Uncategorized Archives - Page 6 of 7

You Never Forget A Good Book

Rambles / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

It’s true that once you read a good book you never forget it. I’ve been a keen reader since I was quite young and people used to joke about the fact I would prefer to sit and read the Evening Echo (Our local paper at the time) at the age of 5 over a childrens book. I remember my mother had quite a few books on shelves around the house which is where I discovered a few of my favourite authors. I haven’t picked up a book in a while which I intend to do more of over the coming months so I thought I’d share with you some of my all time favourites!

You never forget a good book — The Misery front cover I read and the books currently on my shelf!

Stephen King’s Misery is a book I definitely read far too young but as I loved to scare myself silly with physchological horrors like this it’s a book I read several times growing up and is still my absolute favourite book of all time. I love the way Stephen King writes and how twisted & clever the storyline is. Whenever I fancy something a bit darker I go for a Stephen King books and I’ve read quite a few. I currently have a few on my bookshelf at the moment that I need to read, what’s your favourite?

As you can see my copy is quite worn!

This is a set of books rather than just one but I think most people will agree that C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia is an amazing set for children and adults. I still have the original box-set I had as a child, unfortunately they are quite sun-faded but I cant wait to start reading them to the girls! I always got so lost in these books that I would spend most of a school holiday re-reading the whole set just because.

On my bookshelf

Another one that is probably on most peoples lists is J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the rings Trilogy. I read this when I was about 11 and I remember being superglued to my bed for 5 days reading the entire book & then went on to read The Hobbit. I was gutted when I finally watched the films as they had just missed out far too much as usually happens when books are turned into films. I still have the same copy of Lord of the rings but lost The Hobbit years ago.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret garden us another classic I absolutely loved reading over and over again. I loved the idea of escaping to such beautiful gardens.

One book I fell in love with as a child has bugged me for years as I hadn’t been able to find it ANYWHERE! Seriously, I have searched & searched the internet & libraries and only just discovered I was right all along! It is called Wild Child and I am pleased to share I finally know the Author’s name – Monica Furlong! (Thanks to Goodreads!) I remember being completely enchanted by this book and re-reading it several times.

In a remote Scottish village, nine-year-old Wise Child is taken in by Juniper, a healer and sorceress. Then Wise Child’s mother, Maeve, a black witch, reappears. In choosing between Maeve and Juniper, Wise Child discovers the extent of her supernatural powers—and her true loyalties.

Patricia cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series was another favourite throughout my teens, I began at the start with Post-mortem and read every book up to The Book of the dead which is still sat on my bookshelf waiting to be read!
I’m definitely going to start working through my book shelf again and then go on a hunt for some new ones, so help me out! Who’s your favourite author? What book’s would you recommend reading? What books are laying unread on your bookshelf?

Adulting

Physical and Mental Health / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Sometimes I find adulting really hard, the simplest of things become the biggest of challenges especially if it’s something I’m doing for myself. One of those thing’s is booking appointment’s & where it’s difficult to even get through to my Dr’s Surgery on the phone it makes the whole thing a lot more stressful but I finally managed to get through today (After 22 attempts!) and was booked in for 4.40pm. Normally after around the 10th attempt I give up but I’m so fed up with struggling I just want to gain control of my life again so I kept going until I finally got through.

Of course I didn’t get seen until 5pm whilst sat in a deserted waiting room (!?) but when I did I admitted how much I have been struggling with my anxiety and depression the last few months and had missed my prescriptions. Luckily the Dr was really understanding even though i had never met him before. We decided to up my dose of Duloxetine from 90mg to 120mg in the hope it calms my anxiety a bit more aswell as helping with the pain until my pain clinic appointment next month.

After my appointment I realised I had been stressing and panicking for almost 2 months about getting an appointment & losing my prescription and then after a few weeks went by, what the Dr would think of me for A) losing my repeat prescription, B) leaving it so long & C) Struggling so much to do such basic things. I guess it’s silly really as Dr’s aren’t there to judge (although some do and have!). I guess not seeing one Dr regularly makes it difficult too as I never know who I’m going to see!

social-anxiety-disorder-5-728 — I found this on google images and it explains how I feel so well!

