Still shrinking

A quickie blog today before bedtime.  I doubt that I will be able to stick to daily blogging but at the moment I am trying my best to reignite the habit.

We have had a bit of a funny day today.  We were expecting to have our daughter here with her OH, our grandson and her mother in law and sister in law. To cut a long story very short, they didn't make it and are now aiming to come on Sunday.

I was quite disappointed as I was looking forward to seeing them and I had also put in quite a bit of effort to make sure that the house is looking good and everything in place to give a lovely welcome to her in-laws.  They are from Nigeria and we have only met them once.

When we finally knew that they weren't going to get here it was already gone lunch time.  It did mean that we had a free afternoon so we decided to head to Peterborough, a trip that we had been planning for Sunday.  I don't usually go anywhere near the shops at this time of year but I was down to only 2 bra's that fit me and I really didn't want to be waiting until after Christmas.

We didn't have to go into the city centre, which is just as well as I don't think I could have braved that!  There is a retail park as you come into the city and Marks and Spencers are there.  Best place for bra's in my humble opinion.   It was an easy trip in  (about 25 miles)  and we managed to park easily too.  In fact. it wasn't horrendously busy.

The purchasing of the bra's was a little traumatic as the ones that I chose to try on were all the wrong size!  It would seem that I have shrunk by a cup size.  Why can't you just lose weight from your hips and bottom?  Anyway, I managed to get three.  One white, one black and one pink.

While I was messing around getting very hot and bothered in the changing room, Simon had been mooching around the store. He had spotted a very cute, faux suede, skirt and jumper which he thought would appeal to me.  Being a good hubby and being very well aware that  I am now a size 12, he presented them to me to try on.

You are never going to believe this......... The size 12 was way too big!  It isn't that long ago when I was stunned to be wearing a size 12!    The sales lady went off to fetch me a size 10 with me shaking my head in disbelief.  No way will I get into a size 10.

I am still in shock.  The 10 not only fits perfectly but it looks pretty good too.  The jumper was also changed for a size 10.  I could actually get to like this shopping lark, now I can pretty much choose whatever I like and know I have a reasonable chance of looking half way decent in it.    These photos are not the best but I just have to show you.

 

So, a good afternoon in the end, followed by fish and chips for dinner and then a relaxing evening. Hopefully we will see our guests on Sunday.

Day 2 of the restart.

Well since I have decided to try and get back into blogging, I guess I need to do another one today! That will be 2 in 2 days! Pretty good considering prior to yesterday it is 8 months since I have been here.

Mind you I nearly gave up yesterday. Blogger was bugging me big time. First of all, every time I visit a new page it pops up with a message telling me it uses cookies. Yeah, I know that, you and every other website. There are 2 options to get rid of it. “Learn more” and “got it”. Every single time I click on “got it”. Problem is that it does not seem to realise that I have “got it” and still keeps telling me the same thing. I KNOW YOU USE COOKIES! I am fine with that.

Anyone know how to kill it?

The second issue is with commenting and I have had this before. As yesterdays blog was a challenge type thingy, I wanted to visit some other peoples pages to see what they had got to say. I did that and I read some interesting answers and also found a few people who seem interesting that I might want to connect with. So, I wanted to make some comments. Blogger says NO.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to its refusal. I could get my head around it a little better if it refused point blank to let me comment on anything but it doesn't do that. It picks and chooses where I can comment. E.G. I can comment just fine on my cousin Wendy’s blog. I get the normal box come up and it shows my Google ID and everything is fine. I usually have to do one of those pictorial verification things. Then my comment appears. I did find one other person where it worked just like normal.

On everyone else's page the comment box didn't have any reference to my ID. It lets me do my comment and it appears to be publishing it and then poof it is gone. Does anyone have any idea how to sort this out because if I can't comment there is little point in taking part. I also cannot reply to comments as a pop up window opens and closes before I can do anything.

This has all made me pretty fed up. I think if I am going to make a go of restarting my blogging habit then I need some interaction with others. I no longer have the time to sit here and chat to myself.

Well, this has gone well. Two days in and I am whinging and whining! To make this seem a little more worth while I am going to give you a doggie photo.

This is the wonderful Digby who Simon and I were privileged to take to his new home today. He is a year old Labrador / Husky cross. Isn't he handsome? I will do some more doggie posts soon. Good luck Digby.

JILLY

Wednesday Hodgepodge 16/12/15

OK, so this is the first time I have been here at my blog in an absolute age. I have been inspired to restart the blogging habit by my cousin Wendy who has been doing really well after quite a break. I was talking to her recently and she suggested that a good way to get back into it is to take part in some memes or challenges. As I always read her Wednesday HodgePodge, I thought this would be as good a one as any to start with.

So here goes, I'm taking the plunge.

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at 

 From this side of the pond

 Thank you Joyce.

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add the link to your Hodgepodge blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post and don’t forget to visit at least your neighbours on the list.

Have fun!

1. What's your biggest 'first world' problem? Hmm, I think we have a fair few problems in the “first world”. Probably my biggest bugbear is the sheer pace of life. It seems that everything is done at break neck speed. Nobody it seems wants to slow down or to take a break. We are all so frantically busy. But are we really? I would like to go back in time to when things were slower, to an age where we all had time for each other. Time to care. Time to stop and smell the roses.

 2.  Each year Time Magazine names a 'Person of the Year', someone who has 'for better or worse...done the most to influence the events of the year.' It was recently announced they've named Angela Merkel Person of the Year for 2015. You can read more about this year's selection here. Your thoughts? If you were in charge, who would you declare Person of the Year? 

Well, I guess I can see the logic of why she was chosen. I don't really know if she is right or wrong regarding the migrants, but there are certainly many who will be thankful to her for the rest of their lives. For me, I would probably choose a person who is not in the public eye. A person who works tirelessly with little recognition. There are a great many of them out there.

3. Do you have a nativity set in your home? If so share its history and how you display the pieces.
We used to have one when our children were little but it wasn't very nice. It was made of horrid, hard plastic and we threw it out when we moved house 4 years ago. We haven't replaced it as we are not religious.

4.  Do you make an extra effort to give back in some way during the holiday season? How do you encourage those who need encouragement this time of year?

To be honest, I don’t think I make any extra effort. Over the last 5 or 6 years I have realised more and more just how lucky and privileged I am. That has led me to be much more conscious of others. I try very hard, every single day, to “give back” in what ever way I can. It is a bit like new years resolutions for me; why do you have to wait until new year to change something? Why not start now. Same principle, I don't need it to be Christmas to “give back”.

 5. Who is your favourite person to shop for? Why?  I am not much of a shopper and I really dislike the shops at this time of year because they are so crowded and noisy. I find Christmas shopping a chore as I never know what to buy for people. That said, I have recently rediscovered the joys of shopping for clothes for myself. I have lost a lot of weight this year and that makes it all so much easier. I look halfway decent in things now and I have even tried new things that I wouldn’t previously have even glanced at.

 6. What's the last delicious thing you ate?   

We are lucky as most of our food is pretty good. We did have a fabulous rib eye steak on Saturday served with a king prawn sauce and all cooked by my husband. Bonus!

 7. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to drink a few glasses of the red stuff and keep smiling!

 8. Insert your own random thought here. Last year was the first Christmas without my Dad. It was still lovely but a little sad. This year I am looking forward to it much more. I do really enjoy seeing all of our family although it does get somewhat loud and chaotic!