Monday 27 January 2014

Time for tea ~ January 2014 x



Hello and welcome to the first edition of Abi's monthly meme where we invite our blogfriends around for a lovely beverage and some chat.

Do come in, if it's anything like the rest of the month it's probably raining and you could do with warming up and drying off. Here's a lovely soft towel to dry yourself off, do sit down and relax while I put the kettle on. Would you like tea, we have all sorts: Redbush, Normal PG, Earl Grey and some herbal choices? Can I offer you some fruitcake? Sadly that is the main offering as my dad brought me over several as I fancied some when he came over to visit. Let's sit down and get warm, and have a catchup.

I do hope you are enjoying the new year and have made some goals for this year, nothing too heavy I hope. I have set myself a few goals myself some personal and others professional:

  • I would really like to get fit this year and lose some weight, this is very hard for me because I am not sporty at all and I find it tremendously difficult to lose large amounts of weight because the drugs I take make you gain weight annyway but I really do want to make a concerted effort this year,
  • I need to rethink my career prospects as I am still off sick and unsure where I belong. I am trying hard to think carefully about my options and whether I should give up nursing completely,
  • I have signed up for some crafting classes online, primarily scrapbooking, but I really would like to get into quilting properly and make something for my home, I am going to be doing One Little word this year and my word is REBUILD. Have you made any crafting or other activity class choices?
  • I really want to get going with Project Life and I am going to share my work with you,
What sorts of goals have you set yourself?


So this months crafting has included making wedding anniversary invites for this young and attractive couple.


Yes that is my parents Gary and Liz in March 1964 getting married and don't they look amazingly young and slim. My mother keeps saying that she wishes she were still as slim. Apparently she had a 20 inch waist. Personally I have never had one of those and when you look at her wedding dress, as she still has it, it is very tiny. We bought the supplies to make the invites in April last year but the parents have taken until now to decide what they wanted to do to celebrate and where so it's been a little fraught. Anyway, the cards are simple squares with scalloped edges and I printed out the photograph at 3 x 4 approximately then mounted them on gold mirror card. I then made the inserts for the invites on Word, printed them and stuck them in and added some gold ribbon. My parent's liked them so off they went and I am compiling the attendees list using my new Spreadsheet skills.


I spent a few hours in hospital last week having a procedure for which my sister, her boyfriend and cat sent me these beautiful spring flowers. Aren't they beautiful? They smell more lovely each day and are opening out nicely so give my flat a lovely look. Do you like flowers? I do love receiving them myself especially lilies.



Here is my photo of my poor hand with my cannula in ready for my anaesthetic, nurses and doctors do look at you funny when the camera comes out in hospital. I have terrible veins but thankfully it only took two goes to get in and I went under anaesthetic watching the sunrise over Bristol. How amazing.



My amazing friend Ronnie sent me my Friend Movement mug which is getting alot of use for tea drinking in general and is the perfect size for a good drink. It arrived I day I came home form my parents and is being used everyday. I love that a little piece of Hollywood is sitting in my home and that everytime I use it, I think of my wonderful friend and all the plans for Friend Movement this year. I will keep you posted. There is some crafting activity linked to Friend Movement going in my shhhhhhhh he doesn't know that. Secret squirrels.


This year has already seen the return, and sadly very brief stay of Sherlock. I love this programme and wish they did more than 3 episodes but hey, it was so great to watch the boys solving crimes and being slightly barmy. Alot of the filming was done in Bristol behind my sister's office, I was most miffed they didn't get to meet the stars but maybe next time. What programmes are you loving at the moment I wonder. I am looking forward to some new and old favourites coming back


I have again set myself a reading challenge of 60 books this year. I am aiming to read more diversely but my current book pile is mostly crime, I'm sorry. I am excitedly awaiting the publication of this book by one of my favourite authors Jay Bell at the end of this week. It is the fourth novel in the series and sadly, the final one. The books begin with Summer, then Winter and Autumn. The stories all include the same key characters, Ben and Tim who met at High School, fell in love but parted for many years, moved on with their lives and were then thrust back together as adults. Each book is written from a different perspective each time so you see the story from a different point of view. This final book will introduce a new character completely but Jay has promised that our heroes Ben and Tim will be in it somewhere.


Do you have any books you're anxiously awaiting publication? I wonder whether we love the same authors or if you could give me tips on new ones to try?

I feel about now it's times for another drink and perhaps some lunch, How about a lovely warm bowl of soup, Broccoli and Stilton or Thai Curry? All with some warm crusty bread.

Photography wise, we are ever so slightly obsessed with sunsets and we've had some beautiful ones recently.




