sundaysnapshot

My Sunday Snapshot – A Special Birthday

We’ve reached the last of the birthday’s this Summer, next one is mine and that’s not until the end of the year! This last summer birthday was a very special one as Star turned sixteen!

A special birthday banner with a big 16 on it and Happy Birthday, underneath is a row of birthday cards and an obtrusive PS5 games console

I tried to move the PS5 out of the photo, but the console is too heavy for me! The cards had to be squashed up the other side of the sideboard.

I had some lovely paper and matching banner from Dom and Geri, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. (definitely worth another mention as the card, paper and banner were really lovely items. Star’s presents looked so classy. Shame about my photography which is not so classy and I’ve missed off half of her presents!

The special birthday banner with 16 and Happy Birthday on it along with matching presents unwrapped.

Just in case you are wondering, yes, Star’s real name is Lucy and I have used it many times on Social Media and such, but here on Raisiebay she is always Star.

Special Birthday Cake

Star had a really special birthday with friends and animals and a BBQ. We also had cake! She made a carrot cake for her boyfriend which he loved but Star wasn’t so keen. I was happy with it though, it was very moist and tasted delicious. For Star I made the usual chocolate cake. My kids don’t like shop bought cakes because none of them like jam (weirdos!) I have made some really complicated cakes in the past but this year it’s been a case of bake cake, throw on a layer of icing and then write Happy birthday on it! With Boo’s cake I coloured the icing marble blue, with the Little Man’s cake he only had icing on the top and I pipe a pattern around the sides (and forgot to take a photo) and for Star I bought some little flowers to decorated it. I used a tube of piping icing and when I wrote on the cake it looked nice, but when I went back to it later the icing had kind of melted and it didn’t look so good. Star was happy with it though.

16th birthday cake with flowers and big blue 16 in the middle

I’ll leave you with a collage of just a few of the cakes I’ve decorated in the past.

A collage of birthday cakes, Raichu, Minecraft, a Drone, a dog, a Peppa Pig cake and Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony.

My Sunday Snapshot a Broken Butterfly

by Anne Sweet 10 Comments

This week I have seen so many butterflies in my garden, most of them have been small white butterflies, My Mom used to call them Cabbage Butterflies. One day I spotted this little broken butterfly on my washing line. His wings were damaged and he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to fly off. I though maybe he couldn’t fly, but he proved me wrong and flew off into the trees. I looked him up and I think he is a Dingy Skipper Butterfly.

broken butterfly, a dingy butterfly with broken wings sitting on my washing line

I love butterflies and I’ve been thrilled to see so many in my garden. I’m sure it’s because of all the nature by the canal at the side of my house. We see all sorts of birds, bats and can hear woodpeckers and owls in the trees. We also get squirrels and so many hedgehogs. We had a hedgehog wander into our house one evening!

I was sad to see the sorry state of this broken butterfly, but despite his condition he was still able to fly off. I wish I could fly and not worry about being so broken.

I always believed that butterflies only lived for a day, but my friend Google assures me it can be a week or two. Some, like the Painted Lady can live for up to twelve months.

If you look at the header on my blog you will spot seven butterflies, one for every member of my family. There is one for each of my five children, one for my husband and one for me. One day we will all fly free.

While you are here, why not check out my latest competition.

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments, Calm

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.

Subscribe to blog via Email

sundaysnapshot

Special Birthday Cake

Ordinary Moments – Calm

Other Posts you may enjoy

Footer