Easter 2026 - Day 3

On Easter Sunday Lee and Peter and I headed to my mum's. She wanted to see Peter so invited us over. She and my stepdad went to church so we went over about 1.30pm and then all five of us headed out to Newmillerdam for a walk. My mum lives near to it and it is usually lovely, so we went down in one car. My stepdad has just bought himself a mobility scooter which is much better as he can go a lot further than when he is walking. We parked and he put that together and then we headed over the dam itself to the far side, where we walked. 

It was sunny but cold so I had my big coat on, but it was so nice to be out in the fresh air. Peter kept disappearing into the woods and found a big stick which he was pleased with, and we talked to some ducks and so on. We stopped at the gatehouse cafe for a drink and went inside. We had to squish a bit round a table but as we were just having drinks it didn't matter. I had an iced coffee which was delicious. 

We turned back round and walked back towards the car park rather than going all the way around the dam, which I'm honestly not sure I could do anyway. We wanted ice creams but the ice cream van at that side was SHUT! Oh no! But the one on the other side, where we had parked, was open. I had a screwball which I always loved when I was a kid. I sat in the car to eat it so that my hair didn't get everywhere in it.

We went back to my mum's house and hung out there. We ordered pizza for tea and played some games and stuff. We would have stayed later but Lee and I had promised Peter we would watch Airheads before he went home the following day, so we didn't stay that late. It's a fun film, we enjoyed it.

I was wearing this new dress. I went browsing on Simply Be because I needed a thin dressing gown for my upcoming holidays, and found a couple of Joe Browns dresses in the sale, so got them. I love this one - it's really floaty and lovely, I think I'll wear it al ot over the summer. For this day, as it was cold, I was wearing tights underneath, but I wouldn't normally need to. 

Peter ready to dive into the water (which he of course didn't) 

Squished up in the cafe. We bought some duck food from here too!

Lee and my stepdad

Views around the dam and Peter posing for me, he's very amenable

Ice cream in the car

And finally my dress when we got home, including Katniss who had demanded to be let into the garage! They're all obsessed with it! 

Easter 2026 - Day 2

On Easter Saturday we had a lazy morning with my cousin Peter, had some lunch at home made up of god knows what found in the fridge and cupboards, and then headed into Barnsley. I had booked us a game of bowling at the new Superbowl that is in the regenerated town centre near where the main library is. I haven't been in there before so didn't realise it's like a whole arcade up there. I will say that getting up to the bowling was annoying - there's a lift but it requires a member of staff/key to make it work, and he wasn't downstairs when we got there so my cousin went upstairs to ask him to bring the lift down. That's fine if you're with someone able bodied but if you're not, what then? 

We played our bowling game first. If I score over hundred I think I've done well and I did! Plus I relaly enjoyed it. I should have booked two games really but not to worry. Lee won of course but Peter and I were really close to each other. Then we played some of the other arcade games - air hockey (which I won at because I always do) and then one of those basketball games. I had a go first and did way better than I thought I would, but then I did play basketball for my school back when I was fourteen ish. Then Peter had a go and did way better than me, oh well! 

We left Barnsley and went to the Toby Carvery near where we used to live for tea. Lee would go there all the time but I have to be in the mood but when he suggested it I agreed and Peter did too of course. I don't get any vegetarian mains, I just get Yorkshire pudding and all the vegetables and it's plenty for me. The man serving insisted I had two Yorkshire puddings so I didn't complain! 

When we got home I sorted out some things that we had brought back from my mum's attics. I found my pink tiara which I have had for almost thirty years and which I wore to death in my teens because I was a fucking Manics fan and we all did it. I also found this gorgeous photo of me, Stacey, Gemma and Helen on the day we left school back in 2000. Stacey and I went to sixth form together but lost touch until we were 24, we've been friends ever since. We got back in touch with Gemma when Facebook happened and I've met up with her a ton of times since, but I haven't been in touch with Helen since I left school. It's weird how life happens isn't it? 

Anyway I love this photo - we all look so young and beautiful and vibrant and full of life. As someone said when I posted this on Instagram, it's giving Derry Girls. Too cute. 

