What's The Story

I've linked up with the gorgeous Charly over on the POD Cast What's The Story Link Up. Pop on over and have a look at some of the beautiful photos and stories.

Its been 8 years since my beloved Grandad (or Dangrad) as I used to call him passed away. He and I had one of the most special relationships I think I have ever had in my whole life. When I was small we would go on the most amazing adventures involving hiding from giants and leaving gifts for Fairies at the bottom of our garden. As we arrived home my Mum used to look at us and shake her head in disbelief at the state we were in, but all we did was laugh as we told her of all the things we had done that day.

My Dangrad was quite the hero too, he was in the SOE during the II World War. I love telling my kids that their Great Grandad was a real life James Bond.

I miss him every day and know that he is looking down and smiling at the fun I have recreating some of our adventures with my kids.

Silent Sunday 11.8.13

Silent Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

Silent Sunday 4.8.13

Silent Sunday 4.8.13

 

 

Good Hearts Gift Review.

As many of you know it was The Teenagers Prom last month, it was all very emotional and we got some great pictures to treasure. I had decided even before the big day that I wanted a full sized picture of her from the evening in a large frame.

As if by magic my wishes were answered and I was asked if I would like to review something from the gorgeous company Good Hearts Gifts. I obviously jumped at the chance and sat for ages trying to decided which one of their beautiful products to choose. After much deliberating and changing of mind I finally settled on this gorgeous silver frame, as if I wasn't thrilled enough they even engraved it for me with Prom 2013.

When it arrived it was beautifully packaged up and all in one piece. The Teenager absolutely loved it and it now has pride of place in her brand new bedroom which we have recently decorated.

I have a few special occasions coming up and will be going straight back to the website and trying to once again make the very difficult decision on which item to buy. We have a christening in October so I have been looking at their Christening Page .I am still undecided which gorgeous gift to go for but think I may settle on the either the Silver Star Paperweight or the Noah's Ark Money Box.

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This is a product review. All views are my own.

Here's Some I Made Earlier!

It was decided in an attempt to bring harmony to the house of Teens a little bit of cupcake decorating was to take place today.  I mean come on......Chocolate Cupcakes - Goood.........Vanilla and Choc Frosting - Gooood.........Many, many toppings - Gooood..........................

This exercise was delivered by the super human being known as "Mum" and involved forcing the arguing Teenage species to come together and try to get along. To be fair the Female Teen has been off school for 7 weeks already due to GSCE's finishing and the Male Almost Teen is hot, bothered and not winning at his new Xbox game........

Tensions are running high as the competitors take their places behind the table, Mum signals that should any chocolate frosting get on her new carpet they will both be disqualified and all cakes with be consumed by her. They are on starters orders and.......Their off......................Male Tween grabs at frosting bag forcing Female Teen to put her elbow in her cake, this results in the first of many scuffles as Mum holds up the first yellow card up of the day.

With harmony resumed they begin again this time with a piping bag each and 5ft of table between them. Female Teen is taking this all very seriously and decorates with precision causing Mum to comment on how lovely her cakes look.....Unfortunately this results in Male tween slamming his frosting bag down and accusing her of favouritism. Mum steps in again to threaten advise Tween of repercussions should he not play nicely. Male Tween manages to put every type of topping on his cake and then decides he isn't going to eat it as it "looks too sickly".

After 55 minutes patience and concentration are at an all time low and Mum calls time on the activity due to both kids wanting to shove each others faces into frosting and Mum wanting to have a Gin & Tonic (purely medicinal). Both have made a good attempt at decorating cakes if only they could just get along for the duration of the activity.

In true Teen style they disappear and all clearing up is left to the super human being without a cape known as Mum. She takes this opportunity to lick every spoon, knife and frosting bag clean of any evidence and then eat her entire body weight in cupcakes until she feels sick.............................

Here are some I made earlier.........................There are none left now.

Teenagers for sale! Eye rolling, back talking, temper tantrums and I already know everything attitude included..............All sales are final!!!

Shut Up And Paint

Number 12 on my Summer Bucket List was to decorate The Female Teens bedroom. I decided that the first week might be a favourable time to do this as by the 2nd and 3rd week everyone is starting to relax and hard work is the last thing on our minds.

Once I had packed Mr DG off to work we set about preparing the room for a makeover. I listened and ignored all DIY advice from Hubby and decided that anyone who hangs a mirror wonky has no right offering me any tips. The Teen seemed very keen to get cracking and appeared in a pair of dungarees and head scarf ensemble looking like a final year art student. I on the other had realising we had chosen a day that was 200 degrees in the shade settled on a pair of shorts and an old tee shirt.

