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Raisie Bay

Word of the Week 44 – Chilled

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Hello and welcome to the home of Word of the Week. A nice and simple weekly linky, with everyone welcome to pop by and share. The idea of the linky is to reflect back on your past week and share it with us. It’s great if you can sum it up in a word or phrase, hence giving us your Word of the Week. My phrase this week is ‘Chilled’ and you can read more about that below.

I’m not totally strict on using just a word or phrase. But please try to stick to the theme of summing up your week. There are not too many rules with this linky, just remember to read at least another couple of posts in the link up after adding your link. I will read and comment on all posts and tweet them out for you. I also have a Pinterest board devoted to Word of the Week and I will add posts to Mix Please add the badge below to your post so that others may find us and join in. If you comment or tweet then please use the hashtag #WotW

Word of the Week is open from 6am on Friday Morning to 12 noon on Monday. Plenty of time to join in!

If you are unfamiliar with the Word of the Week linky then please feel free to ask any questions. New linkers are always welcome, we love to hear what you have been up to in the past week.

MY WORD OF THE WEEK – Chilled

photo of a drop of rain falling from a leaf and the word chilled.

Last week I was thrilled to have made it to half term. This week I’ve been enjoyed a very chilled week. Apart from Star’s visit to the hospital on Tuesday we have had no commitments.

Normally we would have things planned for the half term holiday, pumpkin carving, Halloween outfit making maybe even a little early Christmas Shopping.

This week we have just chilled, stayed home and done whatever we have felt like doing. Played board games, computer games, watched films and television. The kids haven’t wanted to go out and neither have I.

The weather has also been rather chilled, I mean who wants to go out anyway when it’s cold windy and wet. No thanks, I’d rather stay home and cosy.

Now it’s your turn, what word or phrase sums up your week this week?

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Using Succulents to Spruce up Your Home

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I’ve a confession to make, I’ve never been one to be able to keep plants alive in my home. But succulents are different, they are so much easier to care for and live longer. Not only that, succulents in the home can be very cute and you can buy some beautiful pots to put them in too.

Image shows five mini succulent plants with different leaves and colours ranging from white to brown.

What Succulents Should You Buy for your Home?

Succulents are very popular in the home because they are easier to care for and look pretty amazing. You can buy your succulents from local garden centres or even buy online. Here are my top five choices.

The Jade Plant

This plant has glossy thick leaves and stems and only needs watering when really dry. It’s sometimes known as the Money Plant as according to Feng Shui, if you had one of these in your home you would never be short of money. I had one for many years and it’s one of the few plants I’ve managed not to kill. Overwatering can be dangerous for this plant, so it’s good for those who forget to water very often.

Aloe Vera

This spiny plant has been used for medicinal purposes of healing wounds and skin care for many centuries. It likes to be in a sunny place as it comes from the Arabian peninsula.

Echeveria

The echeveria is a pretty rosette plant and if you are lucky it may even flower for you in the summer.

echeveria succulents

Bunny Ears Cactus

The Bunny Ears Cactus is also known as the prickly pear. It’s a real unusual looking plant, but can be poisonous for pets.

bunny ears succulent plant

The Old Lady Cactus

The old lady cactus is a puffball cactus that also flowers. This cactus is not fond of direct sunlight and likes to be watered weekly. It can live for a long time with proper care.

Tips for Caring for Succulents.

Here are my top tips for caring for your succulents.

  • sunlight – most succulents like sunlight so make sure they get some every day. Some are not so keen on direct light though, but even a net curtain or sheer blind can help this
  • Move your succulents around. Maybe just turn the pot so more than one side of the plant gets some sun, or move to another window for a different amount of sunlight. This will help stop browning or leaning to one side.
  • Water carefully. Most succulents like more water during their growing season of Spring and Summer, but less so in the winter. Over watering can be disastrous. Get to know your plants and what they need.
  • Water the soil and not the leaves. The plants love a moist soil, but wet leaves can cause them to rot.

