My week.....

Wow, life has been eventful this last week. A day and a half hanging around a hospital wondering if I would be aloud to go on holiday. Some pretty fast packing completed by the other half, who went into protective overdrive...I am shocked I was allowed to lift my own fingers!! Then finally we were off.

After a fairly long drive we arrived at Beadnell, Northumberland. Our little cottage for the week is so magical, we arrived to fairy lights and yummy treats set out for our arrival. Upon investigation there were books in every room of all descriptions...I am officially in heaven.

Just a small selection (some shelves are double stacked!!)

Sunset from our bedroom window

Our pumpkins from Alnwick Castle - Happy Halloween

 

I love this time of year, when you can go to the beach for a walk even though it is cold and windy but still come back to the cottage and light the fire. Curling up and playing board games with my girls whilst warming up....I just wish I wasn't the murderer every time we played Cluedo!!

Anyway, while I have been relaxing the questions are continuing, if you have missed my recent posts you can catch up here and here. These ones are from Wendy at Sockamabobs, pop over and take a look at her wonderful creations and as always let her know you have been by with a bit of commenty love ;-) So here goes for a little more of me.....are you getting bored of me yet??

1. What book have you read recently that you would recommend to others?

Oh where to start?? You all already know I love and would recommend Paulo Coelho's Brida but more recently I have read the latest from Lauren Kate - Rapture part of the Fallen series and would recommend that too if you like a little bit of tortured angels ;-)

2. What is your favourite pudding and why?

 

Just one, why only just one??? I love puddings, I have yet to find one I dislike! Ice cream (Ben and Jerry's) is my favourite comfort pud. Syrup sponge pudding and custard is the one I turn to on a cold day. Poached pears and ice cream is one I love at Christmas. I could go on forever!! My most surprising discovery recently was that I like pistachio ice cream and turkish delight ice cream....yum!

3. One reason you like cleaning?

 

Anyone that knows me knows I hate cleaning (and I don't use that word lightly, see here), however I do love the feeling when it is all done and you sit down in a lovely clean house with the candles on and relax in front of a film :-)

4. Where was the last place you went on holiday?

 

I'm on holiday in Northumberland and will definitely be coming back again....Love it :-)

5. What was the name of your first pet?

 

Fish, I am soooo imaginative!!

6. What is the best thing you have ever handmade?

 

I crotcheted a matching hat and blanket whilst in labour with the littlest munchkin, the hat is soo cute with three pom poms on the top :-)

7. Do you own anything vintage and if so what is it?

 

I don't think I do :-( I love all things vintage but can rarely afford the things I see, instead I have a lot of vintage looking thinks!

8. What is your favourite Disney film of all time?

 

This is a really tough one, I love so many of them! My favourite at the moment (and this changes on a daily basis) is Tangled but I have yet to watch Brave I like my ladies to have a bit about them so Disney films are great. However I do love Monsters Inc and can't wait for the new one to come out!

9. What would you have in your ideal garden?

 

Everything! An orchard, a lake (with waterlilies), a kitchen garden, a sensory area, a play garden for the girls, a Japanese zen area including japanese maples, a pod to sit outside and write in (but stay warm and dry), a driveway lined with cherry blossom trees and a Narnia style lamp near my hobbit style front door. Oh and a hunky gardener to tend it all ;-) Not much really!

10. I am moving house soon what tip would you give me?

 

Get help! (I'm available if you need me)

 

Ok, so I am off to enjoy my breakfast and have a relaxing day before we go and listen to spooky stories at the biggest second hand book store I have ever seen, Barter Books. Happy Halloween, hope you all have a spooky time.

 

PS I am glad to know my family has come out of the storm unscathed, hoping the same is true of all my friends over on the east coast. Stay safe everyone, my thoughts are with you!!

touché

Remember the reader appreciation award I got and passed on. Apparently the questions bounce back like a rubber ball. Deb over at Kicking Corners has set a new raft of questions which I have now got to answer, just because I read her post. She is such a rule breaker, but I love these posts and I love her to bit so I am being a good girl and answering them dutifully ;-)

Here goes:

1. French Fries or French Toast?

 

Hmm, fries.

2. What are your thoughts about ‘Time’?

 

There is too little of it, in a day or in a life. There is never enough time to achieve everything you want to!

3. Have you ever been motion sick?

 

Yes, mostly with my Mum's driving ;-)

4. Would you ever get a tattoo and if so, where would you put it?

 

I have one that was meant to only last 5 years (I got it 10 years ago!) I would love another one of the Celtic knot I had on my wedding dress right across the bottom of my back, however my first experience taught me that I don't scar well so it probably wouldn't be a good idea :-(

5. Do you read magazines while standing in line at the grocery store and if so, which ones?

 

No, the occasional newspaper headline catches my eye.

6. What are five things you keep in the drawer closest to where you’re sitting right now?

 

There isn't a drawer next to where I am sat and the only drawer I sit next to is by my bed so I will tell you what is in there: Photo's of my Dad, spare glasses (little munchkin went through a phase of breaking them!), paracetamol (a must with kids!), nail file, an old journal that I wrote in so infrequently I gave up (it does however have a list of ambitions in the back that I like to look at every now and then!)

7. Have you ever sent/received a message in a bottle?

 

No, but that sounds really fun I might have to do that on my next trip to the sea, let me know if you find it ;-)

8. It’s funny to skip questions – do you agree or disagree?

 

Skipping this one ;-)

10. When is it appropriate to bite someone?

 

When it is a full moon and I change into a wolf. But only if I am really hungry ;-)

 

 

Thanks Deb for a welcome distraction tonight, but I am curious how you would answer your own questions (oh this could go on forever *wicked laugh* - practising for Halloween).