Hopefully now I have a repeat prescription again things will begin to feel a little easier again and I’m going to try my best not to slip up again!

Italian chocolate chip bread

Uncategorized / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Today we made Italian chocolate chip bread from a recipe Eva had chosen in a book ‘Bread 100 everyday recipes’ we’ve had laying around for a few years.

The recipe and method were nice and simple for the girls to do and they absolutely loved eating it too!

I shared these pictures on my Instagram and after @wendy_naptimenatterblog asked if I would share the recipe I decided to share the recipe on the blog for anyone who wants to use it since it really is so simple yet so delicious and fun to make! Especially with Cadbury’s chocolate spread…

Fancy giving it a try yourself?

You will need

Vegetable oil for brushing

225g/8oz plain flour + extra for dusting

1tbsp cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

15g/1/2oz butter plus 1/2tsp melted butter for brushing

1tbsp caster sugar

1 sachet easy blend dried yeast (We used 7g Allinsons easy blend dried yeast)

150ml/5fl oz lukewarm water

55g /2oz plain chocolate chips

Method

1. Brush a baking sheet with oil. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt together into a bowl. Add the butter and cut it into the dry ingredients,
then stir in the sugar and yeast.

2. Gradually add the water, stirring well with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to come together, then knead with your hands until it leaves the side of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 1o minutes, or until smooth and elastic.

3. Knead the chocolate the chips into the dough, then form into a round load. Put the loaf onto the prepared baking sheet and cover. Leave ti rise in a warm place for 1-11/2 hours, or intil the dough has doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas mark 7.

4. Bake the load in the preheated oven forb10 minutes,
then reduce the oven temperature to 190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5 and bake for a further 15 minutes. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and brush the top with the melted butter. Cover with a tea towel and leave to cool.

Enjoy!

Kitchen, Bathroom & Toilet Refit

Rambles / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Since last week we have had contractors in starting on our Kitchen, Bathroom & Toilet as they were all over 20 years old and needed fully replacing.

We are on a 20 day programme where work will be done between 8am-5pm and all 3 rooms are being entirely refitted so we had to empty all 3 rooms (not easy to do in a 2 bedroom flat!) for the next few weeks whilst the work goes on.

My usually rather lived in flat is now half a building site & half a storage depot with bags j boxes everywhere & the fridge in our living room!

The work began Wednesday morning with the kitchen & bathroom being ripped out including flooring & tiles leaving us with just the kitchen & bathroom sink & bath for now. It’s been quite difficult at times especially with everything bagged or boxed up and 2 kids & 2 cats! With the first lot of workers repeatedly leaving the front door wide open after agreeing not to which was also previously agreed with the surveyor and resident liaison officer we have had to try and keep the cats in the living room only we aren’t allowed to keep the living room door shut so there were lots of stressful cat hunts on the first day.

When the kitchen floor was being ripped up they found the tiles had asbestos in them which meant the other rooms probably had them too so they stopped & left it as it was and we were told someone would be back to remove them ‘later’ which ended up being 2 days later!

On the second day the electricians turned up to put in new everything so as they had to drill through the walls I took Izzy to Basildon to see her Uncle for a few hours which was a nice break from the noisy dusty flat and Izzy really enjoyed her day out going on the bus, lunch at a cafe, feeding the ducks & playing in the park before being picked up by our friend & taken home (Izzy loves the car!). When we got home though I was a little surprised at the wonky plug sockets & switches throughout the kitchen although I do like the new lay out and placements.

Annoyingly we now have a fluorescent light in our kitchen which gives me serious migraines as it is so bright! They managed to place it well off centre & left one of our previous light fittings in place though so it’s rather odd having a normal light at the darkest end of the kitchen and the brightest nearer the window. I don’t understand why they have done it that way at all but apparently that is how it will be left.