How to display your Succulents.

This is the best bit. There are so many ways of displaying succulents in your home. They look fabulous in pots or terrariums. You can get big plants or small, Have one or several together. It’s easy to get creative.

Mix up your succulents so you have small and large ones together, or use different textures and colours.

Get inventive with ways of displaying your succulents. They look great in so many ways. Here are a couple of my favourites.

Here is my cat pot. I bought two of these for my plants. I couldn’t resist them being a cat lover.

Image shows white ceramic pot with a sleeping cat face and planted with a small succulent.
small cat planter from Etsy £4.50

I bought some diddy succulent plants and they came in little brown pots. I re-potted two in my cat planters but I decided to crochet some little covers for the other three.

image shows a succulent plant in a little pot covered with a green crochet cover.

Terrariums are a lovely way to display your succulents. You can buy complete kits to make your own easily at home. This one is definitely one of my favourites. I love the little lights and the shell. You can customize it to your liking.

geometric air plant terrarium

Have you discovered succulents? What’s your favourite way of displaying them?

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Pictures of You (and Me)

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Today’s blogtober prompt, keeping to a musical theme is Picture of You. My immediate thoughts went to Boyzone, but then I remembered The Cure and Pictures of You. The song that will break the heart of anyone who has ever lost a loved one.

A Picture of Me

Over the past few years I’ve tried to be more in front of the camera than behind it. When you have a illness that no-one really knows much about you do start to think about your own mortality and photos are a great way of helping loved ones remember you. So, I’m going to spam you all now with pictures of me.

collage of photos for Blogtober a picture of you prompt. Top right, me and my friend, top middle, me and my husband, top right me and husband, bottom left me and husband at a family meal, bottom middle me and friend at my wedding, bottom left me, my brother and my youngest son.
Me and my friends and family taken during the last couple of years.
collage of four photos, top left a selfie of me in sunglasses, top right a selfie with me and Boo, bottom right, me and my son, bottom left me on the beach
A selfie, a selfie with my daughter, a photo with my son and me on the beach
collage of 3 photos of me and my family, me and my youngest son on a swing, me and Boo, me and my two girls when they were very young.
Me and the Little Man when I could walk, me and Boo, and me with my two little princesses

One More For the Road!

I love this caricature of me taken from a photo of me in my wheelchair by Charlene from Sooper Books. She took away the handbag from my lap and gave me a butterfly instead.

There was nothing in the world

That I ever wanted more

Than to feel you deep in my heart

There was nothing in the world

That I ever wanted more

Than to never feel the breaking apart

All my pictures of you

The Cure, Pictures of You

I hate being in photos, but they are such a great way of capturing the essence of a person and a lovely gift to hold on to when that person is no longer around. It really doesn’t matter how photogenic (or not) you are.

I hope that my photos have captured lots of lovely memories for my family.

#Blogtober20

Some posts related to photos above

The Red Shoes

Mad Blog Awards 2016

Our Holiday in Cornwall 2019

Sweet Box Love, What’s your favourite Sweet?

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We were gifted a gorgeous box of sweets from The Sweetbox Uk. A whole kg of yummy sweet and sour favourites in a cardboard box, wrapped in tissue. What a delight.

blue tissue paper holding a selection of many different kind of small sweets and sweet bars.

When I opened the box I didn’t think it was going to last very long, especially with a family of 7 sweet lovers. It seemed almost bottomless though and even though I left it on the coffee table and hands both big and small were picking from it all day, it lasted a long time. In fact there were some left the next day. There was something for everyone, and we all had our favourites.

The Sweet Box Sweet Mission

Our Sweet Mission!

Born out of the idea to let a loved one know you’re thinking of them, we provide a quick and easy way for you to treat a friend or family member with a sweet box, or yours truly.

