Our weekly meal plan! 17th - 23rd November! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I am not usually this happy on a Monday morning but it is my birthday later this week and I am very excited. I have a few things to look forward to as well as cake and presents!

We had such a cosy family weekend. Nothing wild, nothing Instagrammable and nothing that required leaving the sofa for long, just the way I like it! We rotated between watching TV, eating and pottering around the house pretending to be productive. Those are my favourite types of weekends! I didn't even go to my dad's on Friday as the weather was so bad with the wind and rain. I would have loved to have seen him but I didn't want to be going out in the cold and then catching a cold. I know being cold and wet doesn't directly cause a cold but it does increase the chance of catching one and just once I would like a birthday without a snotty nose and cough!

Last weeks meal plan went well. We ate most of what I’d planned but I did shuffle a couple of meals around because life happens and on Saturday my family decided they wanted home made pizza and as they were all home they made their pizzas themselves. Letting them make their own pizzas is one of my finest parenting hacks. No effort from me, all the toppings for them and no arguments about not wanting certain toppings, everyone can ruin their own pizza however they like. hehehe

If you have come here for meal ideas this week, you are going to be disappointed because the meals that I do make are going to be quick and easy. I am not even going to plan what day we're having anything as things are going to be all over the place.

On the menu this week we have:

At some point on one of the days where I’m out and about, I’ll grab something from town. I’m popping into M&S so there’s a strong chance I’ll come home with something fancy. I’ve heard the Christmas party food is out so I might just grab some picky bits for us to eat.

We will be having a feast at the all you can eat place in town one evening. We haven’t been in ages and it’s one of those places where I always promise I won’t overdo it and then I absolutely do! We always walk out with full bellies and smiles on our faces.

Another day we’re eating out again and I already know exactly what I’m getting: prawn cocktail as a starter, steak and chips and a dessert of some sort.

We’ve got three glamorous nights of freezer diving. The freezer is a lucky dip at the moment but it all needs using up because the big Christmas freezer shop is coming soon and that requires space and I really need to defrost the freezer at some point too. That is on my to do list for sometime soon!

Finally on Sunday I’m making a roast dinner at home instead of going out. A proper one. The last roast before Christmas so I’m determined to make it count.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 9th - 15th November! Week 46 of #Project365

I hope you are all having a good weekend! We're having a lovely one with all of us at home. It has been a quiet one, the weather hasn't been great. Wet and windy! Ugh! At least it hasn't been that cold although we have had the heating on just to get that cosy feeling. Next week the temperature is set to drop which I am not looking forward to but it will be nice to get into my winter clothes. Hooray for my fleecy leggings!

Now for a photo every day!

313/365 - 9th November

We had such a quiet day at home, one of those days where time went a bit blurry and I really had to think hard about what I did. I’m pretty sure all I did all afternoon was watch Christmas movies and play The Sims.

314/365 - 10th November

It has been grey and gloomy all week and we have had a lot of rain. I tried to take a photo but of course the rain didn’t show because it never does. It was that fine, mizzly kind of rain, I think that is the worst type of rain. It doesn't look like much but gets you soaked.

315/365 - 11th November

I spent the day at home with Becky. She was busy giving her bedroom a deep clean and when she had finished she decided she needed a reward so ordered us both some festive drinks. The mint hot chocolate from Greggs is so good, it tastes like Christmas in a cup! I couldn't get a festive drink without getting a mince pie too.

316/365 - 12th November

Ellie's main Christmas present was delivered. I was going to get her the A16 but the A17 was on sale for the same price. She’s going to end up with the best phone in the entire house, which she keeps reminding us of.

317/365 - 13th November

Christmas Fa La La Llama pyjamas! Another thing ticked off my to do list for Christmas, buy my family matching pj's. They were actually in the men’s section but pyjamas don’t care about your gender, they care about comfort and they feel like they're going to be very comfy. They weren't that expensive either. I buy us matching one's every year but they get worn all year around, we don't care if they're Christmas one's in the middle of June. lol

318/365 - 14th November

Surprise surprise more rain! I had my comfiest clothes on, a loungewear set which aren't pj's but are as comfy as them. I cracked on with the housework and got through a mountain of washing. I also got around to watching a couple of episodes of Grey's Anatomy. I haven't watched any of the newest season so it was a real treat.

319/365 - 15th November

Friday’s laundry was washed, dried but not sorted or folded, it was left on the dining room table. Sorting that out was yesterdays first job!

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This week my Word of the week is: Excited!! #WotW

This week my Word of the week is:

It feels so good to say that because last week and the start of this one I was not feeling great mentally. I think it was a mix of having everyone home a couple of weeks ago which was lovely but the week after felt flat and then the frustrations of last week piled up. (My phone seems has been behaving it's self now, there was no explanation from my phone network about the excessive text messages and other issues.) All I actually needed to pull myself out of the gloom was Christmas shopping! There was me feeling bah humbug about it but once I got started there was no stopping me.