On Friday the bath & toilet were replaced & I’m kind of regretting not agreeing to an adapted bath as I used the new one last night and really struggled to get out although I did forget to use a step. I think we may have to get a handle fixed to the wall to help me keep my balance when I get out as I’ve been having accidents climbing out of the bath over the last few months anyway.

Friday morning whilst the bath was being done I popped out to get some lunch with Izzy & came back to the kitchen door sealed up and the asbestos removal guy lifting the tiles.

He had done all 3 rooms by the time Eva got home from school at least but we are a little concerned about the amount of dust left behind especially in the kitchen but its good to know the tiles are now gone.

The weekend was a welcome break from workmen in and out but it was still stressful doing everything out of bags & boxes and still having the fridge freezer in our living room.

By monday morning I couldn’t wait for the work to continue and be able to slowly use the rooms again! The plasterer came in and did all 3 rooms on Monday and the tiling in the bathroom was started on the Tuesday with the bath & toilet pipework being boxed in again.

I was really happy to find out the kitchen units were being put in Wednesday. We had a few issues where the surveyor hadn’t listened & measured our fridge freezer properly after being told several times its larger than average! The poor guy fitting the units had to pull one back out and alter it and order in a smaller wall unit which will take 2-3 weeks to arrive so although thing’s are progressing rather quickly we will be missing a unit for a few weeks.. not too much of a problem for us though as we have gained a good few extra cupboards & drawers!

I was quite unsure of the choice’s I had made for the worktops & units until I saw it all in place & now I can’t wait to see the end result! I hated the 80’s style council kitchen look we had and although it is still a council property being done by contractor’s I do think it looks a lot better already!

We seem to be about halfway through already although we are only on day 6! The kitchen is being tiled today and and after that it is pretty much just sorting niggly bits, laying the new floor & decorating left to do. I’ll do a follow up post once all the work is complete and hopefully find the time (and space!) to work on the blog again properly soon (I know.. It’s been one thing after another & I miss writing and bothering other bloggers 😉 haha!)

A Lovely Mother’s Day Surprise

Rambles / 10 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Whilst in town a few weeks back the Mr discovered a ‘Mother’s Day Gallery’ in our local shopping centre and suggested checking incase Eva’s school had taken part.

Photo from Shopping centre website

We went inside and found Eva’s school and looked through to see if she had drawn a picture for the gallery, Eva’s picture of me instantly stood out with the purple hair and blue eyes. I was so proud it had been featured in the gallery and was in the middle of her year groups pictures.

When we got home I checked the shopping centre’s website and facebook page to see if I could find any more information or events surrounding it as they usually run different thing’s across the year for the kids.

The gallery was up much earlier than advertised but it turn’s out next week judges will pick out their favorite! I’d love to see Eva win but regardless I am so proud of her and her drawing and it was such a lovely surprise finding it in our local shopping centre.

Have you had any lovely surprise’s lately?

School Issue’s

Rambles / 10 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Eva is now in year 1 and up until she began this year we were fairly happy with how her schooling was going. She had a very lovely teacher who you can tell genuinely loves her job and working with children to get them ready for the following year. Any problems we had were sorted via her teacher and the year ran pretty smoothly.

This year however from day 1 we have had constant problems. Eva absolutely loved nursery and reception, she could not wait to get up and ready each morning to go and learn something new and play with friends. That changed quite quickly after her first week in year 1 she started getting upset getting ready in the mornings and tried to come up with excuses to not go in, obviously we realised something had changed and at first thought it was just the pressure of moving up and doing some serious work so we sat her down and some really long chats about school and any worries she had.

It turned out there was a whole group of boys in her class making fun of her and scaring her every chance they got and from what she had told us she was ignored by teachers several times when she tried to get them to stop. We told her teacher what was happening and asked her to keep an eye on Eva and the boys to make sure it stopped. A few days went by and Eva was happily going into school again but then the following week she came out of school crying, the boys had been jumping out and shouting in her face again.

