New Knickers!

I have had problems with knickers for ages, I couldn't seem to find any that were comfortable or fit me properly. I had some boy shorts that I've been wearing forever even though they weren't very comfortable, and some old sets of those packs from Evans. Those did fit okay, but I find that the elastic goes on the waistbands and they end up covered in holes. I had a previous pack from Crazy Clearance which were okay, but still not really big enough. They ended up being period pants - I'm sure a lot of us have those - and I don't really care that they're covered in stains.

I DO have some knickers that I liked. I had two pairs from Yours, the like of which I've never seen again on their site. I had two pairs from Simply Be that I will wear for a while longer. I had two other pairs from Simply Be that I bought in like 2012 and which are SO comfortable that I've tried to buy more. I looked up their product code and everything, but they weren't available any longer (I should've bought like 10 when I had the chance).

A couple of times I've ordered packs from Simply Be or Crazy Clearance but they haven't fitted so I've sent them back. However, I'm eternally an optimist so while I was browsing Crazy Clearance recently I threw three packs into the basket. I was hoping at least one would fit. As it turns out, all three do, so I now have SEVENTEEN new pairs of knickers. I threw out lots of the rubbish old ones with holes in, kept some for use as period pants, and trued unsuccessfully to make the rest fit in quite a small drawer!

I am not sharing a photo of me in my knickers, so here's the ones I got from the order confirmation:

So the first pack was just two pairs of knickers, one in this peach colour and one in a mocha colour. They are that smooth, matte satin kind of fabric, which I really liked and which feel kind of fancy so are nice to wear under a nice outfit. These were £10 which is pretty steep for two pairs of knickers I feel, but I liked them so I kept them and I'll probably wear them for 'best'.

The second pack was a pack of 10, it was £11.40 which is very reasonable. There's three black pairs, three white, two spotted and two striped. I was surprised these came up over my belly, but they do. They're soft and comfortable and I like them

The third pack was a pack of five, for £12, which is very reasonable I think. These are like those gym knickers we used to have to wear at school under our grey gym skirts. They're cotton, but a kind of thicker brushed cotton. They come way up my belly and go right down on my bum too. No fear of a cold stomach or back here! Lee thinks they're ridiculous but I don't care because I love them! This pack has two black, two white and one blush pair.

Thoroughly recommend any of these and Crazy Clearance if you're in need of new knickers!

Films of the Month - January

I only watched nine films in January. I'm sure this happens every year, and I think it's because I watch so much Christmas stuff that I've missed in early January and end up trying to get to that before it goes off catch up. And what I did watch was some weird stuff, because Lee and I are trying to make our way through a Buzzfeed list of 100 80s films. I had only seen 17 of them, and Lee had seen less than half, so we decided we would watch them all over the course of 2021. It's not like we've got anything else to do! 

So we started off 2021 with these films:

I've never seen Clue even though I know it's a bit of a cult classic and even though I love Tim Curry. I liked it, it was quite kitsch and funny, but I'm not sure I'd bother watching it again

We watched Clueless just because we both love it, it's a teen classic that we both grew up with. I've started watching The Babysitter's Club again, where Alicia plays Kristy's mom - it's great if you haven't seen it

I've never seen The Terminal so I watched it by myself one afternoon. I quite liked it, but I wouldn't rush to watch it again

Nightmare on Elm Street was the second of our 80s films. I've seen it parodied so many times that it was quite funny to see the original. I liked it, but I think Halloween, which it's really similar to, is better

Lee wanted to watch Rogue One, which he thinks is the best of the modern Star Wars films (I really like The Force Awakens, and neither of us rates the prequels [in fact, I've only seen one of them]). I do really like it, so I didn't complain about watching it

Miss Juneteenth is a film about an ex pageant winner who wants her daughter to follow in her footsteps. Someone on Twitter had recommended it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The main characters were great, and I liked how their economic background especially was portrayed

Sam and I watched The Favourite together. I hadn't seen it since I saw it in the cinema when it came out. It's great, I loved it so much

Lee and I watched The Karate Kid for the 80s films list. I didn't rate it at all, it went on too long

Finally I watched Election with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick. It was on iplayer and I like Reese so I thought I'd chance it. It's a weird film, I liked it but I wouldn't watch it again

And there we go!

Drive Out in January

On the last Saturday in January I was feeling very bored and stuck in the house, so I said to Lee that we should have a drive out on to the moors a little bit for a walk. We weren't too close from home. We stopped into Tesco to begin with and bought sandwiches and stuff for lunch, and then drove to Dunford Bridge. It was snowing slash sleeting on us as we were driving, but conditions were fine. We ate lunch and then walked down a little bit towards Winscar Reservoir. It was so cold up there! 