Two of the big presents were bought for Christmas and it felt like a weight was lifted and then I started to get excited about the next couple of weeks and of course Christmas. I've had the Xmas music channel on playing all the Christmas bangers and I've started adding things to my online Christmas food shop order as well as buying things with this weeks grocery shop. Just chocolates and fizzy wine so far but it's a start.

Ellie had a busy week with appointments, she had the hearing lady visit college and then a meeting in town and I decided to tag along because a bit of moral support never hurts. It was one of those grown up appointments and I’m still adjusting to the whole she does the talking now that she's 18 and not me. Every now and again people speak to her like she’s been an adult since 1990 and I have to resist the urge not to jump in and talk for her but she did brilliantly. She did me proud so afterwards I whisked her off to Primark because she had her heart set on a dress for New Years Eve that she’s been seeing all over TikTok. It’s a black corset style mini dress and it was only £10 which I thought was a bargain considering we bought 2 drinks from Starbucks afterwards which cost more. lol They also do the dress in a burgundy satin version which I was eyeing up but no, maybe if I was 20 years younger. lol Ellie is going to look stunning on New Year’s Eve.

All this festive excitement has got me thinking about my birthday which is next week. I’d originally said I wasn’t doing much this year and that plan lasted about five minutes. Now the next couple of weeks are packed in the best possible way. I can’t even pick what I’m most excited about because everything sounds so good for completely different reasons. The new Wicked movie, a meal out with the family, a trip to York Christmas Market, then there’s a Christmas meal out with friends, a night out with Stu which will 100% end with us saying we’re too old for this, new episodes of Stranger Things, plus I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here starts over the weekend!

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

What I have loved this week! Week 46. #FridayFavourites

Hello there and happy Friday! I hope you have all had a good week. I have, it has been quite lovely but I am ready for the weekend. Everyone will be home even my fella, Stu who has Saturday off work for a change! It already feels like such a treat knowing we can all have a lazy weekend together. I’m here today sharing the little things I’ve loved from the past week and of course I’m linking up with Erika and Andrea to share them.

A cosy Sunday at home!

We have been going out for lunch for the past few weeks on a Sunday which has been lovely but it was so nice to stay home over the weekend and just be cosy. We had a lie in, did our Sunday morning jobs and that's about it. We then spent the rest of the day staring at screens, the TV and our computers. It was fine with me. I had few hours playing The Sims 4 and watched Stranger Things.

A hearing check which wasn't a hearing check!

My youngest, Ellie is deaf in one ear and once a year she has a check up at college to make sure everything is going smoothly. It’s not so much about her hearing itself but more about how the college is supporting her needs, things like making sure teachers are aware, that she’s seated in a good position to hear better and that the environment works for her. This week’s visit ended up being much more of a friendly chat than an official meeting. The lady doing the check up was absolutely lovely and after going through the important stuff which all sounded really positive, her college has always been brilliant they somehow ended up chatting about music, TV shows and movies for most of the time. It’s always reassuring when the people supporting your child genuinely get them.

Christmas music!

I gave in on Tuesday and put the radio on the Christmas music channel and within five minutes I was singing my little heart out to Last Christmas and All I Want for Christmas Is You like it was December 24th. hehehe Christmas music always puts me in such a good mood!

John Cena!

If you don’t know who John Cena is he’s a WWE wrestler turned movie star. You might’ve seen him in Suicide Squad, Barbie or Fast & Furious. Anyway, he announced his retirement from wrestling earlier this year which felt like the end of an era and now we're a month away from his last match. Eek! This week he had his final hometown show and I did not expect to get emotional over it but there I was in tears when he won a title belt which he's never won before and completed a Grand Slam by winning all the titles and making wrestling history! Then I read that the governor of Massachusetts actually declared November 10th John Cena Day. I love it, what a legend!

Buying for Christmas!

It’s officially begun, I’ve started the Christmas shopping properly! I got Ellie's main present: a new phone. It was going to be the Samsung A16 but the A17 popped up in the early Black Friday sale for the same price from Argos so she’s getting an upgrade! Stu’s getting a new TV for his computer, that’s already been ordered and is being delivered tomorrow. As for me, I still haven’t made a list yet, Oops. I get so caught up buying for everyone else that I completely forget about myself! This year I’ve decided to change our tree decorations too. We’ve had Harry Potter ones for a few years now and while I love them I fancied a change. So we’re going for a candy cane theme: red, white and sweets all over. I found some really cute ornaments on Temu and they should be here soon. Yesterday I bought the matching Christmas PJs for all of us, it's a tradition now and I've also popped a few Christmas treats into my food shop order, just chocolates and fizzy wine so far but it’s a start. The excitement is definitely creeping in!

What have you loved over the past week?