I was struggling to leave the house at the time so the Mr went to the school and asked for a meeting to be arranged so we could get these issues resolved. We were both bullied as kids and are well aware the impact it has on a young child. Unfortunately during this meeting the staff decided to turn things around on us and tried to say we had a problem with the boys due to their race. Up until this point we were actually unaware of who the boys were but Eva had pointed them out in the playground and we relayed this on to the headteacher. To be honest I was quite offended when I found out as we both come from families with a range of backgrounds, My great grandfather on my fathers side was Maori, My mother’s father was greek, we both have a lot of scottish across both families etc and neither of us are bothered if your black,white, green or blue! We have friends of all races & nationalities, It simply doesn’t come into it at all. We asked for the situation to be monitored regardless and it did calm down for a little while but has since started up again but again we are being ignored.

Eva’s homework and reading books stopped being checked after the 3rd week of school which we brought up with the teachers as we dont see how they can monitor her progress if they dont know wether or not her homework has been done. As I mentioned before homework is something we do take seriously and expect it to be checked regularly by her teachers just as we are expected to help Eva with her homework and make sure it is in on time. Even after bringing it up with the school her books still go unchecked and sit in her bag week in week out so over the last two week’s I haven’t sent them in as I dont see the point if they aren’t being checked plus I wanted to see if the teacher would notice and say something.. surprise surprise nothing has been mentioned!

To add to it all Eva being born a preemie falls ill quite regularly with coughs and colds and the odd chest infection, she has always been a strong little thing though and usually copes and recovers well so we tend to try and get her into school unless she is really unwell and tell her to let a teacher know if it get’s too bad and at worst we can pick her up again. Obviously she has days off if she is really bad, some of you may know both girls got chicken pox and were quite ill with high temperatures so we kept her off for a few days after calling the office and being told to keep her home until the spots had scabbed up. We continued calling in each morning and leaving a voicemail on the absence line to let the school know she wouldn’t be attending that day and update them on how she was doing. No one called us back at any point but we recieved a letter about her attendance dropping and made to feel like we were in the wrong for not sending her in to infect the whole class.

This week Eva has had conjunctivitis and bad headaches and seeing floating dots, we worked this out after several accidents with her chasing these dots and hurting herself. So we kept her off whilst trying to get into the Dr’s to try and work out the cause, by the third day i managed to get her booked in for the following monday and took Eva for a quick eye test to make sure it wasn’t a vision problem. The school was notified every morning of what was going on and Thursday we sent her in as she seemed a little better. They were asked to keep an eye on her as although the conjunctivitis seemed to be clearing up the headaches are really bothering her.

So when she came home and I found out she’d told the teacher’s several times she had a bad headache she was told to just get on with her work I was fuming, to top it all her eyes were gunked up again and were really sore. I saw for myself on sports day just how much the teachers ignore what the children say to them, there were kids begging to go to the toilet jumping up and down trying to hold it in being told to just wait until the events were over.. halfway round when they were being given a cup of juice after each event so I believe what Eva has said and as her conjunctivitis has now worsened again I have had to let her have yet another day off school as she can barely open her eyes!

All of these things have been adding up over the last few months and we now feel as though any problem we take up with the school just gets ignored and brushed over instead of being dealt with and resolved fairly. When I send my daughter to school I expect her to be well looked after, I expect any problems she has to be dealt with properly, I expect them to listen to my child when she is in pain, being bullied or just need’s a little help. We are now at a point where we are seriously considering pulling Eva from this school and moving her elsewhere because it is affecting her so much. She is nowhere near as happy as she was to go to school, she plays up when she comes home and then eventually breaks down into tear’s and tells me what’s gone wrong that day to put her in a bad mood and I cant just sit back and watch it carry on any longer and see Eva and her education suffer because of it.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with their child’s school? If so I would really like to hear other parents experiences and hear how you dealt with it etc. I also would like honest opinions, am I being over the top? Am I expecting too much of the school? What can I do to possibly make things better for Eva overall? I would love to get some feedback!

Our Weekend Box Fun

Crafts / 10 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

We were lucky enough to have the chance to review a brand new mini Weekend box this weekend. These mini weekend boxes contain 2 full themed activities and all the bits you need to complete them.

