My Final Festive Five!

I can’t believe that this is the final Five on Friday of the year!

It has been such a pleasure to visit you all most Fridays and thank you for all your great comments.

You are all very lovely indeed!

So to my final five –

One

I love this little Christmas tree in our kitchen window.

The theme in here is far more traditional than in our living room.

I think this little tree is a sweet addition and it makes me smile when I switch the little lights on.

Two

One of my favourite decorations has to be this super cute line with Father Christmas’s clothes on it.

We actually have a much bigger version hanging on the wall outside, but alas, I have not been home in daylight to photograph it since.

I really love this dinky version though.

Three

The youngest has a little white tree in her room too.

She is delighted with it.

Four

I have been feeding my Christmas cake but have not had time to decorate it yet.

Since the girls were little, I have been putting this oral syringe to good use.

I obviously washed it out throughly afterwards to make sure the girls didn’t get given Brandy by accident ha!

It really works very well indeed and ensures that the cake is very well fed, well it is Christmas!

Five

A new radio has been purchased for the kitchen.

It is a gorgeous Emma Bridgewater design.

Radio 4 has been preset to help me through the many hours I will spend in here over the coming weeks.

Finally, a quick update from other Fives – It seems that the Chapel has not, and will not, be handed over to the residents this year!

And, the youngest has had her hair cut, she is giving it as a Christmas gift to The Little Princess Trust, you can read about it here.

It is my work Christmas ‘do’ tonight, so  I will pop and visit you over the weekend.

Thank you Amy for hosting today and all year, you are a blogging star xxx

All that is left for me to do is to wish you all a very Merry and Peaceful Christmas!

Lots of love Lisa xxx

 

 

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My Captured Moment!

This a departure for me today, instead of posting a throw back image, these are a series of pictures from `The Hair Cut` on Tuesday.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the youngest was gifting her hair to The Princess Trust for Christmas.

Here are the pictures.

This was taken just as we arrived.

I think she was a bit nervous but, at no point did she change her mind.

Then the plaits were both carefully cut off.

There they are!

I was surprised at how heavy they were.

Then to the shaping!

The result!

I think she looks so much older than 12, but it does suit her.

This is Michelle, the hairdresser, she has known Evie forever!

It was lovely of her to do it.

When we came to pay, she actually donated her fee to the cause, what a sweetheart.

Immediately after leaving the hairdressers, we had to rush to the school carol concert, Evie sings in the choir.

Therefore, posting the hair had to wait until last night.

It has been carefully transported to the depot by her dad this morning.

Amazingly, over £200 has been donated to her `Just Giving Page` and funds are still coming in.

https://www.justgiving.com/Evie-Shannon/

We are so proud of her!

Have a lovely day!

My Captured Moment!

August 2005 : Eureka, Halifax.

Sorry about the glare from the Himself’s jacket in this old picture.

It was taken at Eureka, The Children’s museum in Halifax.

There was lots of excitement when we got to this exhibit because “Daddy” works for the Post Office.

He celebrated his 30th year in the job earlier this year, that is a lot of Christmases.

He gets so exhausted, that by Christmas Eve, when I hand him my present to give to me ha!, he is usually full of cold and fit for nothing.

So as we approach this ridiculously busy time of year, I thought it would be nice to pop a picture on here to remind us all of what he looks like ha!

And, for those of you who don’t already know, that excited 2 year old is giving the ultimate Christmas Present this year, she is donating her hair to The Little Princess Trust.

This is a charity that  makes wig from real hair for children who have lost their own.

If are looking for a charity to donate your Christmas card pennies to, she does have a Just Giving Page.

To me, this is what Christmas is all about!

Thank you Heledd for hosing x

Have a lovely day!

Five On Friday!

I am so thankful it is Friday!

The lurgy continues to linger in our house, thankfully it is only effecting the adults.

Thank you to everyone who left lovely comments last week about the youngest’s hair cut.

The response has been overwhelming and she has already  been inundated with sponsor money from her school friends.

People have shared some very touching stories and one, in particular, made us both very emotional earlier this week.

I am so very proud of her!

So on to the rest of our week.

