The Sweetest, Coolest, Surprise Gift 💖

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any products or stores, I just wanted to share the sweetest surprise gift from my dear Hubby x

Hi Honeys
How are you today?  I'm dashing off to work soon but before I go I wanted to share the sweetest, coolest, little surprise that Hubby brought me home 💝  This has been a week for gifts, hasn't it honeys?  With a dear friend at work surprising me with the most adorable little wizard gnome and now Hubby bringing me this... 

Honeys, I have a new work bag 💖 

These past few weeks haven't been the best, I've been feeling very drained and to be honest it's started wearing me down a little. 

Hubby came home from work with a smile and a surprise for me, bless him 💗  He'd been in Primark during his lunch break (he's always popping in to check for new Potter goodies, I married an angel honeys x) well, he'd popped in and spotted this all too fabulous bag and knew I'd love it...

Isn't it awesome?  He said that so far Primark only seem to have two designs available, the Slytherin one and a brown and red Gryffindor one. I'm sure there will be a bag for the other houses too eventually. 

Let's have a closer look shall we?

How The Sweetest Little Wizard Has Kept Me Smiling All Week...

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any products or stores, I just wanted to share the sweetest surprise early Easter gift from a dear friend x

Hi Honeys, 

How are you?  I hope your week has been fabulous and that you're looking forward to a wonderful weekend ahead. In the UK the clocks change this weekend, the mornings are already getting lighter and even a little bit sunnier ☼  It's such a joy to wake up and see the sun shining outside 😊 

It hasn't been the best week honeys, not a bad week or anything, but my arthritis has been trying to turn me into a human pretzel, or at least that's what it feels like 😖  It is what it is dear ones and, like all Spoonies, I try to put my best smile on and get on with things 😊  There are times when being downright stubborn can actually be helpful 😊

In spite of the creaky, painful joints though, I've had the sweetest little guy helping to keep me smiling all week 😄  Last weekend I was given the sweetest, most adorable gift by a dear friend at work.  He is the cutest little garden gnome, dressed as a wizard. I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him honeys 💖 and he's the perfect wee friend for my much loved and equally as adorable Harry Potter themed meerkat, as you can see... 

Aren't they both perfect honeys?  Let's take a closer look will we?

Low Carb Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne - A Little Experiment...

Hi Honeys
Today's is an odd post....

How is it odd Rosie? I hear you say.  Well, I thought I'd share a kitchen experiment that actually worked, in that the resulting dish was honestly delicious.  Hubby liked it so much he took some with him for lunch next day, but I still feel (even though I have to admit that it did taste really lovely) a bit "..meh..." about the whole thing. 

I know, I hear you, I've said the same thing dear ones.  We carry out these little experiments in our kitchens hoping to find perfect recipes that can easily be added to our meal rotations, meals that are met with smiles and "happy to see this again" happiness from family members.

I tried to make a low carb version of what is my signature dish, and above all else Hubby's favourite meal, lasagne.  Make it I did (there are so many great low carb recipes and ideas on Pinterest, so there's no shortage of inspiration) and Hubby did in fact like it, and so did I. 

So, what's the problem Rosie?  I really don't know honeys.  I'm exasperated! It's a success, it ticked all the boxes to be slotted into our meal rotation but I'm still sitting on the fence and altogether "meh" about the whole thing!  Maybe you can help me figure it out?   

Why not grab a cuppa and maybe a cookie then honeys and we'll have a look at my little experiment 😊 see you in a few minutes...

Shopping Fun & A Mini Haul

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to recommend any products or stores, just wanted to share the little smiles I found x

Hi Honeys
How are you today?  All well I hope 💗  I recently had a short, fun, shopping trip 😊   I already shared what I saw on my trip here and here honeys in case you missed them, and I thought today I'd share the mini shopping haul I came home with.  Can you believe I bought more Harry Potter socks? 😊

Why not grab a cuppa and maybe a cookie or two honeys and we'll meet back here in a few minutes to take a look shall we?

Bargain Skincare That's Worth Shouting About!

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to recommend any products or stores, I just wanted to share a bargain I found and have been loving x

Hi Honeys,
How are you today?  It's felt like a long week this week honeys, not a bad week or anything, just very long and tiring is all.  We're into spring now though and the garden is beginning to wake up from its long winter nap.  I always feel better when I can spend time in our garden with my beloved roses 🌹

This is a quick post to share something something fabulous I've discovered in the health and beauty aisle at Asda.  Am I late to the party?  Does everyone else know about these already?

You might have read on this blog already that my sweet Hubby does our weekly shop because for some time now my mobility has been getting increasingly worse.  Well, each week we make up a shopping list and I'd noticed some new (to me anyway) skincare wipes, something I use a lot of, on the Asda website at the most unbelievable price too, but more of that later.  