A weekend box is an awesome little box of crafts to do with your child over the weekend that arrives via 2nd class (Posted on a tuesday) which we recieved on friday morning. Each box is themed and we recieved the rainforest theme.

We love crafts and Eva was really impressed when I showed her what had arrived for her.

Eva loved the colourful box and found it funny that it matched her special My little pony rainbox dress haha! I thought it looked really fun and loved how excited Eva was over it.

We couldn’t wait to open it up and see what was inside to keep us entertained over the weekend.

Eva really enjoyed reading about each of the character’s and seeing which characters were on the packets which she thought was really cool. We decided to spread everything out on the table and see what this weekend box was really about.

There were 2 activity packs as promised along with any card needed, some collectable cards and even some vouchers to hand out to our friends for a free box!

The 2 activities stated they were of medium difficulty and would take 40 minutes to complete. Awesome naptime activities for me and Eva to do across the weekend. One activity wasto make a parrot mask and the other to grow a rainforest!

Inside the box itself there is also a certificate for the child to colour in and write their name on and keep too!

Eva couldn’t wait to get stuck in and decided to do the mask first. I helped her cut out the mask and attatch the beak using the glue supplied then Eva got busy following the instructions making ‘feathers’, ‘gems’ and then decorating it with the crayons.

Eva spent hours flapping around the flat wearing her mask so I know she really enjoyed it and having everythting we need to hand was really helpful.

Grow a rainforest was up next. I cut a bottle in half and Eva peeled the pellets that were supplies and we soaked them in water in the bottom half of the bottle.

We then had to make a hole in the bottle lid and thread the string through the lid then screwed it back on the bottle. We then had to transfer the soil into the lid half of the bottle, Eva sprinkled in the seeds and we popped the lid half into the bottom of the bottle which we had also filled with water making sure the string dipped into the water.

We completed both tasks a little quicker than 40 minutes but it was really fun doing the activities. Eva really seemed to be enjoying herself and it was so nice to just pull out the box and get going with an activity. We have a ton of craft stuff but it can sometimes be difficult to find everything we need (mummy’s poor organizing!) so I can really see the appeal of these boxes!

When I asked Eva her opinion on the activities she said ‘It was all fun, I liked making the rainforest because it was messy and I liked making the parrot mask because it was fun making it colourful and drawing rainbow’s on it’.

Mini weekend boxes usually cost £4.95 however we recieved ours free in exchange for an honest review. If you’d like to try one yourself for free then use the promo code EMBER298 when you sign up at https://www.weekendboxclub.com Please Note Future boxes will be £4.95 for Mini Box and £7.50 for a Bumper box, but you can pause or cancel your boxes if you’re not completely satisfied at any time.

Leibster Award Nomination

Rambles / 10 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I got a notification the other day from LCpl Titwank (IKR what a name!) letting me know I had been nominated for the Leibster award. I really appreciate the nomination from this rather crazy teddy bear as I lost a lot of drafts when the LGG4 died on me and I’m struggling to post. So thank you so much LCpl Titwank!

Rules for the Leibster Award:

Thank your nominator.
Show the award on your blog.
Answer 10 questions asked to you.
Ask 10 questions to 10 new nominees.
Notify them.

So here goes..

My questions:

