The Rest of Our Staycation

As I said previously, Lee was off the week before Easter but we obviously couldn't go anywhere, but we had a really lovely week anyway. We lounged in bed, we watched films, we went out and got ice cream. When Lee is working I can't sit in the living room as that's where he's working from, so I enjoyed lounging on the sofa reading quite a bit. Lee did loads of bits around the house and we generally had a nice week. 

On the Wednesday we went to Yummy Yorkshire which isn't too far away from us, and where they are doing takeaway ice cream only currently. I got chocolate and caramel fudge ice creams, and a fudge stick. 

On Thursday I had ordered afternoon tea from Cannon Hall Farm again so we had those at lunchtime. So much, we didn't eat it all but saved some for later. I video chatted with my friend Jac - we had wanted to go see her but it was too cold to sit outside anywhere!

On Friday I woke up to the news that one of my BFFs, Sarah, had safely had her baby first thing on Friday morning! That was brilliant news of course. They were discharged on Sunday - Sarah wasn't very well and they wanted to keep an eye on her for a bit. I hadn't slept well partly because I was worrying about her and partly because I have tennis elbow at the moment and it's really sore. I can't work out what's causing it, so I can't make it stop. I finally had a telephone call with a doctor about it and he prescribed strong painkillers. They work, but they're making me knackered and a bit loopy, and I'm still not sleeping great. But it's better than before!

On Saturday my mum and stepdad came to help us mend the fence. They can now visit us in the garden of course, so they did. Lee and my stepdad mended the fence, which involved concreting in a new post in and bolting the post into a metal holder. It should hold now, thankfully. My mum and I cut down a bramble bush that was in next door's garden (our gardens are weird and there's a gate between his and ours) but was coming through to both sides of our fence. It needed a lot of cutting and dealing with, and now needs some strong weedkiller on it. We did it though, although I can definitely feel the ache in my arms and hands the next day.

In the evening Lee and I made a Middle Eastern meal. It was so good and there was loads of it, enough for leftovers the next day. On Friday we had made labneh, which is strained yoghurt. It comes out tasting like cream cheese, and you're supposed to serve it with red chilli flakes and olive oil, with pita bread to dip in. We made hummus, which I've always wanted to make. It was so good! We made fatoush, which is a salad with pita bread chips in it, which we made by baking pita bread in olive oil. We made couscous and threw in some sauteed courgette and red pepper. And we made batata harra which is like a curried potato. Oh and we had some shop bought falafel too. It was all SO good! I'm so impressed with us!

I also had some cocktails delivered! I had been considering it, but I'm nthe only one that drinks, and I'm not a big drinker by myself. But a bar in Barnsley was doing 4 cocktails for £26 which I found reasonable, so I chose some and ordered them. Jac helped me decide which ones I wanted actually when we were chatting. A lady turned up at the time she said, and she was lovely. The cocktails were delicious! I might order again before lockdown is over. I really enjoyed them over two days. 

All the stuff in the food processor to make hummus. We couldn't find tahini so made it without and I think it was fine. We did add more garlic and lemon than the recipe said

Hummus! 

Cocktails! 

This is labneh, it was SO easy and so good, I'll make it again

We pulled out our best plates and I served the hummus and labneh like this

Batata harra

Fatoush

Couscous

And my lovely fresh delicious plate!

A Lovely Day in March

We had a really lovely Saturday together a couple of weeks ago so I thought I'd write a blog post about it. Lee works full time all week and spends a lot of time on video calls, so I can't be in the living room most of the time. I end up sitting in the attic room by myself, and it's fine, I'll get through it. I know that brighter times will come because they have to - Covid can't keep on taking us all from our lives. I just can't really believe we're a year into this, can you? 

Because of me being alone most of the week, we've been trying to make Saturday a bit of a special day. We've been doing jobs and stuff, and we've usually been out to a shop. Then in the evening we've made a special meal and watched something on the TV. It's simple but it's been really nice. 

So in the middle of March, we got up and went to the post office first of all, and then to the Range, which we've found is the cheapest place to buy cat litter. With two kittens and two litter trays we go through a lot of it! Lee also needed a new paint pad as we've been redecorating the stairs and landing. I also got to choose some Easter eggs which was good. Last year I didn't get to! 