When we had sorted some things out Lee and Peter put them in the attic. Oh actually I think earlier in the day they had worked together to put a couple of shelves up in the attic, which was so helpful and I'm so glad Peter helped because I really couldn't have done! 

Lee is quite good at bowling - we all did better with the barriers up though

Here's Peter going as well

I put Lee and I in as Bee and Lee so then had to add Peter as Pee which he wasn't too happy about haha

Peter on the basketball game thing

Carvery! So much deliciousness!

Wearing my ridiculous tiara from when I was a teenager

And finally the photo of all four of us, so cute!

Easter 2026 - Day 1

My cousin Peter came to stay with us for Easter, which was lovely. As at New Year, we didn't do tons of things, but we did enough and had fun! He arrived about 5pm on the Thursday afternoon, having taken the afternoon off work, and we made some tea and gave him some Easter eggs and watched films for the evening. 

On Good Friday we went to Yummy Yorkshire for brunch. I had only booked it the day before so the only tables available were outside, which are little wooden booths and which have heaters, so I thought it would be okay. We turned up and got seated and ordered hot drinks. The waitress offered us blankets as well as the heater, which were welcome because it was incredibly windy which was making it cold! 

I went for a vegetarian breakfast which came with halloumi, which was nice. Then for ice cream I had chocolate something and mint choc chip, with a fudge stick. Peter and Lee enjoyed their food too. I haven't been there in ages and we had been dithering about where to go for days so I'm glad I thought of there. 

After brunch we headed off to Dunelm to buy paint which I'm sure they used to sell but they don't anymore? So that was annoying. We did pop into Tesco to get tea for me and Peter, as Lee was off to a gig. Then we headed to Wickes where we did manage to buy paint. It's a dark teal colour and it's for Lee's office which he has wanted to paint ever since we moved in. I've kind of got used to all the cream in the new house and don't mind it, but he does. 

Then we came home. Lee headed out later to a gig, so Peter and I made some Easter nests and had some tea. By this time I was feeling really crap - a flare up of my fibromyalgia I think - so I'm not sure I was very good company but Peter and I watched two films anyway. We watched The Aristocats and The Wedding Singer which are two films I really love! 

I had been wearing one of my pairs of ice cream earrings for going to Yummy Yorkshire for ice cream, aren't they cute? 

Oh yes, this is the new patio that was laid just before Easter! We're buying a catio so all the cats can go outside, too, and I want a table and chairs for this area too. There's already a bench on the right hand side which was left by the previous owner

Peter's hot chocolate was absolutely huge

We got a cute photo of all of us

My veggie breakfast, the green stuff is guacamole not peas

My ice cream - I prefer tubs to cones 

Peter and his ice cream

A few cute Easter nests that we made, we did make a few more

And finally my ice cream earrings!

Easter Sunday 2024

On Easter Sunday Lee and I went to my mum's to spend the day with her and my stepdad. My mum wanted us to have Sunday dinner, but since they were at church it would have taken a while afterwards, so Lee and I went to their house at about 11.45 to start getting things ready. We roasted the potatoes and the parsnips and did a bunch of other stuff, and then by the time my mum and Norman got back everything was nearly ready. We just did the Yorkshire puddings and then it was good to go by aobut 1.30! 

I didn't have a main type of vegetarian thing, I just had vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, and bread sauce. I don't really miss a main type of thing and as you can see I had plenty! Everything was lovely. Oh, there was cauliflower cheese too! I made the cheese sauce. 

Lee and I were going to make a cake but we had been out most of Saturday because we had to buy a new car. I think I said that I was driving to Manchester and the car broke down so Lee had to come and rescue me and the car got recovered. It turned out to be really broken - the cam belt had gone meaning it needed a whole new engine. It wasn't worth very much so it didn't make sense to spend a lot on it. So we had to buy another. It took forever but finally we chose one. But we got back too late to make a cake. So we got one from Asda instead and got the stuff to make a chocolate sauce to go with it. 

