Share Our Lives - Favourite current music!

It's that time of the month again to share some of my life and join in with the other Share Our Lives bloggers. This month the prompt is: Favourite current music.

I’ve realised something about myself over the years. I am not a music person in the way other people are music people. I don’t go hunting for new releases and I can’t tell you what’s number one in the charts unless the girls are playing it loudly but music still plays a big part in my life.

I always say I’m not into new music, which is mostly true. I do technically know current music thanks to TikTok but only the good bit, the catchy 30 seconds that everyone dances to or mouths at the camera. Most of the time I don't know who sings it or what the song is even called.

When I’m cleaning, cooking or doing anything around the house, music is happening and when it goes on it’s always the same stuff. My girls like to remind me that my music is old. My happy place is cheesy 90s pop. Proper sing it like you mean it pop, the kind of songs that come on and make you feel happy! Then there’s the rock side of my music taste, which feels very serious compared to pop but still ends up being equally dramatic. Classic rock is what I love. Bon Jovi is basically a household staple. Guns N’ Roses also make regular appearances, especially when I’m feeling a bit grumpy or need motivation and then there’s Meat Loaf. He was an absolute legend! I do dip into rock from the early 2000's like My Chemical Romance, Green Day and Limp Bizkit. A while ago, my youngest said she had found this great group but I probably wouldn't like them because of their bad language. She played me a Limp Bizkit song that I sang along to. That was a proud parenting moment for me which really shouldn't have been but the look on her face was priceless.

The songs from musicals have a big place in my heart too. You have to sing them loudly and I usually do when I am in the kitchen making tea. My family find it hilarious. I'll be halfway through cooking and suddenly realise I've got an audience watching me put on my own little performance. Then there are the big power ballads. If I've got a ton of housework to get through, I'll usually be listening to Celine Dion or Whitney Houston singing and dancing along. Folding clothes, mopping floors and hoovering is much more fun with good music.

I'm quite happy listening to the music I've always loved and I probably always will be. I think I always go back to the same music because it's comfortable and familiar. So many of the songs remind me of different times in my life, I don't feel like I have to keep up with every new artist or know what's in the charts.

What's your favourite music at the moment?

I am linking up with:

Adrienne from Mom Life with Adrienne.

Dara from Not In Jersey.

Jen from Show me & Sweet tea.

Joanne from Slices of Life.

Our weekly meal plan! 10th - 16th August! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Ours was a good one. Nothing exciting happened apart from me thinking the shower was broken with water coming out of the bottom but it turns out the shower head was blocked with limescale. The girls were doing their own thing with friends, so it was quite at home. I am getting used to having two adult daughters who have their own lives, plans and people to see. I spent most of Saturday catching up on the housework that I didn't do during the week. Being full of cold and feeling sorry for myself, cleaning wasn't a priority. Saturday was a catch-up day with tidying, cleaning and doing the washing. Sunday was much more relaxed. I started watching the Lindsay Clancy trial on YouTube after seeing so much about it on TikTok. I had seen lots of people talking about the husband and things that apparently weren't adding up so I decided I wanted to watch the trial for myself rather than just relying on short clips popping up on my TikTok feed. It is interesting but also such a sad, sad case.

Last week's meal plan went really well. We ate just about everything that was on the plan, which I am taking as a win because I had no interest in cooking for most of the week. Stu did the cooking on Monday, which was a massive help as I just couldn't be bothered and for the rest of the week we just muddled through.

This week is going to be a little busy, we have a few things going on. Stu has a couple of days off work, Ellie has a couple of appointments and at the end of the week, it is Stu's birthday! I love this time of year, it's Stu's and the girls birthdays over the space of three and a half weeks. It's busy but a lot of fun!

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - A fry up!

We're starting the week with a proper fry-up. On the plate will be sausages, bacon, mushrooms, black pudding, hash browns, baked beans, tomatoes and toast! It is one of those meals that works at pretty much any time of the day. We could have it for breakfast, lunch or tea and nobody would complain.

Tuesday - Meat-Free sloppy joes with potato salad!

Tuesday is one of our favourite meals and it is something we originally used to get from Gousto. Meat-free sloppy joes with potato salad. I remember the first time we had the meat-free mince. I was very curious about it because I'd never really used it before. I am pretty sure I didn't even tell my family it was meat-free until after they had eaten it. I thought I would see whether they noticed and they didn't! lol The sloppy joes are really tasty and messy, which is all part of the fun.

Wednesday - A help yourself evening!

Wednesday is going to be one of those nights where I have no plans. Everyone can help themselves to whatever they fancy and use up bits from the fridge, freezer and cupboards. We always seem to have random bits of food hanging around. Half a packet of something, a few potatoes, some cheese, leftover meat, something in the freezer that I bought ages ago and forgot about. This is the night to use things up.

Thursday - Ham, eggs and home made chips!

I have a couple of joints of gammon in the freezer so they are coming out for Thursday and Friday. I'll boil the gammon and we'll have it with fried eggs and homemade chips. It's such a simple meal but it is so good and homemade chips are always worth the effort!

Friday - Ham salad!

We'll be using the leftover ham with a salad. Lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, beetroot, sweetcorn and some new potatoes. I'll probably end up adding anything else I find in the fridge too.

Saturday - Pizza of some sort!

I haven't decided exactly what we're having yet. It might be homemade pizza or it might be fresh ready-made ones from the supermarket. It will depend on how much time I have and what everyone fancies.

Sunday - Stu's birthday!

We sort of have plans, but nothing is definite yet. We have talked about a few things we could do but we'll see what happens. Whatever we end up doing, I know it will involve something nice to eat!