One

It has been a funny old week when not much went to plan. However, I think it is becoming our norm and I am learning to roll with it.

Just as I was preparing the Christmas cake to go in the oven last Saturday, we received a phone call from the eldest telling us that her heating had broken.

I knew it had snowed in Manchester the night before and that it was bitterly cold.

So, we made an unexpected mercy dash to the wilds of Manchester with our little fan heater.

Of course, there was much recalculating involved because the cake needed nearly four hours in the oven and the youngest was going out for the afternoon.

The little one came home early and I turned the oven off before the end but left the cake in.

She was delighted to see her sister and the cake was absolutely fine.

The eldest was very grateful!

Two

The eldest works in a pizza restaurant and so we made a booking in  another name and surprised her.

She was shocked but delighted!

Three

As a bonus we got to explore the Manchester Christmas Market.

It was absolutely packed on Saturday night, there were so many lovely stalls and food vendors.

I think we will have to have another trip before Christmas to have a proper mooch around.

It definitely got us in the Christmas mood.

Four

I have spent a lot of time this week wrapping presents.

Himself is the youngest of 7, most of them have families of their own and some even have grandchildren.

We buy them all, so I have to start the shopping early or I would be panicking by now.

I really don’t like wrapping Christmas presents because there are so many in one go.

So I have tried to space it out a bit this week and whilst it was better, it is still not my favourite job!

Five

I think I bought this book intending to give it as a gift.

However, I love it and have decided to give it to myself as an early Christmas present ha!

It looks brilliant and there are a few things that I want to try this weekend.

So there it is,  my five for what it is worth this week.

We are planning a quiet weekend, himself is working, it is so busy for him at this time of year in the Post Office.

Thank you Amy for hosting.

Have a lovely day!

My Captured Moment!

Middle Temple : 26th November 2010

This is Miss Glade the day after I was called to the Bar.

This picture was taken exactly five years ago today!

We went from here, to see Father Christmas in Harrods and then onto the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park – it was a lovely day!

Thankfully, the wig is absolutely no indication of her future plans ha!

Thank you for hosting Heledd.

Have a lovely day!

Five On Friday!

What a week!

We have had the lurgy at The Glade HQ, so between that and world events this week, it has not been the most carefree of times to say the least!!!

But as usually happens in these situations, my children amaze me.

For example, on Wednesday evening during dinner, the youngest asked if she could have her hair cut into a ‘Pixie Cut’.

My immediate response was to say no, never, because I am paranoid about head lice and that mane needs to be tied up.

However, she went on to explain that she wanted to donate her hair to the Little Princess Trust.

This is a charity that provides wigs for children suffering from hair loss.

She has decided that she will try to get sponsorships too.

I am so incredibly proud of her as are her friends, to be fair we are all a little bit amazed.

After all this is the tweenager who cried last time 2 inches was cut off her hair.

Therefore, if she is prepared to make this sacrifice for others, it gives me hope for the world in general!

So, to my five for this week;

One

This beautiful head of thick, lush hair will, on the 22nd December, be gifted to Little Princess Trust.

Two

I would not be at all surprised if this is the hair style she comes away with, Audrey wears it so well but will a 12 year old?

But as the little Miss said herself, she knows her hair will grow back, others are not as fortunate.

Three

In a complete change of tone, last Saturday we went on a tour of the Mersey Tunnel.

The Tunnel has featured heavily in my life and I, once more, drive through it twice a day.

I will write a post about it for next week, but I have had a reoccurring nightmare about being stuck in there since I was about 7.

It was a fascinating morning, I was amazed at times and have definitely come away reassured.

Four

On Monday, I posted about having a lovely day!

This week, I printed off the instructions and framed them, they now adorn my newly painted kitchen wall.

Please feel free to print them off yourself if you would like, I don’t think LifeHack.org would mind for a moment.

I am delighted with the result.

Five

Finally, I have been making some Christmas plans this week.

I have still not baked the cake, this will have to happen this weekend.

But when we popped to a local shop to buy a gift for a charity collection, the youngest picked this owl decoration for our tree.

We think he is really cute and very Glade appropriate because, we share our trees with a very noisy owl or two.

