our children's names, I remember reading through books of baby names when I was pregnant. With Becky she was going to be a Chloe or Olivia for a girl or Jack and Kane for a boy. I was a huge wrestling fan and there was a wrestler called Kane who I loved. It turns out when she was born, the midwife asked what we were calling her and I came out with Rebecca. Don't ask me where it came from? I can't really remember why I said it apart from that she looked like a Rebecca. We knew early on that Ellie was a girl, so Stu and I didn't even consider any boys names. We had a deal when I fell pregnant that he would name a boy and me a girl. We had a few other names picked out for Ellie. She could have been Louise or a Jessica but Ellie suited her!

2. A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one...which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose?

That's easy. I'd choose red velvet cake. I love it and don't eat it often enough! A scoop of vanilla ice cream seems a little boring when the cake it on offer and I am not a fan of blueberries, I will eat the odd one in a dessert if there are only a few but usually I avoid them. If I could choose my own, I would go for a bowl of strawberries, a white chocolate cheesecake and I can't think of anything blue that doesn't involve blueberries.

3. What's a job you'd like to try for just one day?

A surgeon. I'm currently rewatching Grey's Anatomy and at this point I feel like I’ve picked up enough medical vocabulary to confidently walk into an operating theatre and at least nod in the right places while someone hands me things. In reality, I would not be trusted anywhere near an actual scalpel but for the sake of a just one day experience I reckon I could take an appendix out if someone made the first cut for me. I’d love to see what it’s really like behind the scenes.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer?

Nope, there's nothing patriotic in my home. It’s not really something I’ve ever done in my house. Living in England, we do see it more during big sporting events. Flags will start appearing in windows, cars, pubs and basically anywhere they can be attached without falling off next month when the World Cup starts. People really get into it, especially when the England team are doing well. The St George’s Cross is a tricky one these days. For me, it’s always just been the England flag, it is as simple as that but in recent years it’s also been tied up in other political meanings and debates linked to extreme political views or anti-immigration messages, which makes it feel more complicated than it used to be.

5. It's the end of May, so let's exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!

M – Memories of random little moments that made me smile.

A – A mix of calm days and messy ones where I’ve been juggling too many things at once and pretending I’ve got it all under control.

Y – Year is moving quicker than I’d like it to. One minute it’s January, next thing I know I’m wondering how we’re nearly halfway through already.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

It’s too hot. There I said it. I know 30C (86F) doesn’t sound hot but here in England we are not built for it. We don’t have air conditioning so it feels like we are being slow roasted in our homes. Right now I’m sat here waiting for a little handheld fan to finish charging like it’s some sort of lifeline and when it’s ready, it will basically be glued to my face until it runs out again. Then I’ll repeat the entire process. Yes, we do have a normal plug-in fan but I’m still traumatised from a few years ago during a heatwave when we all had fans running constantly and ended up with a huge electricity bill. We spent more on electricity in one day running the fans than we did for the rest of the month! Oops. Over the last few days we've had the hottest days ever recorded in May, I dread to think what the summer temperatures will be like. Eek! 

How blogging has changed me!

I have been blogging for over 13 years and that still feels mad to me. When I started, I honestly thought it would just be a little hobby for a few months. Somewhere to waffle about the kids, what we were eating, things we’d been up to and all the random thoughts floating around in my head. I never imagined I’d still be here all these years later and I never expected blogging to change me as much as it has.

One of the biggest changes blogging brought into my life is how much more I notice the little things. When you blog about everyday life, you start paying attention to different things and in a different way. You notice the small stuff because small stuff turns into a blog post. A random thought while making tea, something funny someone said in passing, the way the light comes through the window in the evening or a feeling you can’t quite name but know you want to write about it. Blogging trains your brain to go that’s worth remembering and writing a post about it. Before blogging, I probably rushed through a lot of days on autopilot. Now, even after all these years, part of my brain is always noticing things, like collecting little moments. It’s made me more present and grateful for the ordinary bits.

Blogging has made me much more aware of my own thoughts. Writing things down helps me untangle my brain a bit and I've realised blogging is therapy with fewer tissues. I’ve written through stressful times, parenting worries, confidence wobbles, family stuff and those weird phases of life. Sometimes I only realise how I feel about something once I’ve written it down. Typing it out makes it real. Some posts never even make it onto the blog. Sometimes the writing is just for me and getting it all written down can clear my head.

I wasn’t always confident sharing my thoughts publicly, hitting publish used to feel terrifying! I’d read posts back about ten times before they went live and still panic. I used to overthink everything. I think blogging daily sort of knocked that fear out of me over time. I still overthink some posts but I have learnt that my voice doesn’t have to be perfect and I don’t need to sound clever or polished all the time. Sounding like me is all that really matters. Over the years, I have stopped trying to write the way I thought I should write and started writing the way I actually speak. Chatty, honest and a bit rambly sometimes.

Blogging has become as normal as putting the kettle on. Even on days when everything feels a bit off, it is nice to sit down and write something. Some days the post is long and thoughtful and other days it’s short and scrappy. Blogging has been there through every stage of my life over the last 13 years with different worries and different versions of me. Looking back at old posts is strange because I can remember exactly where I was in life when I wrote them. Some make me laugh, some make me cringe a little and some make me feel emotional, because in 13 years so much has happened.

Blogging has taught me that it’s okay to change. My blog has changed loads over the years because I’ve changed, my interests and my priorities too. I used to worry about that but now I quite like it. It would be weird if I was still exactly the same person I was 13 years ago. The blog has grown with me, rather than boxing me in and it’s helped me let go of the pressure to stay the same just because people expect it.

One of the best things to come from blogging is the people that come with it. People who pop up in the comments, readers who’ve been there for years, messages from someone saying, I thought I was the only one who felt like that. Even though most of the time I’m just sat in my armchair typing away on my laptop, it never really feels lonely. There’s always someone who relates to what I’m saying or leaves a comment saying they feel the same way. I love that. Being open helps other people feel less alone and that’s important. It’s made me kinder, more sympathetic and more willing to talk about stuff that isn't always easy to talk about.

Daily blogging is not always easy, there are of course days when I cannot be bothered at all. Days when I’m tired, uninspired or staring at a blank screen wondering how on earth I’ve managed to blog for this long but I don't always have to feel inspired to create something. Sometimes I just start writing and see where it goes. It can be messy but I muddle through and usually end up with a blog post to publish.

After years of blogging, I am now someone who notices the small things, trusts my voice, understands myself better than I did 13 years ago, values consistency over perfection and even now, after all this time, it still feels fantastic to sit down to write. It turns out, this little hobby changed everything!

How have you changed since you started blogging?