Lee popped into Morrison's while I read my book in the car, and then when we got home we had lunch. Then we tidied up outside in the back a bit. It's a shared yard and a lot of rubbish seems to end up in our bit as there's a fence that acts as a wind trap. We got rid of rubbish and old leaves, and we sprayed weedkiller on the weeds. We put some washing outside on the line, which is always lovely. It wasn't particularly warm and it was very cloudy, but it stayed dry.

We came back in and made some Easter nests with cornflakes and chocolate and mini eggs. Not complicated but they're always delicious and fun. After that we both had a nap - I'm not sure why we were so tired but we fell asleep on the couch. 

It's funny because we still shut the kittens in the attic room at night. I think if they were allowed to roam the whole house they would get into too much mischief, and although they would sleep for some of the night, they would also bother us and try to wake us up. I know I'm right because every time I nap, Jasmine pokes my face to try to wake me up. I thought she wanted to come under the covers (I always have a duvet on the sofa cos I'm always cold and Lee's always warm) but no, she was poking my face. And this is why she's not allowed in my bedroom at night!

When we woke up it was time to video chat with my family which we've not done in a few weeks. That was nice. Then we made bread! We had planned to make garlic dough balls, but the dough was too sticky, so we just baked it as a bread and cut it into pieces. Lee made the garlic butter for it, and then he made tagliatelle alfredo. It was really nice, but not very saucy - I'm not sure why! The bread was nice and the garlic butter was amazing! But I do want to make actual dough balls soon!

I was wearing this Joe Browns dress that I got a few months ago. It's red and navy blue, and has buttons running down the length of it. It's really nice to wear and will be especially lovely in the summer. Over the top I put this Joe Browns jumper on, which I've had for years and periodically forget about, but I've been wearing it quite a lot this past winter. It's nice, not too thick, and I love the raspberry colour. I was also wearing these new Converse trainers. Instagram had been advertising them to me and I gave in. They're slip ons - there's elastic under the tongue and the laces are fakes. Now I love my Converse and a couple of other pairs of trainers I've got that are similar, but doing up the laces is such a faff and also something I find difficult with my chronic paid. So slip ons are ideal! They're really lovely and comfy, I can't wait to wear them allll summer!

It was a very busy but very lovely day!

Joe Browns dress and jumper

Slip on Converse

Me sitting down outside the back door while Lee was busy sweeping

Easter nests

Cheers! I haven't drunk loads in the pandemic, as I've been by myself so much. Lee doesn't drink at all. I'm looking forward to sharing a bottle with someone again hopefully soon!

Tagliatelle alfredo

Garlic bread

And the very delicious garlic butter!

A Barbecue at Home

A few weeks ago I invited my mum and stepdad over for tea. We hadn't seen them since the vow renewal and wanted to show them the photos and the holiday photos so I invited them over after work one Tuesday. I had already said that I wanted to make some halloumi kebabs, and then the weather was so nice that I said we should have a barbecue. I've said before that I love barbecues and genuinely think we should have one whenever we want, especially if the weather is nice because you never know when it'll turn and be too wet. 

So we put together some halloumi kebabs, and Lee made some chicken kebabs too cos he and my mum don't like halloumi. We made a coriander dip for the kebabs, and picked up some salads and breadsticks and hummus. We also roasted some new potatoes which we've never done before but which were SO yummy! Really simple food but good enough for the four of us!

When my mum and stepdad arrived Lee was in the garden getting the barbecue going, so we all sat out there eating crisps and drinking wine. On a school night too! The kebabs were done in no time, and we sat inside to eat. After tea we looked at the photos before they went home. It was a simple meal and a really easy evening - my favourite kind!

Drinking prosecco out of my fancy glasses that I got in a charity shop for 39p each!

Halloumi kebabs with peppers and mushrooms

Some kind of superfoods salad

Roasted new potatoes

And finally Ivy later on having cuddles!

A Productive Weekend

In the middle of July, after a busy few weeks, we had a nice weekend doing not much, so I thought I'd document it. On the Friday night, as you've seen, we went to see some friends.

