Rocking Your World 2018; Week 15

I am starting with this picture which will always make me smile!

It is so nice to get a photo of all five of our boys, all looking at the camera and all smiling! Numbered by age from left to right they are 1, 5, 4, 2, 3.

This was taken last Saturday when, I quote, "There were some Perry Shenanigans going on". Every now and then Jim, (our oldest), and his wife, host a family day for all the boys, their partners, children and even the animals, so their little house was bursting at the seams with 15 people, three dogs and four cats (who were mostly hiding in the bedroom away from the dogs!). In the middle of the afternoon they called me on Skype and I had a chat with each of them, and a good laugh all together. It was nearly as good as being there with them, but not quite. It is lovely to know they are still keeping in touch, now I am not there to 'hold the reins'.

I had spent Saturday morning in the kitchen, cooking all those sour-dough cakes I mentioned last week. They were very successful and were very well received after church on Sunday. Of course I forgot to take a photo before they all disappeared!

On Tuesday our house group met at Sue and Keith's house, but it was my turn to lead, and my theme came from a book recommended by my son, called "Our Everyday God". We started by talking about the word ordinary, and how we feel when our life seems to be very 'ordinary', in between the busy highs and lows. We discussed how we could keep it relevant and meaningful at these times, and also how it was important to have the 'ordinary times' so that we can recognise the extraordinary when it happens. But we also talked about how even the most ordinary times have special moments in them, and we should remain alert to see them. Which is really the whole idea behind this blog and the ones I link it to, so I was able to share how we look each week for the silver linings, and the moments that make us smile in an otherwise 'ordinary' week.

Well I have to say that this has been one of those 'ordinary' weeks, when very little actually happened. But I did have my chat with the boys, and I did enjoy a good baking session and the chance to share what I had made with friends.

There have been other moments as well. Thursday was haircut day, firstly for Arwen. She has to be completely sedated twice a year to have her thick coat shaved off, and I decided it is just about warm enough for her summer cut. I always ask them to try to leave her face, boots, and tail uncut so once again she is like a little lion. She is still not keen to pose for a photo though.

Chris also wanted his hair cut. I have done his for as far back as I can remember, just as I cut all the boys' hair until they left home. His had grown quite long for him, and it proved to be a tough challenge for our clippers which decided to die half way through the proceedings! Despite all our efforts we could not put them together again, but fortunately I still had our old ones that I had kept for just such an emergency, and I was able to finish off with those. Some new ones have been ordered and are now on their way.

So it seemed after that, that it was probably time for my summer hair cut too. I had been putting it off while it was cold as I can no longer manage my hairdressers backward sinks, so I needed to wash it at home and walk round to her little salon with wet hair. But I made the appointment for yesterday afternoon, so now we are all shorn!

It always makes me smile that she can give me a typically Spanish hairstyle, when it is only a couple of inches long all over. It only lasts a day and is soon back to its usual easy-care, wash, shake and leave to dry style! I cannot lift my arms high enough, for long enough, to do any more than give it a quick brush in the mornings, but once we are in and out of the pool every day in the summer, there is no point in doing anything more with it.

One thing I have managed to do this week is to finish off my Ireland scrapbook at last. Although I make it all digitally, I still like to print off the pages and have them in a proper album. I told you a while ago about the saga of ordering book-binding cloth, but with the help of my sister Jean, I did eventually manage to get some. I waited until I was "in the mood" to cover it, as the cloth was just enough, and I have just one small strip, a couple of centimetres wide, left over.

It is not a very good photo because I found when it was covered, that I could still just get it into the plastic sleeve it was in before, which protects it from finger marks etc, but it reflects the light and made it hard to photograph, even when I took it outside for a better light.

I added a sheet of irish scrapbook paper to the inside cover and designed a front page to start the album.

I love being able to look through it now and again and relive what was a very happy holiday.

Now I have to decide on a theme for my next one.

It has been a rather windy week, with one day when patio furniture and small branches were blown around outside. Added to this the fact that across the road from us there is a big building project to extend a house, so the air is filled with dust, and you will understand that I spent a fair bit of time either in my craft room or in the sitting room with my crochet. So I did manage to finish part six of my blanket, just before I went to bed last night, and an hour or so ago I downloaded part 7. There is just one more part for the border next week, so I am thinking I may just manage to finish it before I pack it all away until next Autumn. This week's part is several rows on each side of the Apache's tears stitch, which I love and have always wanted to try. It will need some concentration but I am looking forward to giving it a go. If I get it done, I'll show you next week.

I popped out to the shops this morning for 'bread and milk' as I usually do on Fridays, and this week I went to Lidls. They had a household week for some of their specials and I bought a few bits for my new kitchen which hopefully I will be getting in a month's time. I bought a wall clock, a frying pan to replace my old one and a saucepan, as I will have a ceramic hob like I had in UK, and it will be nice to have new pans to put on it, and also a few other bits. I popped in to the kitchen shop who are doing the work for us, as the lady there had asked to buy some of my strawberry jam, and she showed my 'new toy' which had just arrived. I am going to have a waste disposal unit again. I had one for many years in UK but I don't know anyone out here who has one. It will be a tremendous help, especially in the summer when the last thing you want is left over food and veggie trimmings in the bin. So that is something else I am excited about.

And now as usual it is time to get ready for choir practice, so I will quickly link up with Rocking Your World , and Annie's Friday Smiles, and go and find my music folders.