I had already decided that she was going help this time in the small hope that it will stop her spilling makeup onto the carpet and sticking Lady Gaga posters all over the walls. My theory worked and she took complete pride in painting the walls and chatted about how she was going to make her own wall art. Things took a slight downward turn when after painting for 3 hours she announced that maybe we should of done it in a different shade of blue...............................................I took a deep breath and told her to "Shut Up and Paint".

Hope you like the pictures we have taken, they really don't do the room justice but it does look so beautiful in there now. In fact its so beautiful I wish I could have the room for myself...........

The Good Old Days.

I spent the afternoon yesterday with my Mum and somehow we got to reminiscing about the old days (God, now I feel really old saying "Old Days"). The Teenager sat transfixed and kind of horrified as we laughed about how rubbish all electrical things seem today but were seen as totally cool back then.........I love thinking and remembering the past, it makes my brain feel like its actually working. Here are my top 5 gadgets Now and Then.......

1. DVD Player VS Betamax Video Player..................................This machine was as big as a coffee table and made the most horrendous noise as you ejected the massive video tape out of it. We thought we had made it when Dad carried it into the house (using a crane as it was so large) that was until next door got a VHS........We were crushed.

2. Xbox VS Atari Games Console..........................I was probably the most popular girl with all the boys due to this little gem. Ping pong tennis using that state of the art line thing to hit the ball back and forth, and when I got Space Invaders, well that was it........................I was officially cool.

3. IPod VS Walkman............I loved my Walkman...... I thought I looked like one of the cast of Fame as I strutted down the road with this brick type musical gadget strapped to my Boogie belt on my Pepe Jeans.

4. Hot Plates VS Hostess Trolley....................My mum had one of this and she loved it, each Sunday she would cook all the food then decant it into the many compartments within the trolley. I could never see the point personally at all the fluffing about moving the peas to this bit and the carrots to that bit. By the time we got to eat it all it was dry and slightly discoloured. Then you had double the washing up when it was time to clean up..........Who was I to argue...........I had gigantic headphones on and a musical brick on my lap.

5.Cd's/Downloads VS Cassette Tapes..............................I can remember Dad buying me a pack of tapes so that I could record the Sunday afternoon Chart Show from Radio 1. At no stage did he tell me it was illegal to do this and I became a master at pressing pause just as the DJ was about to talk. I can remember my Nan coming into the bedroom and whispering to me in case it recorded her voice on the tape bless her.

So ...............What do you remember??? Or am I just really showing my age and are you all reading this blog wondering what the hell I am talking about. Would love to hear your comments.....

Lots of Retro Love
Me
xxxxxx

I've linked up with Jaime over at Magic Moments, come on over and have a read of lots of other fab blogs.

What's The Story

I am linking up again this week with the gorgeous Charly at PODcast over on What's The Story. It so lovely to have a chance to link up a favourite photo and say a little bit about the thoughts that went through your head when you took it.

This picture was taken from our trip to New York in April this year. We went to see the new Memorial Gardens at Ground Central with some hesitation at what we might find and how we may feel. What we discovered when we arrived was a beautiful serene place to pay your respects to all of those brave and innocent people who had lost their lives on the 9th September. We stood for hours looking at all the names on the walls that surrounded the new waterfalls and couldn't help but run our hands over the engravings as if to have some connection with them. The place is still heavily guarded as you would expect and there were many people just sitting there staring up at the sky, had they lost a loved one ? Or were they just as moved as we were.

Summer Bucket List Week 1

Loving this Summer Bucket List malarkey to much, really gives me something to focus on and generally a bit of a kick up my enormous backside.

Have almost ticked off 2 things already......................................................................

1. Try at least a spoonful of all 13 flavours of Ben & Jerry's ice cream (by a spoonful I obviously mean a large spoonful).

Have managed to be quite restrained in this task and decided to buy the smaller tubs just in case I get carried away and cant fit through the door at the end of summer. My lovely friend Karen helped me in this research and we sat quite happily discussing the 3 flavours I had purchased...........Yeah Right.....................Actually we sat quite happily making groaning noises as we scoffed 3 tubs of the stuff. I think she is quite happy to assist me in this task so feel slightly better that I wont be consuming all the calories myself.

Results after trying the 3 below are as follows..........................................................YUM!!!!

 

I will of course continue in this mission purely in the name of research you understand...........

Have begun number 17 which was to decorate The Female Teens bedroom....Photos to follow this week.

Hope you are all having a lovely break
Lots of Love
Me
xxxxxx

Silent Sunday 28.7.13

Silent Sunday 28.7.13