We’re a small sweet company which means we can provide a quality, personal service to each and every customer. Your business is super important to us, and we promise a freshly packaged, sumptuously filled, carefully delivered box of sweets – every time. Whether it’s your favourite retro sweets, jelly pick n mix or a fizzy selection, we only use high quality, fresh sweets.

So, if you are looking for a little gift for a loved one or just to cheer someone up, then a box of sweets could just be what you are looking for.

The sweet box Uk, a photo of a selection of sweets in close up.

The Sweet Box Uk

So, we know the Sweet Box sell sweets but how does it work? Well you can buy sweets for any taste and occasion. They currently have some spooky Halloween treats in store but you’ll have to be quick to catch them.

You can also buy boxes of sweets small enough to fit in a letterbox to send to a friend in need of some sweet thoughts. Or a big box of your favourites, go for a mix or pick your own. Maybe you want a trip through your childhood memories and want a box of retro sweets like rainbow drops, sherbet Dip Dabs and flumps.

I’m already thinking of what I would put in my box of favourite sweets:

flumps, parma violets, black jacks, drumsticks, strawberry bon bons, fizzy watermelon slices, blue raspberry wheels, giant strawberries and fruit salads.

What are your favourite sweets?

To get tempted visit The Sweet Box Uk on Instagram and prepare to drool. Or shop for your favourite sweets at The Sweet Box UK

Today’s Blogtober prompt is Truly Madly Deeply and I’m in love with these sweets!

#Blogtober20

See more of my Blogtober posts here.

My Sunday Snapshot – Somebody I used to Know

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Today’s Blogtober prompt is Somebody I Used to Know. I’ve chosen an old scanned photo of two very dear people who are no longer in my life, and my Little nephew who was such a gorgeous baby.

old scanned photograph showing a man and woman with a baby in a buggy walking down a concrete ramp with a cliff wall to one side and metal railing to the other. They were heading down to the beach at Tenby.
Mum, Desmond and my nephew walking down the ramp to the beach at Tenby.

The photo was taken in Tenby in 1977. We went on holiday with my brother and his wife and their two children. Little baby nephew was the youngest.

Desmond

Desmond was a neighbour, he moved back in with his Mum two doors away from my Mum when he became divorced. Mum was already a widow and it wasn’t long before they fell in love

Desmond wasn’t in our life very long, he had a massive heart attack and died at home when I was just 13. While he was around he brought my Mum a lot of happiness and we enjoyed some lovely holidays too. Like this one in Tenby.

So Desmond is Somebody I used to know, but he’s more than that. He was someone who brought a lot of happiness into our lives. It was sad he couldn’t stayed around for longer.

Synchronicities

My Mum met Desmond when he was her neighbour, as I did Graham who had also moved back in with his Mum who lived two doors away from me. Mum had two young children at home, as did I when I met Graham. And Desmond was 10 years younger than Mum just like Graham is with me.

Seven years ago we moved to a new home. This was some 34 years after Des had passed away. Straight away I felt a sort of familiarity with the area, although I was certain I’d not been here before. The more I drove around the more familiar it beccame. Then one day I took a detour from a route home and ended up in a little grove. At the end of the grove was a house I recognised. It was Desmond’s ex wife’s house and where his children lived. He had three children one slightly older than me, one my age and one younger. I got on really well with them and even stayed at their home…the house I was now looking at, a few times. It was then I realised why I recognised the area so well.

While I stayed with them we’d taken the bikes out and I’d been riding along the streets I was now driving on. Then I realised that my children where now going to the same school that they had gone to, although the school name had been changed. (I may have realised sooner had I known this.)

Desmond had a huge influence on my life. He wasn’t my Dad but he came along at the right time and made life better for a while. He was much more than Somebody I used to Know.

I love the little ways that my life has kept a part of him alive. I would love to get in touch with his children again, but so far my searches haven’t revealed anything. I was even tempted to knock on the door of their old house, but 34 years is a long time.

#Blogtober20