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 2nd - 8th August Week 32 of #Project365

Happy Sunday!! I hope you've all had a lovely week and are enjoying your weekend. I am glad to say I am well and truly over the cold that I have had. We all seem to have finally got over it and thankfully, it seems to have passed Ellie right by! Phew! I was getting a bit fed up with feeling rubbish and on Friday was at that stage where I thought I was better but felt exhausted after just walking to my dad's. Now I feel full of energy and I'm raring to go!

I was writing this yesterday, it's 11:10 and I feel like I have had a day of it already! lol. I had some good news about a family thing. Don't worry, it was nothing bad, quite the opposite. I will share more about it when things are a little more definite, because I don't want to say too much and then have to say that didn't happen but it's good news and it really put a smile on my face. Then I went to go in the shower and there was water coming out of the bottom of it. So I did the usual thing of ringing my dad and asking for help. Thankfully, he came round, took the shower head off and suddenly it was working perfectly again. It turns out the shower head was filled with limescale! That stuff tortures us here, the kettle and washing machine are always filling up with it and the drains outside too. My dad only knew what the problem was because he had the exact same thing happen to his shower a few months ago. The water couldn't get through the shower head properly, so it was finding another way out. I then had to sort Ellie's hair because she didn't have time for a shower before she went out. Thank goodness for dry shampoo because it has saved us more than once! I am hoping for a nice relaxed afternoon but I sure do have a lot to talk about with Stu when he rings at lunchtime. lol

Now for a photo every day!

214/365 2nd August

Just a little ice cream and I emphasise the word little! I am sure these used to be bigger. I know everything seems smaller these days but I really don't remember Twister Minis being quite so mini. This was purely for medicinal reasons. I was full of cold and obviously, ice cream is a well-known treatment for these things. hehehe The second one I had later in the day was more for enjoyment though.

215/365 3rd August

Whenever I look at the sunflowers in my garden, they make me happy. I stop almost every day just to look at them and snap a photo. The bees don't seem to get bored with them either, they are always buzzing around them!

216/365 4th August

On Tuesday, Becky and I needed a little pick-me-up, so we had Costa Coffee delivered, although no coffee was actually ordered. I had a mango and passion fruit cooler, a bacon roll and a lemon muffin and Becky had mac and cheese and some sort of frappe. I can't remember exactly what was in her drink but it looked nice! It was exactly what we needed.

217/365 5th August

I got up to Negan's first episode on The Walking Dead! (I am rewatching it). If you have watched The Walking Dead, you will probably know exactly which episode I mean and if you haven't, I won't spoil it for you! When I first watched it, I hated Negan but over time he has grown on me and he is now one of my favourite characters. Obviously, that doesn't include the bits where he is doing awful things with his baseball bat but as a character, he is brilliant.

218/365 6th August

This is what the sky looked like for most of Wednesday. It looked like it could chuck it down at any moment but it didn't. We had about 20 drops of rain and I only know that because when I went to put some rubbish out, I noticed it on the wheelie bin. There were just enough drops to make me think that we were going to get some rain but no, there wasn't any more. Hmmf.

219/365 7th August

Football! Middlesbrough, my old hometown team versus Wrexham, the team that Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) own. It ended 1-0 to Middlesbrough, which I was happy with. They are through to the next round of the EFL Cup and it was a good way to start the new football season.

220/365 8th August

I have a tomato that I grew in my garden! Just one though. All the rest are still green but this one finally decided it was ready, so I picked it, washed it and ate it straight away. Delicious! There is something really satisfying about eating something that you have grown yourself, even if it is only one tomato.

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

This week my Word of the Week is:

We have had a slow week, mostly because Stu was just getting over a cold and then Becky and I caught it. Ugh! Ellie has been really lucky and hasn't had as much as a sniffle and she thinks it's brilliant. Oh, to be young again! I have been feeling very sorry for myself over the past week as I have not been sleeping properly and when I don't get enough sleep I turn into such a grump. Early in the week, Stu and I were waking each other up coughing and each spent a night on the sofa just to give the other one some peace. I only realised after that I could have slept in Becky's bed because she was on a night shift. Thankfully, we are all feeling much better now and are over the worst! I had forgotten just how miserable a summer cold can be. Everyone talks about coughs and sniffles in the winter but having one when its warm outside feels so unfair! Ugh!

The week started with lots of wrestling to watch, which gave me a good excuse to just sit in front of the TV. Over 4 days we had about 10 hours to watch and all the shows were fantastic. A guy returned after 17 months off and neck surgery and did not take things slow, 5 minutes into the match, he was flying over the ropes onto people on the floor outside. Championships changed hands, there were more returning superstars and lots of drama.

I have done the bare minimum around the house and even though I felt a little guilty at some points throughout the week, I knew it was for the best. Stu has been a great help and Ellie too. The floor could do with hoovering and everywhere needs a dust and I might get around to it today but if not, it's not the end of the world. I need to keep reminding myself that the jobs will still be there tomorrow and nobody should be judging me because I've been unwell.

I wrote this yesterday after being out to see my dad. It's the first time I've been out of the house all week apart from being in the garden. It has been nice to sit out there and get a little air and it really helped at times to feel less stuffy. I had a slow walk to my dad's and got a lift home. It really tired me out. I guess I am not fully over this cold yet but it was nice to have a change of scenery and get some proper fresh air. It was good to have a catch-up with him too as I didn't see him last week as I was waiting for the people to unblock the drains again. It's an ongoing problem. There are cracks and damage to the sewer pipes and it makes everything drain slowly and every 6 months or so it just gets too much and blockages happen. It's on the water companies to fix list but until then we just wait.

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!