This one was on the way home from hospital but was too good to miss as a passenger. Aren't the colours incredible.

 There are also strange things going on in my local supermarket car park. I feel they need to address the issue of their chickens having to be brought in on foot, heehee


They keep escaping from the farm next door and love scratching in the flower beds outside the supermarket.



I'm now back at school again completing my European Computer Driving licence. I have passed the course components in Word processing and PowerPoint and am now onto Spreadsheets, which are the spawn of the devil in some moments. I end up pulling my hair out some times when I don't understand what it is going on about. There are Maths problems to solve, yuck I hated Maths. Never mind though we're making progress.


I go to this cool old Victorian building which has beautiful old windows and stone masonry.

Oooh it's getting a bit darker outside, we've talked for ages. I think maybe it's time you drove home before it gets too late. I would hate for you to drive in the dark. We will say goodbye and I will wave you off with the hope of seeing you again next month more tea and chat.

13 comments:

  1. Wow Jo what a lovely catch up. So much has been going on! I hope you are feeling better, flowers do cheer everything up don't they! I'll be thinking about you and your goals this winter. They all seem achievable! Thank you so much for stopping for tea with me today.

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  2. what an interesting chat Jo good to catch up with all your news and lots of it!

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  3. Hi Jo thanks for the tea and catch up. Hope you feel better soon x

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  4. I did the ECDL a while ago and whilst I hated the spreadsheets at the time, now I use them all the time! Sorry to hear you've been unwell, and hope you are soon feeling much better. I've started an exercise class which is called Fitsteps, I've put the link on my blog today, if you had a class locally I would really recommend it. I'm 55 with a dodgy knee so if I can do it - I'm sure you can!
    I'm also really loving my quilting, Jo, you and I have so much in common - right down to our love of Sherlock. I couldn't believe that they only gave us three episodes though! Roll on the next series!

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  5. Wow, there's a lot of catching up in there! First of all, I hope that whatever required the op is now "over and done with" - can you tell that TSO and I have been watching Sunshine on Leith and singing along?!

    I like your tea and book poster at the start - Uncle Dave always chants "tea and a bun? I'll have one!" or "A bun and tea? that's for me!" when he comes to visit, so your poster made me smile.

    Keeping fit? Best of luck with it! I'm so unsporty too. But I started pilates last week and I'm going back this week, so I am trying!

    The flowers are beautiful. Spring flowers are my favourites

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  6. the soup sounds lovely, I've challenged myself to 52 books this year and to lose 1lb a week. i hope you are recovering well from the operation x

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  7. Lovely to catch up with what's going on with you Jo :o) Good luck with the goals. Reading 60 books would be unachievable for me, so I admire you there. I'm trying PL too and enjoying learning more about patchwork and quilting.

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  8. It has been lovely to pop in and spend so much time with you - and what a full and chatty time it has been! I do hope you are over the op now, and that Rebuild (such a positive word!) is going to nourish and fortify you all year. Here's another one loving Spring flowers ... I did giggle at your chickens - hoping someone is teaching them the Highway Code! Wishing you a very good week, Jo!

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  9. What a lovely catch up with you Jo. I am hoping that the hospital procedure is over and you are feeling better. I love the story of the chickens! brilliant... and I really love spring flowers. I have some in the house this week. I hope we can have coffee again next month. It was lovely to spend some time with you.

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  10. Oh thanks for catching us up. I do hope you are on the mend and back at full force to whatever it is you want to do. January was a bit contemplative for me too - but I think that bodes well for February. I have to know what font that is on your first photo - love it. Good luck with spreadsheets - I remember having to learn about them first thing after college - yes, how that for lousy timing. I was out in the work world, and felt at a severe disadvantage - being taught by a young man right out of high school. Then just when I finally got comfortable, they make them more and more powerful and I'm totally left behind. I hope the study goes well for you - because they are handy tools. Well, your nice long post has made me chatty too. Take care, and see you next month for tea - but probably sooner!

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    1. sadly the picture is from Pinterest so I can't tell you the font. Maybe I should have found the original xxx

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  11. Oh yes, I wanted to say that we just watched the wedding episode of Sherlock yesterday and laughed so much. They made it a very unique episode but still very much in sticking with the mystery. I too wish it were more than 3 episodes.

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  12. another hand up for Sherlock, but am also enjoying it's replacement, The Musketeers. Enjoyed reading your post. My Mum and Dad are 50 years in June, not sure what I should do to celebrate them yet. Happy February.

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Hello and thank you so much for stopping by. It is always a pleasure to read the comments I receive and to meet new friends. I try and reply to comments on friend's blogs as much as possible. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and look forward to seeing you here again soon. Love Jo xxx