We then drove to Underbank Reservoir, where we've been a few times since last summer. It's really accessible for me, so we walked down to the water's edge. The water was really high and lapping up way over where it was last summer. There was a tree that had fallen down; it looked really cool! There were a few people fishing, and some walkers around. Everyone we walked near said hello or good afternoon to us, which felt really nice!

We drove round the other side of the reservoir and stopped at a part where you could watch the water flow out. That was quite nice! We didn't walk very far but enough for me and I really enjoyed it.

When we got back we made a lasagne to pop in the oven later, and then I laid on the sofa reading my book. I was close to finishing and wanted to get it done, so I just chilled out for a bit. I quite often lie on the sofa and sometimes Jasmine joins me, but this time Poppy laid down on my side and went to sleep! I felt very blessed! Jasmine is very affectionate but with Poppy you have to let her come to you. She's got in the habit now that once I've let them out of the attic room (where they sleep and where all their stuff is) I'll get back into bed and she can come and lie on me. I think I was in a similar position on the sofa so she recognised it was safe! Bless her. 

It was a nice, chilled out day. I am very fed up of lockdown and feel very lonely when Lee's working all week and I don't have much to do, so it's nice to do what we can

Winscar reservoir

Me and Lee - yes it was snowing a little!

Looking over the moors towards Manchester

Underbank reservoir

The felled tree

Me with the reservour in the background

And the water flowing out of the reservoir near Stocksbridge

Lockdown Virtual Party

I hosted a lockdown birthday party on Zoom a few days after my birthday. It turned out to be lovely, I really enjoyed myself. I invited my family, my very best friends, and some other friends, including the South Wales contingency who I haven't seen in nearly two years but who I've spoken to a few times on video chat in lockdown. I think there were over twenty of us. People came and went at different times. My aunt made us do a scavenger hunt which was fun and funny, and I did a birthday madlibs which was funny too. We ended up staying on until past 11pm. It was really lovely, and I feel very privileged to have such amazing friends and family! Cath took these screen shots of us, which I thought I'd share. 

Lockdown birthday!

I had a really nice lockdown birthday and it was partly due to some pre-planning that I did to make sure it was a good day. I have recommended these things to a friend of mine whose birthday is in a couple of weeks, because they helped the day feel special and meant I didn't get sad at not being able to do the kind of thing I would have normally done. 

So first of all I asked Lee to have the day off and he booked the Tuesday and also the Monday, so that made it a nice long weekend for us. We got loads of jobs done on the Monday which was great. Tuesday morning I was awake really early, I just couldn't sleep. I read my book and played with the kittens. Then we went to work, where I had to pick up documents and money. I do this once a fortnight and it's nice to still be able to go in, even if it is only for a few minutes. I also picked up a Scentsy wax warmer from a friend - I've never had an electric warmer before but this one has a bee on it and I really liked it. My Scentsy consultant, Angela, chose a wax for me which is pineapple, coconut and vanilla, and I really like it - it smells like a nice cocktail. 

We headed to Sandal Castle for a walk and I had presents. I got some lovely things, including a yarn tote, some storage drawers for some of my jewellery making supplies, some new slippers, some books... I was spoilt! 

Lee and I then headed to Cannon Hall Farm which isn't too far away from where we live. I had preordered afternoon tea which was £10.95 and well worth the money. I went for the vegetarian option. It had several sandwich quarters (Lee had to eat a tuna sandwich cos three of the four were cheese), quiche, Greek salad, which were all lovely. Then there were so many cakes - a scone with clotted cream and jam, a slive of Victoria sponge, a brownie and a chunky piece of shortbread. There was so much neither of us finished it, but it saved for the next day. 

After that I video chatted with my friend Lucinda for a while. She was framing some art and I was cross stitching, so that was nice. Around 5pm Lee and I made a Body Shop delivery to a friend; it was so nice to see her even if it was so brief - I really miss people. We picked up takeaway while we were out - sushi! I over ordered because I got a bit over-excited, but I knew it would save. I had mostly cold, vegetarian and vegan sushi, but we shared some fried rice and some gyoza too. Lee enjoyed his too.

After that I video chatted with Sam and Jac, which was really nice. We hadn't talked since New Year's Eve so it was lovely to catch up and a nice thing to do on my birthday. After that it was bedtime, but I had had such a nice time. 

I didn't get many photos, but here's what I did get:

Pretty tired first thing in the morning, but this is 37

Sandal Castle. I used to come here all the time when I was a kid, but I honestly don't think I've been in 25 years. Lee had never been

Afternoon tea!

Sushi!

I told you I ordered a lot

Can anyone guess where Poppy might be?

My friend Laura bought me this gorgeous bracelet made by someone she works with. It's moonstone, I love it

And finally, new slippers just before I went to bed!