Well, I asked Hubby to bring a couple of packs home for me.  I originally thought there was only one variety, the Fresh & Clean ones I'd seen online but in-store Hubby spotted three different types and brought me one of each home (thank you sweetheart x) Let's take a look will we... 

These skincare wipes are such a bargain honeys that I can't believe I haven't heard about them before and as I said I just wanted to share in case you hadn't heard about them yet either.  They're from Asda (Walmart) and from their own product line.  Let's take a look at the three different varieties Hubby brought home for me...

1. Clean & Hydrate: for dry skin

The wrapper says these wipes are made with sweet almond extract and hyaluronic acid, it also says they are paraben free.  Having very dry skin, this is also the pack I'd opened and have been using so far, so they're the only ones I can give my "I've been using these every day" opinion on honeys.

As with all of the varieties, each pack contains 25 wipes and is supplied, like most wipes, in resealable packaging.  The wipes are a good size, larger than I thought they'd be.  I was also really impressed by how strong they are, no tearing or splitting while using on my face, very moist and the scent is lovely.  They feel cool on my face and leave my skin feeling really clean.  I haven't had them long enough, only a few days, so I'm not sure if they'll help my dry skin but they're so nice to use I'd definitely give them a huge thumbs up 👍 


2. Kind & Gentle: for sensitive skin

The wrapper says these are made with vitamin E and pro-vitamin B5 and they are also paraben free.

I just opened the pack before writing this and the wipes certainly seem to be of the same size and quality as the Clean & Hydrate ones I'm currently using.  The wipes are fragrance free and since they are intended for use on sensitive skin, this seems wise.  The lack of a fragrance doesn't really bother me.

The wipe from this pack again was quite moist, it felt nice on my skin and when my skin dried again it felt lovely and clean. I can't find anything bad to say about these wipes and I really can't believe how little they cost... but more about that in a minute 💗


3. Fresh & Clean: for oily/combination skin

These wipes, according to the wrapper, are made with vitamin B3 and witch hazel and again are also paraben free. 

Again the wipe from this pack appears to be the same size and good quality as the others, it seems a little more moist and there is a slight scent which I can't place.  The scent isn't unpleasant but I just can't place what it is.

As with the other wipes, it felt nice against my skin and when it dried it felt good, no "tightness" in my skin which I've had with other products in the past.   

I'm really impressed by these skincare wipes honeys, I've paid far more for wipes of a lesser quality.  Now for the part that surprised me most.  These skincare wipes are on sale for 45p per pack! I know, it makes no sense does it, but there it is.  As I said I wanted to include them in this post so that anyone who doesn't know about them has a chance to grab some while they're available.

I'll be adding some more packs to our shopping list for this weekend because at that price they really are, in my humble opinion, a bargain as well as a great product.

I tried to track down web links for you and here they are honeys.  You can see the Clean & Hydrate wipes here, the Kind & Gentle wipes are here and the Fresh and Clean wipes are here.  While finding the links I discovered the Kind & Gentle line has other items such as a moisturiser for 99p!  I'll definitely be trying the moisturiser I think.  I've tried so, so many moisturisers to try to soften my far too dry skin and after all of the money spent on different creams it would just be perfect if the one that finally works is a wee bottle costing 99p 💗

Update:

It's been a little over two weeks since I wrote this post, I've been using these skincare wipes every day and I just love them!  They're every bit as good as the more expensive, brand version I've been using for a while now and because of that, as I said in the original post, I decided to stock up 😊

I added them to our shopping list and Hubby, bless him, picked up two packs of each variety in store for me(thank you sweetheart x) or at least he meant to...

This is why I'm updating this post honeys, it turns out there is a fourth variety I didn't know about!

I had asked Hubby to bring me home an additional two packs of each variety and as you can see he did pick up 8 packs of skincare wipes but mistakenly picked up 3 packs of the Clean & Hydrate and only one of the additional variety I didn't know about.

Not that this is a problem honeys, and anyway, how sweet is it of him to pick them up for me anyway? So, anyway, the additional variety is called Clean & Refresh...

4. Clean & Refresh: for all skin types

As with the other skincare wipes, these are paraben free and are dermatologically tested.  They're made with vitamin E and avocado oil.  Having used them, they are, in my opinion every bit as good as the others in the range.  They left my skin feeling so clean and there isn't that awful "tightening" of my skin as it dries that I've had before. They're just my newest favourite product and at 45p a pack they're a bargain too.   

Have you tried any of these products honeys?  Am I the only one not to have heard about them?

I hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start, have fun, smile lots and hug even more 💖  Till next time dear ones, when I'll share what I bought on my mini shopping haul, hugs always x

  

Shopping with Rosie: Part Two - A Visit To Primark 💗

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to recommend any products or stores, just thought you'd like to come with me on a (very rare these days) shopping trip x

Hi Honeys 

I hope you're well and the new week is off to a great start.  I've had such a busy weekend, but today is laundry day so I thought, between loading the washing machine and dryer, I'd share the rest of the photos I took during my all-too-rare shopping trip a few days ago 😊  If you missed part one you can find it here honeys. 

The photos in this post were taken in Primark. I hadn't been in for quite some time so I had no idea what I'd find there.  They seem to be having a mini clearance of older stock.  I'm wondering if that means there are lots of new items on the way? 

Why not grab a cuppa and maybe a cookie or two and meet me back here in a few minutes to see what I spotted on my visit? 

Shopping with Rosie: Part One - All Kinds of Prettiness & Useful Items in Home Bargains 💗

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to recommend any products or stores, just thought you'd like to come with me on a (very rare these days) shopping trip x

Hi Honeys
I've said before that I don't go out very much anymore, my mobility is very limited so anything other than my limited shifts at work and trips to the hospital or to our Doctor's surgery happen so rarely as to be nearly non-existent. 

This week though I needed to have my hair done.  Before Christmas I'd had my shoulder length bob cut into a far shorter, easier to care for style because of the pain in my spine and shoulders and it had started to reach a length that was becoming increasingly annoying.  You know honeys, when it's not long enough to pin back or pull up into a bun out of the way but long enough to just be irritating and sort-of-in-the-way 😊

So, having recovered (mostly) from a very busy weekend shift at work, I phoned a taxi and off I went up to the shopping centre/mall.  Since Hubby does our weekly shop every week (thank you sweetheart x)  and it had been quite sometime since I'd last had the chance to visit some of my favourite shops I thought I'd take my camera so that you could join me 💗

I ended up with a lot of photos though honeys, I mean really a lot, so I've had to split this post into two parts.  This first post will share what I saw in Home Bargains...

Now, as I said I hadn't been shopping in quite some time so there were a few ranges I hadn't seen and some of them are so pretty!

Why not grab a cuppa and maybe a cookie or two dear ones and meet me back here in a few minutes?  This is a long post with lots of photos and I can't wait to show you what I saw...

Egg-stra Yummy, Cheesey Egg Muffins...

Hi Honeys,
I'm sorry I've been missing, I'm still battling my don't-seem-to-want-to-hold-a-charge-for-very-long body batteries but I'm still enjoying my morning yoga, the garden is starting to wake from it's long winter nap and summer is on its way, how could I not be smiling 😃 

I've been experimenting in the kitchen again honeys 😊  Since it's been raining all day today, and since Hubby has a long, busy commute home, I wanted to make something nice for dinner and this happened... 

I love mixing and matching and creating things in the kitchen honeys, don't you?

Recently, I was in the kitchen looking for inspiration for dinner that evening.  Nothing in the fridge or freezer was "jumping at me" 😊  It's not just me is it?  I often wander into the kitchen in search of some ideas for that evening's dinner.  Opening the fridge and just staring, waiting for something, some notion to jump out and.. that'll be dinner 😄

You might remember I had a really bad tummy bug over New Year?  There's not enough yuk in the world for how I felt, well, a little over three weeks later when I started to feel human again (horrible bug, not a fun way to spend the holidays honeys, really) I decided that one of my new years resolutions was to take more care of my health.

Living with long term health conditions can wear a person down honeys, they have me.  I think somewhere along the line it all got too much and I think I just gave up.  I know, I keep saying we can't give in, we can't let illness win but it did... for a while anyway.

This year, and after talking it over with Hubby of course... well, I'm not going to cook separate dinners for us both every day that would be silly, not to mention a whole lot more cooking, well, I decided I would try, as best as I could, to adopt the Mediterranean diet.

Having taken that decision, detective work was done by reading as much as I could, shopping lists were made and just like that we're eating oily fish, such as tuna steaks, at least twice a week, and our diet is so full of beautiful colours! The bright, vivid reds, yellows, green and oranges of the peppers, the lush green of the broccoli and spinach.  Yep, I said it, I love spinach 😊

So, onto these beyond delicious muffins then honeys.  I do love muffins, do you?  Till now though I've always made fruit muffins using berries or bananas but having made these savoury egg muffins I'm in love!  Seriously, if you make these once they'll turn into a family favourite for sure.  Hubby's already said he'd like them again, and wouldn't say no to finding a couple in his lunchbox with a salad in place of his usual baked potato... success! 😊

Why not grab a cuppa and maybe a cookie and meet me back here in a few minutes and we'll make some scrumptious cheesy muffins?