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Word of the Week 43 – We Made It!

October 23, 2020 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

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 ‘We made it!’ 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 – We Made It!

We Made it, text written in blue on a pastel coloured background in blue, pink and yello.

Finally, it’s half term. It seems like the schools have been back for a very long time and each day has been a struggle. But we made it and now we are rewarded with a weeks break.

The Autumn Term is always long and difficult, we go from a happy sunny Summer Holiday to an early start and strict routine. And all the time the weather is getting worse and the days darker. It seems to be the longest struggle.

This year it’s been worse with the addition of a pandemic. The kids had an extended holiday of five months before being thrown back into that school routine. I won’t lie, we found it extremely tough.

I want to say how proud I am of my Little Man. He’s gone to school every day with a smile, worked hard, and come home each day with a smile. His teacher is very happy with his work and he even earned his pen licence for neat handwriting. The school has been great too, with a lot of care going into keeping the kids safe and separate but without distressing them. They’ve also had lots of outdoor fun and exercise including a Forest School. My Little Man has been very happy.

It hasn’t been so easy for the girls, but we have eventually come up with some kind of solution. Hopefully, things will be better next term, but I’ve signed them up to a home schooling program to keep them working in the time they are not at school.

We Made It! After today we have a whole 10 days of not worrying about school and getting up and ready in the morning. A well deserved treat after an extremely tough term.

The next holiday is Christmas!!

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

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My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Let Me In!

September 27, 2020 by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

Let me in! It’s a cry I hear several times a day. He’s in, he’s out, in again out again. It’s a good job I sit near the door, otherwise he’d just have to stay out. We don’t have a single door in our house that would be suitable for a cat flap, so with an outdoor cat like Ash I have to keep letting him in.

Yesterday he was at the back door meowing ‘let me in’ and Sabrina, our indoor cat, was lazing by the door watching the falling leaves. Ash came along and started meowing and Sabrina stretched up to the door handle. She had a very long way to go though. She’s never opened the door before, or even tried to, but I thought it was amusing that she made a half hearted attempt.

Maybe she was trying to appease Ash by showing an effort. He doesn’t look very impressed though. Look at that frown, it’s as if he’s calling her a dumb cat for even trying to open the door. Poor Sabrina.

Five minutes after I let him in he was meowing to go back out.

Ordinary Moments.

Boo and the Little Man have been to school all week. They come home, get washed and changed before coming to me for a hug and to tell me any news. It’s our new normal. The Little Man is thoroughly enjoying school, he likes being in smaller groups, especially in the playground as he didn’t always get on with all the kids. Boo is a bit quiet about school, she told me about some things she wasn’t liking and I gave her some tips to deal with them. Then she came home the next day much brighter and happier. I’m worried they are school, the virus is rife in our city at the moment and there has already been a positive case in Boo’s school. But they really are happier at school and if it’s what they need then we’ll take the risk for now. There school’s are really good though and are following all guidelines as well as implementing their own. The kids feel safe.

Star, is completely different. She has been very poorly, but I know she doesn’t want to go to school. One day was enough for her, she couldn’t take it. But she’s in her final year and needs to get her work done. We had a meeting with the school and they arranged a phased return which she seemed happy with. Then she got sick. Very sick, I had to call the GP. She has medication which appears to be helping. So, tomorrow we are going to try the phased return. Fingers crossed. The problem is, I can tell from her being on her tablet chatting all day, that none of her friends are going to school either! This doesn’t help in persuading her to go.

Apart from school there is nothing else really to report. I’ve been busy reading and crocheting. I’ve even practiced a little more knitting with Boo. I have been playing Hedgeways with the Little Man and it’s become his favourite game that not on a screen. It’s a kickstarter game so if you are looking for something new, or a great Christmas gift, do take a look and you’ll be helping out a couple of really nice guys getting their business off the ground too.

I’m joining in with Rachel and Donna for their weekly link ups.

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments, Calm

September 13, 2020 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

image shows a red oil burner with a rose shaped wax melt.

I still have a some of my Etsy gift vouchers left so this week I treated myself to a new oil burner. It came with some lovely little rose shaped wax melts that smell of lavender. I always associate lavender with peace and calm and that’s just what I feel I need right now.

Ordinary Moments – Calm

The kids haven’t been to school. They have had tummy bugs which has been highly unpleasant. Luckily most of the adults didn’t get sick which was a relief.

So, the girls haven’t actually been back to school yet and the Little Man has lost three days this week.

I have been in hospital having my treatment, although I have come home each evening. No worries about spreading anything in the hospital with all the COVID precautions. No visitors allowed, and I had to have my temperature taken before entering the ward. Then I was at least 2 metres from anyone else apart from the staff, and we were all masked.