We didn't eat pudding until about 3.30pm though! Then we video chatted with my family very briefly because we were trying to sort out a family holiday at the end of July. My stepdad wasn't feeling well so he went to lie down and me, my mum and Lee played a couple of games. My mum won one but I won the other. It was fun! My mum and I shared some wine. We got home about 7.30pm I think. Then I was on a roll for booking things because I then booked a weekend away for Sam and Jac and me too. 

I was wearing a new dress that I had got from Crazy Clearance. It is a Joe Browns one and you probably already know that I love their stuff. It was only £15 because it was on clearance which was ideal! I love the pattern on it and the vibrant orange colour. I paired it with green tights from Better Tights. I love the colour on them and they're a decent fit on me but they're not as good as my Snag ones. But still pretty good!

Dinner before I added gravy. I love bread sauce, I'm glad we got some for Easter!

Dark green tights and my Dr Marten boots. You can see they were a bit covered in mud from Cannon Hall still but I took them off at the door at my mother's house so it was fine

And here's this gorgeous dress! It has pockets! I think I'll be wearing it a lot this year

Good Friday 2024

We didn't have many plans for Easter but we wanted to keep it quite quiet. I had asked some of my old sixth form friends if they were free, and Gillian said she and her husband and kids were. So we arranged to meet at Cannon Hall near me on Good Friday. We agreed to meet at about ten o'clock so it wouldn't be too busy when we got there, but it was already getting busy! We went into the playground first and played with Gillian's girls - I had fun swinging E on the swing, playing boo with her. L and I played shops for a bit too and managed to do the sum of six times three by counting on all our fingers!

The girls were hungry by 11 so we sat in the pagoda bit, chatting, and the girls ate their sandwiches and snacks. Then we went out of the playground and walked along the river and to the little bridge where there's a waterfall too. The girls had duck food so we fed the ducks and geese for a while - there were some really pretty ones! We crossed over the bridge and walked down the right hand side for a bit. It was pretty muddy but it was okay for me. We hugged some trees, found some fairy doors, and spied some coots and more geese. Then we went back across the bridge and down the other side to where there are swan pedalos. They weren't running but it was still nice to see them. There were some picnic benches so we stopped there for a little bit.

We walked back to the car park and over the road to the ice cream shack. We all had an ice cream - I had bubblegum and a flake, which E kept calling 'bubblebum' which was adorable. We sat on some picnic benches to the right of the ice cream shack and it was fine, except then it started to rain heavily so we went inside the garden centre. We had a good look at everything in there but Lee and I only got some bird food. We keep losing the cylinder things in bad weather! And our cats love to look at the birds from the windows so we like to feed them. 

By this time it was past 1pm so we said goodbye to Gillian and Tom and drove home, stopping for some sandwiches on the way! I was wearing my My Little Pony t shirt, one of my skirts that used to be a dress, black leggings, and my ridiculous strawberry and cherry jumper! I knew it would be warm enough as the day wasn't boiling, and I was right! Also L told me she liked it, and I do like getting validation from a six year old!

Lee and I while waiting for Gillian and co by the playground

Swinging E on the swings

There were a couple of these little totem sculpture things, L liked them a lot

Ducks and geese

The waterfall

These geese had some really pretty markings/feathers

The ducks and geese as we were feeding them

Loved these two white geese walking along

This Canada goose was on the bridge as we walked back across it

E in a 'fairy house'. L also used this as Rapunzel's tower. Kids are amazing

The swan pedalos

Selfie in the sunshine. I think I've mentioned that I went back on antidepressants at the end of last summer and they've been absolutely brilliant for me. I'm feeling so much better than I was. It was so nice to be out in the sunshine and to have a long walk - it felt restorative and lovely. I'm feeling myself in this photo

There are a few places you can go at Cannon Hall and this is the hall itself. I've never been in but I have been to the amenities closer up which include a farm shop and stuff

And here's my outfit when I got home!

Easter Weekend 2022

We had a nice Easter weekend. Lee had had a cold for the week beforehand - not Covid, but it wiped him out quite badly. By the weekend he was feeling a bit better. On the Friday we tidied the bedroom and then chilled out which was nice. I watched a good film with a friend in the evening which was nice and which also felt like early lockdown again! 

On Saturday we made chocolate mousse in the morning. I had more success with the whisking of the egg whites than I've ever had before, and the chocolate folded in really nicely. 

