Have A Very Happy 4th July This Week & Free Menu Printable

Hi Honeys
I was thinking this morning that it's been a while since I made a printable and they're such fun to make too.  You might remember I've previously made printable menus for Christmas, Thanksgiving, St Patrick's day and also an everyday weekly menu board (in different colour schemes.)

Well, since we're so close to 4th July I thought why not make a menu printable that could be used for Independence Day lunch, dinner or even a picnic 😋

So, dear ones, here's what I came up with...

I hope you like it 😊  I've made it in 8" x  11" in size but you can use your "print to fit" setting on your printer to print your menu out onto A4 paper.

Of course you could easily just print the menu out, possibly onto card stock? and write directly onto it, but you could also print it and then either laminate it & pop it onto the fridge, or place into a frame and then use a marker to write onto the glass. 

If you choose to laminate the printable, or to use a frame in order to write on the glass you can then wipe it clean again and use it again next year 😊  If you'd like to download this printable you can find it here honeys.  

Whatever you're doing over this weekend honeys, have fun, smile lots and hug even more, till next time dear ones,  huggles always xx 

Brown Rice, Fish & Veggies - A Yummy, Healthy Meal Idea!

Hi Honeys
I hope you're having a fabulous week.  We actually saw the sun (for a short spell) yesterday and it re-appeared again today for an hour or so, which is just as well really because I was starting to forget what it looked like having been rained on such a lot lately.

It is Summer after all, are you hearing me Mother Nature? Well, anyway, since the weather is playing games around here I decided to cook something sun filled which led me to veggies.... odd thing honeys, I wasn't a huge fan of vegetables when I was young.  Now I can't get enough of the nutrient filled, health boosting, ever so colourful, produce aisle 😋

These days when planning dinner for Hubby & I,  my thoughts always head towards "which veggies can I serve with this?" 😊

Having rummaged around in the larder, fridge & freezer waiting for inspiration to strike I spotted a large bag of whiting pieces and had an "aha!" moment... I do love those 😊 My aha! moment led to my making one of our favourite dinners.   This...

This is such a simple, fast (and yummy) meal it could make itself...almost 😊 It's also become one of Hubby's favourites (and mine)

OK, aprons at the ready? Off to the kitchen honeys...

Saturday Smile: Who Are Your Angels?

Hi Honeys
I hope you've had a fabulous week and that you're looking forward to a wonderful weekend 😊  It's been a bit of a week so I thought I'd make myself (and hopefully you) smile 😃

Is it OK if I share the sweetest, loveliest, made-me-smile-till-my-face-ached (in a good way) gift I was given recently?  I'm still smiling as I type this! I love it so much! More so because it was a gift from a very dear friend.  How sweet are these adorable angels?

Aren't they wonderful honeys?  Such a beautiful message too 💖  Thank you Jenny, I love them!  I'm still sitting here smiling just seeing them in this photo 😃  There are angels all around our home. They peep out from bookcases, smile from shelves and even live in my purse 😊  I have the sweetest pewter coin, a gift from Hubby many years ago which has a blessing on it and an angel engraved into one side.

Do you believe in angels honeys?  I do. I always have.  In the times we find ourselves living, with so much of the world making no sense, we all need our angels.  Not all angels have wings though.

How many times have you ever been at your lowest point when something unexpected, something wonderful, something truly uplifting happened? Maybe the day of your beloved Mother-in-law's funeral when the world is still shattering around you and the phone rings and it's a dear friend who knows, just knows, you need someone (thank you Francine, love you honey xx).

We're all blessed with angels dear ones, even if sometimes it doesn't feel like it.  We're living in a world where everything moves too fast.  Social media can make everyone else's life look effortless by comparison to our own and it's so easy to doubt ourselves and to become isolated.  I was told once by a very wise person that if I ever found myself in a dark place in my life, before fighting my way out of it, to stop, just for a second and to look around.  The people still around then, they're real friends. Well, I would go further honeys, I'd say the people willing to be with us when the world has turned it back on us are our angels.

On the subject of angels, my darling Gramma told me a story when I was very young.  She said that when babies came into the world, they knew everything there was to know.  All of the history, the languages, everything.  "Even stuff that properly clever folk don't know..." these babies all know. Then, at the very second they're about to learn to speak, their own guardian angel appears, places a finger to their lips and says "ssshhh...."  and that's how we all get that little bow in the centre of our top lip 😊

Who are your angels honeys? It's wonderful to count your blessings, I do it often, but it's just as awesome to count your angels 😊 Wishing you a fabulous weekend dear ones, full of smiles, hugs and angels too ❤  Huggles always xx

ps: Jenny honey, look where your dear wee angels are living. They have friends all around them too 😊 Thank you honey, I adore them and will treasure them.  Thank you for being one of my angels sweetheart xx

 

5 Awesome Storage Solutions You May Not Have Tried Yet!

Hi Honeys
You know what they say, necessity is the mother of invention.  I've found that's certainly true when in search of that tiny bit more space when organizing our home 😊

Our home organization journey is certainly a long ways from being complete.  Hubby & I have both been major pack rats throughout our long marriage so there's still a whole lot of junk we want to get rid of.  One day at a time though huh?