Then on Saturday we made cheesecake ready to take to my mum's later. We made this chocolate and orange cheesecake, which was really yummy and not too sickly. It didn't take a lot to make it, either.

It actually made double this - we made two cheesecakes in dishes this size. 

Then we went to put the new headboard on the bed. I bought it off eBay for £27 for a king size one, which I think is an excellent price! We used to have cushions which served as headboards, but recently they've been driving me mad so I'd said I wanted a headboard and this crushed velvet one is ideal. I think we're going to put new wallpaper up at some point this year - this stuff is ten years old and very scuffed in places. There's only wallpaper here, under the stairs which go up to the attic, and on the opposite side of the room on the chimney breast. The others walls are painted and they're in okay condition, so I think it'll just be new paper. 

We went to my mum's for a barbecue at about 6pm. It was really warm so we sat outside to eat. 

My mum and stepdad have just been to the Italian Lakes for a holiday, where they tried Aperol Spritz for the first time! So they bought a bottle and made some for us. I already like the cocktail, so that's good. 

This is one of my mum's cats, Ruben. He is very beautiful and very very stupid. I love him. He's lost quite a bit of weight recently and had to have a tooth out, bless him. It did mean I fed him quite a bit off my plate... 

My mum's also just got into gin, so she made me try a pink gin and lemonade. It was okay, but it wouldn't be my first choice of drink. 

We looked through their holiday photos and they looked through ours, and it was a really lovely evening! We didn't get home until midnight. 

On Sunday Lee and I had planned a chilled day of doing house stuff and me doing some writing. We had washing to do, all of that exciting stuff. Anyway I said I would make brunch, so I planned avocado toast and poached eggs. Can you believe we've never poached eggs before?! Lee prefers fried eggs and I prefer scrambled, but we both do like poached. I mashed the avocado with some salt, some pepper, and a generous dash of lime juice. I think I would have mashed it into smaller pieces, but Lee was happy. It was really lovely!

Flooding in Wakefield

So you probably saw on the news that a lot of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cumbria got flooding in December, especially on Boxing Day. Where I live in Barnsley we're not at risk of flooding at all. Wakefield had terrible floods in 2007 when Sheffield did. On Boxing Day Lee drove my grandma home (he was the only sober one) and we went down to the river Calder near her house. It was incredibly high. There had been a barge stuck under the footbridge which leads across to the Hepworth museum, so there was a policewoman guarding it to stop anyone crossing it. They had also shut the newer Chantry Bridge to traffic. 

This is the Hepworth gallery (named after sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born in Wakefield). The orange line of buoys you can vaguely see should be strung along the weir to the right of the photo, but they came loose and were right over the other side of the river.

This is Chantry Bridge, the new one. It was closed because there was no gap between the water and the bridge so the weight of the water was really strong. 

That life preserver is usually on dry ground, hanging from the wooden stake.

The water was only about six inches below the bottom of the railing, it may well have come over on to the path later. 

This is the old Chantry Bridge, with the Chantry Chapel on it. It's been closed to cars for my whole life, but you can still walk on it. Can you see how high the water is against the arches? My mum said she'd never seen it so high. 

I thought I'd take a picture of the very beautiful Chantry Chapel. 

And a bit more information on what one of those is! 

New bedding from Asda

Lee and I bought a new bed last winter. We had had our old one since we'd moved into this house and it was only supposed to be a temporary measure. Ten years later it was time to finally buy a new one! We went for a king size and it's fab, it's got so much room! We bought a duvet cover and then my mum bought us another one for Christmas. But the first one was a ridiculous fabric that I just really didn't like, so I popped into Asda to see what they had.

The owl on our bed was a ridiculous present from Lee for my birthday. The cushions that we use as a headboard (and for lounging, let's be honest) were a Christmas present from my mum and were all from The Range I think.

My eye was caught in Asda by this white set as our bedroom is grey, black, and white. Yes our colour schemes aren't for everyone but I love it! Our living room is black, grey, and pink, haha.

I also really liked the writing on the pillowcases - "Mine" and "Yours". I knew it would appeal to Lee's sense of humour and it did.

This duvet set was £18 and it's really soft and comfortable.