 

Speaking of Halloween, we will be missing our annual trick or treat session so fill my need for the spooky, what are you up to on All Hallows Eve??

Reader Appreciation

 

I love getting flowers, and sunflowers always make me smile :-) Little did I know that discovering a lovely new (to me) blog by a fellow Lancastrian I would end up with flowers within the week. That's it, on line blogging friendship securely cemented. Just so you know I am not needy, I won't expect them every week ;-) Seriously bob over and have a look at Modfather, she is a super talented and strong young woman who I have fallen in blog love with instantly.

 

Ok so she really awarded me a reader appreciation award, which is even better, right?!

 

You guys already know I love my readers to bits (see here if your new, sure I have mentioned my readers elsewhere too)....What? Sorry? There are rules?? Why always with the rules!

1. I need to nominate 15 blogs for this award!

2. I have to answer 10 questions that have been posed by the person who nominated me.

3. I have to ask 10 questions of those I nominate.

 

So 15 blogs to award. That is a lot! I think instead I will award those of you that love me enough to comment on what I write (whilst also trying not to nominate the same people as Loki-Lou!), I am such a rule breaker!! Side note, if I have missed anyone this is not intentional I just have a brain swiming with so many things at the moment it is taking me a whils to fish out the important to now things! Please consider yourself an award recipient too ;-)

 

Kicking Corners

 

Periphery

 

Frazzled and Frumpy

 

Buttered Toast Rocks

 

Masked Mum

 

The M Half

 

Sockamabobs and Thingamajigs

 

Seven lovely blogs, my favourite number :-)

 

On to step two...answer 10 questions.

 

1.If you could live anywhere in world where would it be? And why?

There are so many places that I would love to visit, some places I have and could see myself living. But if I am really honest with myself; there is no place like home! I don't think I could wander too far from Pendle Hill.

2. What was your favourite TV show when you were a kid?

Oh man, there are too many to mention; Grotbags, Trapdoor, Button Moon, Chip and Dale, He-Man, Thundercats.... Wow I could go on but instead I will leave a little clip of Trapdoor instead.

3. Kindle or actual books?

Actual books, all the time. Although I do like my Kobo.

4. If you were picked up by the Tardis which Doctor would you like to travel the universe with?

I grew up watching Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy with my Dad and love them all. But seriously if I were to jump in a tardis with anyone I would prefer someone I don't think of as a father figure (well wouldn't you)! I have to confess though, I have only caught the odd episode of the new Doctors. I do however have a little thing for Captain Jack Harkness, I'd be in that Tardis like a shot if it was with him ;-)

5. Gary Oldman or Alan Rickman? (If you like neither….unlikely I know but it might happen! Then – Benedict Cumberbatch or Tom Hiddleston).

Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman gives me the hebbies!

6. If you could invite 5 people (famous or otherwise) to a dinner party who would you ask?

Deb from Kicking Corners (because I just love her to bits, even though I have never met her), Tangled Lou from Periphery (legend has is she is really a weird old man), Loki-Lou from Modfather (who I need to get to know better), Jewels from Frazzled and Frumpy (who I don't believe is frumpy and would like to confirm my suspicion) and Michelle from Butter Toast Rocks (I just want an excuse to eat buttered toast). There are so many other wonderful bloggers I would love to meet and get to know even better, all for different reasons. Are you wondering why my dinner table isn't packed with the rich and famous? I have a funny quirk; I'd rather not meet the famous people I like, I always worry that I won't like them after that!!

7. In the event of a Zombie apocalypse would you sacrifice yourself to save a stranger or would you fight for your own survival?

 

Honest answer, probably not. Since becoming a Mum I have an over whelming instinct to protect my babies, which would require me being around. Of course in the process of thinking about this question there are many different permutations and possible out comes and we never really know what we are capable of until we face it. I hope I never have to work out the answer to this one, I am not keen on zombies...too messy!!

 

8. Do you prefer salted popcorn, sweet popcorn or half and half?

 

Half and half, just because I can never decide ;-)

 

9. What is your favourite sport (and team)?

 

My favourite sport to watch is Ice Hockey. My favourite sport to take part in is Tai Chi and Martial Arts. But in neither is there a team that I follow. However living with a Clarets fan and a coach for Burnley's Girls team I guess I have no choice in the team I follow ;-)

 

10. If the world was going to end and you only had time to tell one person that you loved them, who would it be? And why them?

 

Now this really is going back to a deep seated fear I buried long ago! The end of the world is the only thing that scares the hell out of me and always has. I had nightmares for a week after watching Independence Day (did I really just admit to that on the Internet?). I spent many hours as a teenager stressing over how I would get to those I love if the world came to an end, going over and over in my mind who the people I needed to see one last time would be. My other half, my Mum, my gran? Of course this has changed even more with two babies. How do you choose between the three people that hold the top spot in your world? I only hope I never have to find out and I am officially going to stop thinking about this now before I give myself nightmares!!

 

 

Next step, 10 questions for you lovely recipients of this award:

 

1. Who is your favourite band or singer or song?

2. Describe yourself as the main character in your own fairytale.

3. If you have a nickname, what is it and how did you come by it? If not what would you like your nick name to be and why?

4. What is your favourite word?

5. Who are your favourite literary couple?

6. What is your favourite Poem?

7. Do you like having someone play with your hair?

8. What is your greatest ambition?

9. If you have time alone, where do you go to feel at peace?

10. What is your favourite film?

 

Wow that is a lot of favourites, and I hate those questions too, I can never choose...sorry!

 

Can't wait to see all your answers, I love these posts because they feed my need to be nosey ;-)