#BEDM Day 31 - You Made It!

Day 31 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

Woop woop!
Yep for the third time I've successfully managed to come up with some sort of rubbish tenuously-related to each day's theme every day for a whole month.

He's got nothing to do with completing the BEDM challenge but what a fine specimen of a beak he is...


I've enjoyed nosying into everyone else's posts (although I admit, I am rather behind on my blog reading) and I hope you've all enjoyed my random mutterings.

Some of my favourite posts were...

Day 23 - Date Night (the tale of how I met Andrew)
Day 21 - Workspace (a veritable menagerie of beasties)
Day 20 - Being Adventurous (how one girl went to New York abroad on her own aged 19)
Day 14 - Home Sweet Home (a nosy around my kitchen)
Day 13 - Fashion, Beauty and Grooming (my love letter to Vaseline)
Day 8 - Local History Month (where the nursery rhyme 'Jack and Jill' all started)
Day 1 - What Is Your Blog All About? (what I was doing on May 1st!)


Just because BEDM is over though, doesn't mean it's all going quiet round here; last year I said I'd go back to posting two or three times a week yet somehow since March 2013 I've managed to rack up 428 posts! I'm not really sure what about...

Anyway, I'll pop the kettle on, help yourself to some cake and feel free to stick around if you fancy it (there's lots more to come in this little bloggy space over the next few months!)

#BEDM Day 30 - Talent

Day 30 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

Elizabeth’s prompt for today is Talent – tell us what make you awesome, not usually an easy task as it doesn't feel natural to kind of 'big' yourself up!

 

 

 

 

 

 But in the spirit of today's theme, I'll give it a go.

 

So, I am awesome because…

 

 

I can remember lots and lots of random crap.

 

I’m quite happy to sit behind the wheel of both a modern lorry and vintage lorry and give them a spin.

 

You want your life organised? I’m your gal.

 

My cakes might not look pretty but I’ve been told they’re darn tasty.

 

Lists, lists and more lists, I can make a list out of anything.

 

Give me something to find out or research and I’m one happy bunny.

 

If you want a job doing, it’ll be done, I don’t give up easily!

 

 

What makes you awesome? 

#BEDM Day 29 - Wishlist

Day 29 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

Back when I worked in my local library, we had several customers who would regularly order the latest bestsellers and things from the Richard and Judy list. Part of the job was to process books as they arrived, putting them out on the reservation shelf ready for collection.

What this actually meant in practice though was that we unpacked lovely shiny new books from their boxes, oohed and ahhed over each one in turn looking to see if we’d like it and then made a note to keep our eyes peeled for it once it had come back from going out to all the customers.

Consequently, I (and all the other staff, I’m sure) ended up with a mammoth list of books we’d like to read (almost 300!). Although I’ve had a GoodReads account for a few years, I used to keep my list on an Excel spreadsheet and only added books online once I’d actually read them. The other day though, it suddenly occurred to me that GoodReads had a ‘Want to Read’ function – I know I’d seen it on there and for some completely random reason, I’d been ignoring the fact that it would be a helluva lot more convenient to store my ‘want to read’ list online.

 

 

 So over the last few days, I’ve been swapping my gigantic list of titles from my traditional spreadsheet over to my online ‘Want to Read’ list. I’ve already listed about 200 books but I’ve still got a fair few more to add (and my list keeps growing, because I keep seeing things I’d like to read on Jane’s list!).

 If you’re on GoodReads, feel free to add me as a friend so you can take a nosy at what’s on my list!

 

#BEDM Day 28 - Share The Blog Love

Day 28 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

I seem to be sharing the blog love rather a lot recently!


So today, here's five blogs I've recently added to my Bloglovin feed...


Two Days the Same

Two Days the Same is the brainchild of Sarah (from Sarah Rooftops) and is a year long project - each month Sarah and a guest blogger take a photo a day and then Sarah puts them together on the blog. It's really interesting to see how different (and equally how similar) some of the pictures are!
(plus you really need to follow Two Days the Same as in September, I'm the guest blogger!)



Sophie Louise Anne

I think I found Sophie through Michelle's Life Outside London blog and straight away she made me smile with her everyday language and random musings.



The Dusty Attic

Anna is a fellow BEDM-er and a very good job she's doing at it as well! I've enjoyed reading her take on each day's topic plus her crafting adventures.



A Little Life

A Little Life is based in North West Wales and although it's run by a mystery blogger (I can't find her name!) it's full of crafts, gardening and travel adventures.



The Little Fox Den
 
I'm not really sure how I stumbled across The Little Fox Den but any blog that allows me to have a nosy into someone's everyday life is a win with me!