Are you a morning or night person? Im more of a night person to be honest although I’m generally up every day at 7am I rarely feel human before midday!
What is the one thing you can’t go a day without? Tea! I rarely ever drunk tea but the Mr always starts his day with a cup of tea and makes me one too, these days I need at least 2 to feel semi-human.
If you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do and why? Become a support worker for care leavers. My brother seriously lacked the support he needed when he left the care system. He didn’t know how to pay bills, fill out forms, he lacked simple life skills and felt as if he had just been shoved out into the world and left to get on with it. If I could have the chance to be a support worker and help people like my brother learn how to look after themselves & their homes & how to adapt to life on their own then I know I’d be making a huge difference & potentially prevent them ending up depressed, scared and lonely.
If you could meet anybody (alive or dead) who would it be? Stephen Fry because he amazes me with his intelligence, humour & kindness.
Do you think your life is book/ film worthy? Which one would you choose? Not really but if it had to be either I’d choose a book.
Beach holiday, jungle adventure, or quiet getaway? Quiet getaway.. muchly needed right now but I would love a jungle adventure too!
If you could have a special power, what would you have? I’m going to go with the same answer I gave when I was nominated for the Sisterhood of the world Award – Healing powers. I hate seeing people in pain and suffering especially those I love and always hate the fact I cant take it away and make it better for them.
What would be one piece of advice/wisdom for the next generation? Do what makes YOU happy.
I’m mixing some drinks, what’ll it be? Rum & Relentless TYPLZ!
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Omelette 😉

Some of those questions really got me thinking again! I really do love answering questions like these although coming up with 10 more was slightly more difficult and I may have roped the Mr in to help me haha! Anyway here’s my 10 questions for those I’ve tagged…

What is your most favourite scent & what does it remind you of most?
If you could spend one day with a famous singer singing all your favorite songs who would it be and what song would you request first?
What is your birthstone & do you love it or hate it?
If you could eat lunch anywhere where would it be?
How many pairs of shoes do you own?
What makes you unique?
Which phrase do you use the most?
How many times have you moved in your life?
Warner brothers or Disney?
What was your favourite year(s) for music? (Feel free to name specific songs/artists)

The 10 lovely bloggers I have decided to nominate for the Leibster Award are:

Dont forget to drop me a link if you’ve been tagged 😀 Also feel free to re-tag me if your struggling to find nominees as I really enjoy taking part in these!

Sisterhood Of The World

Rambles / 10 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Sisterhood Of The World Nomination

I was nominated to take part in the sisterhood of the world Award thanks to @thewaitress88 🙂

I find these kinds of things quite fun to fill out so it didn’t take me too long to answer my 10 questions and come up with 10 more for those I’ve tagged 😀

RULES

Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog

Answer the questions given to you

Nominate 10 bloggers for the award

Write 10 questions for your nominees to answer

Display the award on your blog/post

My Q&A’s

If you had to live without one of your senses, what would it be?

After putting some thought into this I decided I’d prefer to live without my hearing above all my other senses although I’d still hate not hearing my daughter’s voices (as much as some day’s they drive me crazy!) or listening to music.

If you could get away with a crime would you? If yes what would it be?

Hmm this is a tough one! It would probably be a petty crime doing something silly like trespassing and skinny dipping in someones pool.. Because surely if your going to break the law and get into trouble you may aswell have fun doing it, right?

What animal best represents you & why?

I’d say a dog because they are loyal and loving & try to do anything to please those they love.

Why did you choose your profession?

I don’t have a profession, I was studying Childcare and then changed my mind to ICT but didn’t manage to finish either course due to ill health & my miscarriage. I’m really hoping to work in Admin or something similar when I am feeling better and managing my pain, anxiety and depression well 🙂

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

New Zealand. On my dad’s side my grandfather was from New Zealand, its always been an interesting place to me and finding this out at 18 has left me wanting to visit ever since.

If you could take only 3 items to a desert island what would they be?

A book, my knitting & a solar powered mp3 player 😉

What was your dream job growing up?

I wanted to work in childcare with young children so badly. Unfortunately my work experience really has put me off as much as I really enjoyed working with the kids.

If you could have one superpower what would it be and would you use it?

Healing powers. I hate seeing people in pain and suffering especially those I love and always hate the fact I cant take it away and make it better for them.

How would your best friend describe you?

Crazy as hell, obsessed with literally ANYTHING that is purple, caring and loyal.

Who is your personal hero?

I cant really think of anyone I would class as my hero if I am honest.

I really enjoyed taking part in this and answering my questions, Here’s my questions for those I have nominated..