During the organizing projects so far worked on we've actually managed to create some (I think) pretty neat storage solutions where none previously existed.  So, dear ones, today I thought I'd take a little trip down memory lane and share with you the ones we're still using, the ones that still make our lives easier and help our home just plain rock 💗

OK before we dive in, do you have a coffee? Maybe a cookie? You're going to love these 💖 but it's definitely a post you'll want to have a coffee & a cookie for.  Put your feet up honeys and let's begin at the beginning shall we..

Super Easy, Super Yummy, Baked Chicken Breast With Garlic & Tomato

Hi Honeys
It's been glorious outside all day! I hope you're enjoying the weather, but also being careful too.  On the south coast of England today the temperature reached 34C while up here, north of the border, we made it to the dizzying heights of 21C which for us is practically tropical 😊

Hubby works very hard all day in a far too hot office so I thought I'd make him a super yummy dinner to come home to.  Nothing too heavy, being mindful of the mini heatwave, but something I know he loves.  This is what I made...

There are no words for just how delicious this meal is honeys.  It's all prepared, and cooked, in a single, oven proof dish too so yaaaay for less cleaning up too 😊  You probably have all of the ingredients right this minute in the kitchen too! Let's head to the larder & fridge shall we?

Guest Post By Jade, Our Beloved Furbaby

Hello
My name is Jade.  I'm seven years old, I'm a Staffie cross and (I know this because my Mum tells me all the time) I'm the prettiest, smartest, best dog in the whole world.

I'm excited today because Mum has agreed to let me write a guest post for her blog...

If you've visited Mum's blog before you'll know me from my ever present photo on the right hand side of the page, but, you know, I'm more than just a pretty face, so I thought I'd share a little glimpse of my world 💓

I came to live with Mum & Dad when I was quite young really.  Mum asked the vet if she could guess my age when we went to register and to arrange for me to have my inoculations, get a micro chip (Mum says it will help me get home again if I ever get lost) and for me to be dressed so that I don't have puppies.

The vet asked Mum why she wanted to know my age because it was clear I was young and Mum said I couldn't have a birthday party if I didn't have a birthday! Well, the vet checked my teeth and said, at a rough guess she thought I was no younger than maybe five months and no older than seven months because I didn't have all of my grown up teeth yet.

Mum said that if the very oldest I could be was seven months and I'd come to live with Mum & Dad from Rescue via my foster Mum on 17th October then she'd take seven months away and that would give me, like her Majesty the Queen, an official birthday.  So, my official birthday is 17th March 🎂 which Mum's best friend, my Auntie Miriam, says is a very lucky birthday because it's St Patrick's day.

Mum says it was love at first sight when they met me at my foster mums💓 and together we're a very happy family.  I'm seven now but Dad says I still have the energy of a puppy and make him feel old when we go for long, long walks 😊

A Happy New Home For Our Beautiful Miniature Roses

Hi Honeys
Fourth day in a row of constant rain.  For a wee Rosie who adores laundry as much as I do this is depressing! Winter is very long around here and Summer is short, short, short!  There is only so much potential for pegging our laundry and it's slipping away from me by the day.

I can console myself that, at least, the rain is good for the garden. As promised yesterday I thought I'd share an update on our miniature roses now that they've found their new home 😊

I've so enjoyed watching these tiny roses growing for months now, ever since I was blessed with them as a gift just before Christmas.  Since then they've lived on our kitchen window ledge quite happily being watered and fed.

When the weather finally became warmer they moved, during the day, outside into the back garden to soak up the good Scottish rain, of which there is lots, and the rarer Scottish sunshine 😊  They blossomed wonderfully as you can see...

Having been re-potted once already and very obviously running out of space in their latest pot I decided it might be time to move them again and where better I thought than to one of the much larger planters which sit either side of our front door.

Decision made, a rare sunny day appeared and off into our tiny front garden went Hubby, our furbaby Jade and I and this is what happened...

A Homemaking Aha Moment! I Found Somewhere New To Clean!

Hi Honeys
I'm sorry I've been missing.  Both Hubby & I had last week booked off from work to get some things done around our home.  It was lovely spending time with Hubby, even after all these years he's still my best friend so any extra time we get to spend together is wonderful.

