Book review and JuicePlus

I've just put on my first book review - The Fault in our Stars by John Green. A brilliant book.

I've also put a link on to JuicePlus which DD is now involved with. Feel free to click on the link and have a look at it and see what it's all about.

The plan for today was to see what walk we could do this weekend. However, as it's now pouring down outside and likely to stay that way for a few days, it doesn't look like we'll be off anywhere, unless it decides to stop at some point. This means it might have to be another dreaded 'housework' weekend. Oh no!

Or maybe I'll just finish reading another book.........

Nearly weekend again!

Yay! Nearly weekend again!

I shouldn't really be wishing my life away, but sometimes it feels good to have finished work until Monday morning. It's been a tough week this week. But that's life I guess- ups and downs all the time.

DD is currently out on a driving lesson (scary stuff - another learner on the roads), DH isn't home yet, and I'm trying to figure out how to add more stuff to this blog. So many things to think about that it may take a while to get it how I want it. However, that's my aim for this year - to get this up and running how I want and keep it going, along with reading more books, getting the garden sorted out this year, getting the house in order......... the list never ends.

On that note, roll on the weekend!

Weekend

Ok, so who started making weekends shorter? Seems like it's no sooner started than it's Monday all over again! A bit disappointed that we didn't go walking, but the weather has been awful so it wouldn't have been very enjoyable if we'd been out anywhere.

So, a housework weekend. It's got to be done sometimes.

Monday comes round again far too quickly though.

However, highlight of the day? Leftover mash and haggis! Very tasty even if I say so myself.

Haggis!

Ok, so last night was Burns night, and although we aren't Scottish, having a love of Scotland means that when it gets to Burns night we make sure we have haggis. Oh, and a dram or two of whisky as well later on ..........

Pretty miserable few days weather wise, so no walking this weekend sadly. Instead, a trip out for Oscar and Molly to my mums. As they may end up staying there for a few days later in the year it was a way of getting Oscar used to the house again. Being the nervous dog that he is, even getting in the car is a bit of an ordeal for him, and entering a strange house is all a bit daunting for him. He actually behaved fairly well, although he wasn't too sure about the new step outside the back door which had a mat on it. Most of the time he just settled on the throw next to me in the lounge which was quite good.

A quiet family night in watching Madagascar together.

Busy busy!

So busy today! Minor panic this morning when DD text me to say she thought we'd lost Molly as she wasn't moving at all. Turns out she was just in a deep sleep and is very much still with us, thankfully. Out of work on time and home to sort tea, make sweet potato and carrot soup for lunch tomorrow and realised we'd no bread. Bread maker time! Set it to make the dough while we had tea, then discovered the dough was really, really sticky so tried to fix that before taking Oscar for a walk, and then home to bake the bread. All is ok - the bread survived, the soup tastes good, so homemade bread and soup for lunch tomorrow it is.

At last!

Well, time to get this blog going I guess since I've been putting it off for a few days. It's all very well talking about doing a blog, but quite another to get it up and running!

So off we go, somewhere, who knows where we'll end up.

Quick run down of the year so far ...... 2014 has started off with lots of ups and downs already.

New Years Day got off to a start with a bang, quite literally, with DD coming home in the early hours after being out celebrating, tripping over her feet at the top of the stairs, and then singing (or making some sort of noise which she told us was singing) before going to bed. No walking for us as the weather was too bad, then in the evening it was tea out and jelly and ice-cream at my mothers - yum - makes me feel like a little girl all over again.

It's the little things in life .....

One day at work on 2nd then off until 13th January! Hooray! And looking back, what a lot we managed to pack in! First we had my birthday (21 again of course) when I was given some lovely presents and then a couple of days later we had a belated Christmas with DD's Auntie across the pennines where we all exchanged presents (more lovely presents, including beer and a onesie for me - very nice) and had a delicious Christmas lunch thanks to Auntie's fiancé.