If you & your family could move anywhere in the world where would it be and why?
If you had 1 hour to do absolutely anything you like (with no restrictions i.e money, travel etc) what would you do?
What are your top 3 books?
If you could support only one charity for life which one would it be & why?
What was the most useful item you bought in 2015?
If you could have dinner with absolutely anyone living or not who would it be and what would you talk about?
Whis your favorite hobby? (Apart from blogging)
What is your dream car?
Do you have any pets?
What do you collect?

My Nominees

@budgetfoodmummy

@Lopez_x0

@BumbisMom

Seeing in the New Year

Uncategorized / 10 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Happy new year to all my readers, I hope you all had an amazing night seeing in the new year and I cant wait to have a nose through some posts to see what you all got up to! I did write a Christmas – New Year post thinking I wouldn’t find the time to squeeze in a proper new year post but I’ve had a bit more free time today so decided to share with you all how we saw in the new year.

Originally we were meant to have a few people over for drinks to celebrate the new year but the Mr decided against it. Surprisingly not even an hour after the decision was made to just spend New years indoors together I got a phone call from my brother in a bad mood & skint but desperate to come see us and see new years in with us. I guess it was one of those strange things where plans fail for a reason.

Its been almost 10 years since I’ve seen the new year in with my brother as he was in care most years or hospital and I was either in a refuge or unable to get to him or help him get to me so the idea of spending new years eve with him at last made me ridiculously happy.

My brother explained his situation and between the Mr and I we had a plan & thanks to c2c running late trains especially for the new years eve celebrations it all fell into place nicely.

My brother hates asking for help, I’m very aware that I am one of the few people he dares to ask for help from but still feels awkward doing so, the Mr and I try to remind him every time we see him that he is family regardless & if he needs something he only has to shout.

I was seriously proud he finally plucked up the courage to call me, we instantly transferred some money into his account so he could jump on the train & when he got here he told us what had put him in a bad mood and we all talked it over and by the end he was laughing and smiling like crazy drinking rum with us & eventually after a bit of persuading he let us buy a takeaway for us all.

As midnight got closer we put the BBC countdown on opened our curtains to watch the fireworks out the window. The advantage of living 11 floors up and looking out towards London is that we can see fireworks for miles on a clear night. My brother & I were really impressed that the fireworks display in London we were watching on the TV we could see out from the window here in Thurrock!!

We saw the new year in together again at last & it honestly made my night spending it with the two guys I love the most, my Mr & my brother.

After spending Christmas eve with my brother too I think he has now realised we mean everything we say, he is always welcome here, if he needs anything or wants to see us he only has to say and we will arrange something, we may have missed a lot of years out but he is and always will be my baby brother and no matter what I will always be there for him & I think he is gradually seeing that.

Seeing in the New Year this way has left me feeling very positive for 2016 knowing my brother will come to us when he needs to & he is slowly getting used to being part of a family again. Family life itself is going much better recently too now that I have signed off and not stressing myself out constantly trying to find a job when I’m struggling to walk to my corner shop. Now I have a pain management consultant things are looking up slightly with regards to my health, someone is listening at last and willing to try and help me instead of fobbing me off with tablets that give off awful side effects.

The blog, thanks to all you lovely readers has got off to a much better start than I had expected & I’m really looking forward to putting a lot more time & effort into the blog. With my last blog I tried to stick to only one or two topics which of course made it much harder to come up with content, this time I’m just doing what I want when I want & it seems to be going much better although admittedly I do need to plan and organize my time better to get where I want to be this time next year. I’ve been chatting to a few lovely bloggers over the last month or so too which has been lovely where I struggle to socialize in person & I’m hoping I can get the courage up to say hi to a few more bloggers too.

2015 wasn’t an overly great or an overly awful year for us but I’m hoping 2016 will be much better & hopefully we can even squeeze in a family holiday somewhere as our only family holiday was almost 5 years ago whilst Eva was still small.

I’m hoping to learn more about knitting & crocheting this year too as I find it so Calming and helpful with my Anxiety and Depression.

How did you celebrate the new year? What are your hopes/goals for 2016? Have a similar post you would like to share with me? Drop me a comment or Get in touch!

Relentlessly Purple

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