Then we started sorting out our huge attic room again, I have so much stuff in there and it gets unwieldy and I can't find stuff. So we started sorting stuff out, going through the shelves. We didn't completely finish but we made a good start. We also need to get decorating my dolls house, but it needs painting first of all. I did find lots of white acrylic paint so I can do that. 

In the evening we made a nice meal and then had two of the chocolate mousses, which had set wonderfully and tasted lovely. We'll be making those again definitely! 

On Sunday we headed to my mum's house about eleven o'clock. I had requested that my mum make a big Easter Sunday dinner. It turned out my aunt and uncle were also up because they had been clearing my grandma's house again with my mum and stepdad. My grandma is settling into her new home but was only allowed out on the Sunday as she'd been unwell. My mum agreed to make a dinner, with chicken and then a beefless Wellington for me, but as everyone was at church, I volunteered that Lee and I go over to get things going, or we'd have been eating much too late! My mum left stuff out on the side and it was like that round in Masterchef where they have to try to figure out what the person before them was trying to make. Absolutely bonkers. But everyone arrived at my mum's about 12.30 and dinner was ready just after one, so it was a win! It was delicious.

We stayed at my mum's until late playing games and looking at photos they had brought from my grandma's house. My grandma went about 7, maybe a little earlier. The rest of us had sandwiches for tea. We had to taste wine for my cousin's wedding too, which was so tough obviously! Lee and I got home about 11pm. 

On Monday I was up early to go to the world snooker championships in Sheffield with my mum! My mum loves the snooker and always watches it. She used to go every year with my dad, grandma, godfather, and his friend. Then my dad died, and a few years ago my godfather and his mate decided it was too expensive (it is expensive!) so she just went with my grandma. Then my grandma got too disabled to go, so my mum hasn't been in a few years. It's different now as well because you have to enter like a lottery for tickets. But my mum asked me last year if I would go, so I said yes. I wouldn't watch it on TV by choice, but if I'm at my mum's I'll watch it. It's different in person, too, the atmosphere is pretty good. I went once when I was about ten years old and sat on the steps because I couldn't see - you could see my white socks on the telly! But I haven't been since then. 

So Lee took us to Sheffield and we went in for the first session at 10am. We were watching Anthony McGill versus Liam Highfield to begin with - Liam was down but rallied a little bit, but Anthony ultimately won. We left before the last frame as it was already past 1pm and we needed to get lunch before the 2nd session which started at 2.30. One of the pubs opposite the Crucible had a barbecue outside selling burgers and hotdogs, including vegan options, so we each had a hotdog. It was lovely! In the square outside there are big screens showing the snooker for the entirety of the tournament, which is pretty cool if you don't manage to get tickets. 

The second session was long, so long. We started off watching Mark Williams versus Michael White, but Mark only needed a few frames to win that match. He is left handed as am I so that was quite cool to see. When that finished we had an interval, and then the curtain went up between the two tables so we could see the end of Neil Robertson versus Ashley Hugill. Ashley is from Yorkshire and is a new player, so he had done well to get 3-1 up against Neil (who is a former world champion). However, Neil won the next five frames meaning he was 6-3 up by the end of the session. My mum did ask me at 5.30ish, in between frames, if I wanted to go, but when we checked the trains we had just missed one, so I said no, we may as well stay until the end. It ended about five to six. We walked down to the train station, bought tickets and waited for the 6.30 train. 

It was a long day but ultimately very fun. I liked watching the snooker live. There weren't many women there generally, and most of them were with men, so as two women by ourselves we were definitely in the minority. We have tickets for the Seniors championship at the beginning of May too, so we're going to do it all again! 

I was absolutely knackered the next day and would have stayed at home, but I had to process payroll at work so couldn't!

Whisking egg whites for mousse

And here it is - so yummy

Sunday, I took this photo in the car as I'd put contact lenses in and could wear my fun sunglasses

Ruben sitting on the mantelpiece which is a place he definitely shouldn't be! Clearly this is what he gets up to when my mother isn't in!

Later he sat on me

Outside the Crucible first thing on Monday morning!

And just waiting for it to start...