Overall though, it’s been a stressful week and I’ve had so much going on in my head. This morning I wrote a (very long) brain dump blog post which will probably stay in my drafts, but it was very cathartic and now I feel calm.

It’s all about taking deep breaths and dealing with things as they happen. The kids are going back to school tomorrow and I have everything ready. I’m not sure how it’s going to go, but we’ll try our best and I’m going to try not to stress about it.

Everything else is just a blip in life. There is just too much to deal with right now and I can’t bury my head in the sand but I can do everything possible to install a feeling of calm in my home. I’m going to do this by stepping away from Social Media and focusing on the things I need to get ready for tomorrow. We will have a lovely Sunday Dinner (we are having a roast today, but it will be a late one as no-one is ready to eat at lunch time.) We will all shower and get our clothes ready for tomorrow. We will spend the evening playing games or watching television. Calm and peaceful and organised. Away from the chaos in the world.

Today we are going to keep calm.

The rest of the week will happen no matter what.

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Ash in a Box

July 19, 2020 by Anne Sweet 8 Comments

It’s been a while since we had a photo of Ash. Here he is curled up in my old wool box. It’s Ash in a box!

I bought the box to store my wool down my the side of my chair. It’s made of a leatherette type material and comes with a lid so can double as a pouffe, or extra seat. Ash loved it right from the start and used it as a scratching post. I kept turning it around to hide the scratches but in the end he’d made such a mess of it that I decided to replace it.

No sooner had I emptied out my wool stash Ash was in the box like a shot. Perhaps that’s what he’d wanted all along. To him, this was his box and he was ready to claim it. So much for me getting rid of it, it’s now Ash’s new bed.

He’s a cutie though, you have to admit.

In Other News

School is out for Summer! I guess that means I don’t have to worry about struggling to get the kids to complete their work each day. They are already looking forward to going back to school in September. Fingers crossed this virus stays low so it can happen.

Boo celebrated by going to spend an hour with her friend. We were going to invite her around for Boo’s birthday but when she begged to see her sooner we couldn’t say no.

Star left the house after 116 days. She went with her Dad to Mc Donald’s drive through, so she didn’t even have to get out of the car. It was a change of scenery though.

We have decided that we will start to leave home regularly each week now. We need the fresh air and exercise. You won’t be finding us anywhere crowded though.

Happy Holidays!

More Ash

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Crystals

July 12, 2020 by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

I’ve never really considered myself a lucky person, but I’ve had some lucky moments. Recently I won a competition to win £500 to spend at Etsy. Trust me, I had to work for my entry, but it was worth it. I love Etsy. The first thing I did was go and luck for crystals. I had plenty of things I’d wanted to buy on my favourites lists.

Recently I’d bought myself a crystal bracelet which I loved so I decided to buy another. I love lapis Lazuli, and was so thrilled to find one with rose quartz. Both of these crystals bring me so much comfort and healing.

lapis lazuli and rose quartz bracelet with angel wing.

I was also really excited to find this beautiful tea light holder made from a blue agate geode.

My next purchase, that hasn’t arrived yet, is a lovely dish to keep all the crystals I already have in on display.

The Ordinary Moments

After my last post which was really positive we have had a couple of rough weeks. When you are a Mum of three daughter’s all over a particular age, then you get weeks when the world can just ‘go and do one!’ Yes, that’s been the attitude. The fun loving family time from just a week before had disappeared as fast as the sun.

School work at home has been a pain, the girls have been really unresponsive, and the Little Man has had to be pushed to get started. I can’t wait for the school holidays!

In these strange times the thought of the school holidays feels really weird. At this time we would be preparing for the end of year parties, and I’d thinking about what to buy their teachers as end of year gifts. Well, not really the girl’s now that they are both in secondary; but the Little Man’s teacher is actually leaving the school altogether, it’s sad we were not able to buy something for her. We are not even allowed to go to the school to drop something off.

School Holidays

Will it even feel like school holidays when the only difference will not be trying to get them to work every day? We have cancelled our holiday this year and probably won’t be going out much.

I don’t even know if we will be needing new uniforms for September, they have so much stuff that’s hardly been worn. I have ordered the Little Man’s p.e. kit from the school, they have their own special kits which are personalised. But we will need to go through all the stuff that’s been packed away for months to see what still fits. I’m pretty sure Star is the same size, but Boo seems to have sprouted up and The Little Man seems to have filled out.

Now, I have to get my thinking cap on. We need to make these school holidays count somehow. Do you have plans?

Here’s my last Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments page.

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