We spent our time working on de-clutering, organizing as well as a little work in our front garden which included a new home for our miniature roses which has been living in the kitchen on the window ledge since Christmas.  Now they have a happy new home in our tiny front garden and we have the prettiest display of bright pink roses by our front door.  I'll share in my next post honeys, promise 😊

The best part of the week, other than spending time with Hubby and our furbaby Jade, was being able to fill bags to take to our local charity shop.  Now our home can breathe a little better because more clutter is gone and hopefully the bags of clothing and DVDs will raise a little money for our favourite charity too.

While working on our master bedroom upstairs I had a real "aha!" moment where a cleaning penny dropped and I had to share 😃

Since we were going to be working on our master bedroom, going through storage boxes and containers looking for things no longer needed, we thought we'd combine our de-cluttering mission with giving our bedroom a roof to floor cleaning too.

In the main I'm happy with our master bedroom honeys.  It's easy to clean because we have systems in place which make keeping it tidy really easy.  We have ways to fold laundry which have become second nature and makes it so easy to put it away quickly and easily.  I'm still using that little closet/cupboard in this room that holds, thanks to storage systems, way more than it's size should allow it to and I still love pocket storage 😊

So this room rarely needs more work than making the bed and the occasional once over with a duster and the vacuum cleaner.... or so I thought!

I've now discovered that some items do need to be taken apart when cleaning and that a quick dust or once over with the nozzle attachment of the vacuum cleaner just isn't enough.  OK, what I'm about to show you horrified me!  I can't stress this enough honeys, it really did.

It left me quite upset and actually worried because having been born with damaged lungs and living with asthma what we discovered is not only annoying to me as a homemaker but is potentially harmful to my health too.

Let's take a look at what we found shall we? Fair warning this is quite gross....

Latest Avon Smiles

Hi Honeys
Happy Saturday 😊  I hope you're having a fabulous weekend so far and have lots of fun planned.  I have work today but I'm hoping for a rain free day tomorrow (are you listening Mother Nature?) so we can re-pot our miniature roses into a lovely planter by the front door.

My latest Avon order was delivered while I was at work and I thought I'd share it with you before dashing off to work today.
  

There is quite a fun little mix in the Avon carrier bag this time around honeys.  To be honest I had forgotten what I'd ordered by the time it arrived so it was fun taking the items out of the bag one at a time 😊

Let's take a look at what was in the bag shall we?

Friday Smile: Sweetest, Most Adorable, Harry Potter Themed Gift From Hubby

Hi Honeys
Good morning and happy Friday to you.  I hope you're looking forward to a wonderful weekend full of smiles, hugs and all good things.  I'm working as usual but looking forward to Sunday because, weather permitting, Hubby will be helping me (well he'll be doing the actual work bless him x) to re-home our miniature roses from their present pot to a lovely planter by our front door which has a trellis attached.

Speaking of Hubby, he surprised me with a little bag yesterday (thank you sweetheart x) and I thought I'd share it's contents with you in the hope they make you smile too.

You might have heard me mention that I'm a little bit of a Harry Potter fan?

Well, to be fair I only went to see the first Potter movie because one of my all time favourite actors, the beyond fabulous Alan Rickman, was in it and I was completely bitten by the Potter bug.

Back to yesterday then and can you imagine how happy I was to open the bag Hubby handed me to find the fab Snape related items inside?

There is a mug which Hubby told me to use but he knows me well enough to know that's just not going to happen 😊  My arthritic hands cause me to drop things far too often for me to risk that!  The mug really is beautiful honeys.  Let's have a look shall we....

8 Ways To Keep Houseplants Healthy & Blooming All Year Long

Hi Honeys,
There was a time in my life when plants were simply not safe around me 😊 I've always adored all things living and growing but unfortunately it seems I simply wasn't born with a green thumb.  A fact that weighs very heavily on me since a great deal of the joy in my life stems from our little garden.

"How can my plants go and die on me" I was constantly asking myself, well not constantly but enough to be depressing.  I adore plants! I water them! What am I doing wrong?

Well, as it turns out dear ones, quite a lot.  As with all things in life, we learn through experience and I learned there was a whole lot more to happy houseplants than just wandering over with some water now and again.  

Right now any houseplants we have are temporary... although in a good way 😊  What I mean is that recent houseplants in our home have tended to become outside plants eventually, as in the case of our little miniature roses which will soon be re-homed into a trellis planter by our front door.

I'm no expert honeys, not even a little bit, but I've become much better at keeping plants alive and content for months on end while they wait for the unpredictable Scottish seasons to allow them a chance to survive outside 😊

I thought today I'd share a few of the ways I've learned over the years to keep living green things... well living and green in our home 😊