#BEDM Day 27 - National Barbecue Week

Day 27 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

Hidden away in a corner of our back garden, we actually have a purpose-built barbecue shelter - in 4 and half years living there though, I think it's only been used a handful of times.

 

 

 

If it ever stops raining for long enough, I've already bookmarked a few recipes to try from around and about the t'interweb...

 

 

 BBQ Chicken Burgers

 

 Source: BBC Good Food

 

 

Cheese and Chilli Melts

Source: BBC Good Food 

 

 

Barbecue Baked Sweet Potatoes

 Source: BBC Good Food


Halloumi and Shallot Skewers

Source: Good Housekeeping



Have you managed to have any barbecues yet this year?
 

#BEDM Day 26 - Bank Holiday Fun!

Day 26 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

 Our bank holiday weekend was spent at a little steam rally about 15 miles away over the border into Wiltshire. It's quite a good one but is only really a small fish in the steam rally world (the big one is the Great Dorset Steam Fair at the end of August) so we were quite suprised to stumble upon a 1940s vintage tea shop in amongst all the marquees and stalls!

Needless to say, that's where we took our afternoon tea each day...

 

Andrew's been to steam rallies all his life and has never actually seen a place like it, there's usually only the standard burger vans and catering stalls selling the same old fare.

Essentially a steam rally is a celebration of nostalgia, vehicles and all things vintage so fair play to whoever was running that stall, I think it's a fabulous idea!
 

#BEDM Day 25 - Best Thing About Childhood

Day 25 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

Well co-incidentially, I think the best thing about childhood is also the best thing about being an adult...

...Freedom!


As a child though, it's a completely different type of freedom - the whole world and everything it has to offer awaits you and other than where your next meal is coming from, there's not really much to worry about!

#BEDM Day 24 - Healthy Living

Day 24 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

Today's theme is healthy living; there was a similar theme during last year's BEDM month and as I mentioned there, the phrase that governs my life when it comes to living healthily is Petronius' Paradox...


Everything in moderation, including moderation.


In practice, this includes everything to do with keeping healthy. The sad truth is, life really is too short and I'd much rather have that Domino's or extra slice of cake and enjoy it, just I won't do it every day.

I don't belong to a gym but do try and stay active - years ago our grandparents didn't go in for £30 a month expensive exercise subscriptions, all they did was live an active lifestyle and there's so many ways that can be done without shelling out a fortune.

When Andrew's dad spent 6 weeks in hospital with a ruptured oesophagus back at the beginning of the year, the consultants kept remarking on the fact that he was very fit and healthy. They told him that someone unhealthy half his age (he's 73) would have probably died. My father-in-law has never been near a gym in his life - all he's done is just kept doing stuff.

The whole adage about "your body is a machine" is completely true; think of it like a car - you need to keep it oiled, running and serviced but you don't want to run it into the ground and do 100,000 miles in the first year, else it'll wear out and fail too quickly.

I think our bodies are exactly like that - we need to do enough to keep our heart, lungs and vital organs functioning properly but not do so much that our joints and muscles wear out before we're 50.

I think it's a shame that so many people constantly strive to change their bodies, I know I'm always going to have hips and boobs, I like my curves and personally, I don't think I'd suit being very thin. If you're not happy with what you've got, then by all means have a go at changing it but not at the expense of being happy with the rest of your life because (to repeat the cliche) life is just too short.

I'm not sure where this blog post is going really - it's just been a bit of musing over the idea of living a healthy life!

A Tale of Face Paint, Alcohol and Hunger Pains (#BEDM Day 23 - Date Night)

aka. The Tale of How I Met Andrew!
(how one date night led to another...)

 

The First Meeting - 16th November 2004

Well, it all began on a cold and wintery evening just after our local town's Carnival procession. Andrew was in a rival Carnival club (that year's theme was pinball machines) and my Carnival club (whose theme was gargoyles) used to go back to their social club for the post-procession party. Andrew had been in his club for 7 years already but I'd only just joined mine earlier that year.

 

I didn't even notice him that night but apparently he spotted me across the room and thought "hmm...haven't seen her before...she must be new".

 

Fast forward 5 days and we're at the oh-so-glamorous resort of Pontins in Brean Sands. The last Carnival procession that year was Weston Super Mare and as the tradition goes, as soon as your own float passes the finish line, you hotfoot it 10 miles down the road for a night of drunken debauchery and the all-important final results. Most people stay overnight and at about 2am a mutual friend invited Andrew and his mate Mark over for more booze and chatter. I'd only had three drinks so wasn't really drunk but I do remember thinking "surely never-in-a-million-years would he possibly fancy me!?"  He was 26 and I was only 21 - surely he wouldn't fancy someone 5 years younger!? (like that really made a difference!). Andrew remembers being a bit squiffy, still complete with half that evening's face paint on from the Carnival and tried cracking some jokes which went down like the proverbial lead balloon.