That is it for this week. We have been trying to recover our mojo and do our bit, some more than others – I am looking at you Miss Glade xxx

We have plans to take my 84 year old Mother in Law out to the Museum of Liverpool this weekend, if it isn’t too windy, she keeps us all entertained.

Have a lovely lovely day xx

 

 

 

My Captured Moment!

I am sneaking this one past the youngest today.

She is distracted with her school performance, we are going to see her in The Wizard of Oz tonight.

This picture was taken when she was about 4, I was at university and, she regularly had to pop in with me when child care was an issue.

In order to bribe persuade her it was a good idea, I always bought her a drink in the cafe, Five Alive being her favourite.

On this particular morning, she waltzed up to the fridge to collect her drink, frantically searching for it, they had sold out!

She was genuinely amazed and maybe a little bit outraged.

Realising quite early on what was about to happen, I had the phone camera poised, she didn’t disappoint.

This picture of her is one of my favourites, it  never ceases to make to me laugh.

At that stage, it was the most serious disappointment that she had suffered in her little life ha!

In the interests of completeness, she was consoled with a cup of tea and a muffin!

Have a lovely day!

 

 

My Captured Moment – A surprise visitor!

October 2013

This week My Captured Moment was taken in Blue Spring State Park, Florida.

It is a fuzzy image of our girls but that doesn’t really matter, actually it’s probably better, given that they are in their swimsuits.

However, I think you can make out  the image of the MANATEE that is next to them.

We had been enjoying a quiet day of down time after the madness that is Orlando,.

The girls were swimming in the spring, when this Manatee appeared and joined them.

Word must have spread like wild-fire around the park because the landing, where I was standing to take the picture, became very crowded, very quickly.

There must be many pictures of them in cameras all over the world and they were relentlessly questioned from the sidelines.

The Manatee was in no rush to leave, the amazing encounter only came to an end when the eldest eventually tired, and had to get out.

It was such a magical day, in beautiful, natural surroundings in the peaceful Floridan countryside.

Such a lovely change from the manic, materialistic whirl of the theme parks.

There is so much more to Florida if you get out of Orlando and explore.

It still rates as one of the best days of that holiday and it cost the princely sum of $6 to park!!

Have a lovely day!

My Captured Moment! #22

August 2008

I am taking full advantage of the eldest being away in Rome by popping this picture of her onto my post today.

We had a great week in London in the summer of 2008. We did all the tourist attractions and were really lucky with the weather.

We visited attractions such as the Tower of London, the London Eye, the Museum of Childhood.

We took tea on Oxford Street and saw The Sound Of Music in the West End.

We watched the ‘Changing of the Guard’ outside Buckingham Palace and picnicked in most of the Royal Parks.

This picture was taken in The Diana Memorial Playground, Kensington Palace Gardens.

‘Inspired by the stories of Peter Pan, the playground encourages children to explore and follow their imaginations, learning whilst they play’.

This was supposed to be a pit stop, but it was quite early in the morning and not nearly as busy as we expected –  so we lingered!

The eldest helped the youngest with ladders, swings and climbing frames.

It is a brilliant place to visit.

This picture always makes me smile at the memories we made that week.

Have a lovely day!

The Fence!

Sometime ago I wrote about my struggle to convince himself that painting the fence was a great idea.

I was certain that I would be able to wear him down so that eventually, he would cave in and paint the fence a glorious shade of duck egg blue.

I also promised to keep you in the loop.

This weekend, this happened.

The youngest took down the adornments that lined the fence.

I took ‘before’ pictures.

While Himself stirred the paint – so exciting!

The three of us got cracking with a  brush each.

And before I could shout ‘lunch is ready’………..

It was finished!

A pretty shade called Elderflower had been lovingly applied.

I am delighted.

I can’t stop looking at the fence and smiling.

It really makes a massive difference and the lighter colour has opened up the garden.

It is such a small area but it does seem to feel more spacious.

The fence now also compliments the candle holders that adorn the opposite wall.

As the garden is evolving, I feel it is starting to get a cottage style look to it, that makes me very happy indeed.

Thank you Jess and Caro  for hosting!

Have a lovely day!