Myself and DH went on three lovely walks (one with the dogs and two without), first one up to Grasmere, and a walk up to Scandale Fell -  we've not done this one before but we've done part of the walk up to High Sweden Bridge, but this time we kept going with the dogs (who had to keep wading through all the streams, although Oscar seemed to quite enjoy going in the water so he could keep his paws clean). We didn't make it up Scandale Pass as time was getting on, and with Molly being 15 1/2 now it didn't seem right to make her walk any further. So we stopped before the path seemed to disappear under yet more water, and sat on a rock for our sandwiches and hot chocolate (and treats for the dogs of course). As Molly had managed about 5 1/2 miles up the hill and through all the streams, she'd done really well. So, back to the van for a nice cup of tea and piece of christmas cake to end the day.

Looking towards Windermere

 Looking towards Scandale Pass

Looking back along the track to Scandale Fell

The day after we decided to leave the dogs at home and have a nice gentle walk round Anglezarke reservoir on our own. Ha! How foolish were we! Almost as soon as we'd parked up and headed up the track it started raining very slightly, then it felt like the heavens opened! On with the rucksack covers and waterproofs. We'd originally planned on going out on the moor, but after driving over and not really being able to see the moor because of the mist, walking round the reservoir was the next option.

                     Anglezarke, Upper Rivington and Lower Rivington reservoirs

          Just a bit wet underfoot today!                                                 

The rain kept coming and going all the way round so we didn't really have anywhere to stop for lunch as we would have ended up having soggy sandwiches. And then we spotted it - a cafe tucked in the corner between Anglezarke reservoir and Upper Rivington reservoir. Admittedly, I think it was the bowling club who were advertising the cafe to non-members, but it meant that we could sit inside, get warm, and have some lovely soup and a cup of coffee to keep us going.

Looking over Upper Rivington before the rain set in again

A day off to catch up on the shopping then off again for another walk, without the dogs again. We headed back up to Grasmere, to head up to Easedale Tarn. We've done the walk before but decided we'd try and go a bit further up the track, intending to head up to Codale Tarn and across to Tarn Crag. However, the ground was very wet and a bit icy in places, so we opted to sit by pretty Easedale Tarn for lunch and then head back.

Looking up towards Sourmilk Gill

Pretty Easedale Tarn

Looking back towards Grasmere

And still another Christmas lunch to go! Sunday was our belated Christmas with DH daughter and her partner. As they'd been out in New Zealand over Christmas this was the first time we'd been able to see them since they got back. So, in went the turkey, again. And another exchange of presents which was lovely, including some home-made beer given to us, freshly made in the south of England - very nice indeed. And even Oscar was fairly well behaved, although he wasn't too sure about anyone moving once we'd all got settled, and we had to keep an eye on him whenever someone left the room. Oh the joys of having a dog with a few social issues!!

And so the holiday ends. Back to work on 13th - it seems to come round so quickly! First day back is always the worst, but at least it's Monday and time for line dancing. Yes, that's right - line dancing. Just for an hour, but it's good exercise and good fun. And back to normal this week with DH leaving home very early Tuesday morning to get to work. Boo. Not good, but part of the routine I guess.

Thankfully, the weekend was just round the corner, and chance for us to get out walking again, this time with both dogs. Heading up to Thirlmere on Sunday morning the plan was to walk down one side of Thirlmere and do some geocaching ( another of our hobbies). However, after we'd parked up and headed to the path, there was a sign up saying the path was closed due to tree felling in the area. Typical! The day I pick the walk, we can't do it! But we managed to get up to Great How summit, or rather I managed the track up (I really need to deal with this fear of heights when we're out walking if we're going to go up hills) and had fantastic views (between rain showers) and sandwiches and hot chocolate on a bench overlooking Thirlmere and looking towards Helvellyn with snow on the tops.  Lovely.

On the way towards Great How

Great How summit

Molly and Oscar

And that kind of brings things more or less up to date. It's nearly mid-week again, DH is away at work again, and DD has just watched Celebrity Big Brother.

And I've finally made my first post on my blog - yippee!