 

The First Date - 23rd November 2004

After Andrew had got home the next day and sobered up, he asked the said mutual friend for my number and we arranged to meet up a week or so later on a Tuesday night in a local pub between the two towns where we lived.

(this wasn't actually our first date, there's no pictures of that unfortunately but this was taken about 6 weeks later at a Carnival presentation)
 

We met up about 8pm, stayed in the pub til we were kicked out just before midnight and then stayed in the car park til about 3am just talking. Now, the bit I only found out about later on was that he'd planned to have dinner with me (note that he'd completely failed to mention this in advance) but as every girl knows - food and eating on a first date is dangerous; you don't want to end up looking like a disaster zone! So naturally when he asked me if I wanted something to eat, I said no - of course what he should have said is "I'm quite hungry, I think I'm going to get some food, what do you fancy?" which would have left me with no option but to say "yep, okay, I'll have something to eat".

What actually happened was that because we talked into the early hours, he was absolutely starving, even the kebab shops had closed and his dinner that night was just toast!
And he's never let me forget it...

 

 The Engagement - 18th September 2006

I spotted the perfect ring in the jewellers in our local high street during the summer and we went in to buy it. I have miniscule fingers (or at least, I did 7 years ago!) -  a size I - so it had to be specially ordered.

I knew Andrew was going to propose (we'd already talked about it) but I didn't know when the ring would arrive or what date he was going to do the deed. I was working to 7pm in my local library, went round to his mum and dad's house for dinner and he pulled me into his bedroom, promptly got down on one knee (except that as I pointed out before I said yes, he was actually on two knees) and then asked the immortal question.  His parents knew what he was up to, my parents didn't (but did have their suspicions) and all our friends were fed up waiting for him to ask me!

 

The Wedding - 21st April 2007

We got married 7 months later; no particular reason, just that we fancied April and thought it would be easy to organise by then. As it happened, everything was fairly simple to put together - neither me or Andrew are into massive lavish expensive celebrations - we had everything exactly how we wanted and the whole thing was only just over £3500.

 

 

 

And of course, planning our perfect wedding without spending billions of pounds - that's a whole other story!

 

Cooking Crimes - In Defence of Reduced Price Food

We've had a bumper few weeks in the reduced price section of our local Mr T's (other supermarkets are available...) so my next 'Cooking Crime' is going to be exactly that!

 

I know there's a certain section of society who wouldn't dream of buying anything 'cheap' but personally, we can't see anything wrong with it at all and often manage to cram heaps of things into the corners of our freezer.
 

 

At our local shop, it seems to be around 5.30-6pm and then again about 9pm that everything gets heavily reduced. We've got a little 'reduced price footpath' around the store taking in the rotisserie counter first, followed by the fruit and veg bit, then it's on to the chilled shelves and finally the bread and cakes section.

 

I reckon about 75% of our loaves of bread are always reduced ones plus anything in a packet (like sausage rolls) gets chopped into bizesize pieces and decanted into boxes to be stored in the freezer. They can then be taken out over the next few months and used as snacks in our lunchboxes.

 

 

My criteria when searching out the cheap stuff is:

- is it something we like?
- will we actually get round to using it?

- how reduced is it? (you'll often find stuff like £2.00 down to £1.80 - usually not worth it)

- and the most important one, can it be frozen?

 

For the last question, I use my own judgement rather than what's actually written on the packet - we've found that you can freeze most vegtables and fresh fruit (things like berries, great for smoothies), all sorts of snack food like sausage rolls and pork pies, cooked meats, sandwich fillers, uncooked meat, ready meals, pastries and cakes (including ones with fresh cream in - even though the box says no, we've always frozen them and they taste fine), double cream, milk, every type of bread you can think of and even boxes of sandwiches (we keep cheap ones spare in the freezer for when we get back from a holiday or steam rally late at night and can't be bothered making a lunch for work).

 

And the best bargains of course, are always the cakes!

What about you? Are you a fan of the little yellow label?

 

PS. I'm also claiming this as my BEDM Day 22 post - the theme for today is 'Out of the Comfort Zone' and the one thing that's definitely out of my comfort zone is not following instructions or doing things properly, so for me to ignore the prompt and not do a BEDM post just feels a bit weird!

#BEDM Day 21 - Workspace

Day 21 of Rosalilium’s 'Blog Every Day in May' Challenge

On a small scale, my workspace desk is rather boring, full of paperwork and files but on a larger scale my wider workspace is a veritable menagerie of fluffy, flappy, hoppy things!

 

And for a bit of a short (10 second) Wednesday giggle, take a look at Mrs Duck giving her little one the boot...

 

 

 

What's your workspace like? Any wildlife?