Quick Popping Out Outfit

Lee had the 18th and 19th of January off work, because he had plenty of annual leave left and because it was my birthday on the 19th. It was a bit different to last year, when I was away with 9 people in a big house for a weekend of fun! But I was determined to have a nice day, and Lee being off was a good start.

But on the Monday the day before, Lee was off and we needed to go into town to do some work for me, for Lee to pick up a cake he'd ordered for me, and to go to the supermarket. We also got lunch out - Lee wanted KFC and I was hoping the one in town did the vegan burger, but it doesn't. Apparently the other store in Barnsley does so at some point we'll have to go so I can try it. I got food from Taco Bell instead, which is on the same complex. We went to the park to eat it, and then popped to Penistone where I had to drop off a Body Shop order. I'm still doing The Body Shop at Home; I enjoy it and find it quite easy. 

Anyway, I had put on my flamingo skirt. I haven't worn it in ages, as I rarely go out anymore, and I miss wearing it! I love it so much. I had on a tie dyed t-shirt, although you can't see that. Then I'd put on my wrap from Evans. I've had it absolutely forever; it must be about ten years I reckon. I didn't wear it for ages, but over the past year I've found it useful to just shrug on when I know I'll be sitting in the car. It's comfortable as it doesn't have any zips or buttons, and it keeps me warm. 

Films of the Month - December

I'm just going to write a quick post here. The completist in me doesn't want to miss a month of films, but equally, I can't be bothered downloading a bunch of pictures and writing about films, especially as for the beginning of the month I just watched a bunch of mostly forgettable Christmas films. I'm writing this on the 11th of January and a lot of stuff has left my mind! But here's what I saw:

1) Christmas With the Coopers - can't remember it at all

2) Happiest Season - I liked this and Kristen Stewart was great, but her character's girlfriend was terrible. 

3) Klaus - nope, forgotten that too. 

4) Last Christmas - I had high hopes for this but it was ultimately a bit rubbish. I worked out the twist

5) Home Alone - a classic, I always love watching it at Christmas

6) Muppets Christmas Carol - again a classic, even though I only saw it for the first time a couple of years ago. I love it, I like how straight Michael Caine plays the character of Scrooge even though there are Muppets all around

7) Jingle All the Way - this was cute

8) A New York Christmas Wedding - who doesn't like a Christmas wedding film, although I don't remember it now

9) Christmas Made to Order - don't remember this either. I'm sure it was fine. 

10) The Christmas Chronicles 2 - I had seen the first one in November so watched this one. I preferred the first one, though. And the little girl is really annoying.

11) Bad Moms Christmas - Sam and Jac and I watched this together. I love it

12) Miracle of 34th Street (the 1994 remake) - Lee and I went to the drive in cinema to see this which was great. I've never seen it, I liked it though

13) Arthur Christmas - Sam and I watched this together. She hadn't seen it before but I had; she enjoyed it. I think it's really cute

14) The Santa Clause - Lee wanted to watch this. I didn't love it, but it was okay

15) Christmas Wedding Planner - I do remember this because it is the WORST FILM and it has the WORST ENDING and if your friend acted like the main character you would STOP TALKING TO HER

16) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - Lee wanted to see this, I've never seen it but I liked it

17) Die Hard - just before Christmas we watched this, which is also a Christmas must for me. I love it. We watched this on the 22nd, after that I was a bit depressed over the whole Covid Christmas thing so we didn't watch anything else, until....

18) Ferris Beueller's Day Off - we watched this on New Year's Eve as we had to stay in of course. We have started to make our way through a list of 100 80s films, and this was one of them. I have seen it before but not for absolutely ages. I do like it. 

New Pyjama Top

I'm sure you, like me, have been spending plenty of time in pyjamas recently. I've said before that due to chronic pain I am usually in a soft bra and comfy clothes when I'm in the house, because they don't press on my body and make it hurt. As I've been in the house for the vast majority of the time, I've worn pyjamas sooooo much. I don't change them every day, but the feeling of clean ones is always lovely! I threw out a few pyjama tops last year, because they get stained and bobbled and eventually gross enough that putting them on doesn't make me feel joyful, so at that point I decide to say goodbye to them.

I bought three cute new pyjama tops last year I think. I go through them quicker than the bottoms, which don't get stained and seem to last longer. One I bought has pandas on, and whenever I've worn it on a video chat, the person I've been talking to has gone "Ooh pandas!" so I think people like it. 

I got this top off eBay, but it's a JD Williams one so may have been for sale on Simply Be at one point. I don't think I got bottoms with it, but I can't remember. Anyway, it's got 3/4 length sleeves which is great when it's winter and cold, and it's soft, and I think it looks cute too!