100 Happy Days - Days 12 and 13

Day 12 is the tulips my daughter bought me for Mother's Day

Day 13 is a fig candle

#100happydays

100 Happy Days - Days 10 and 11

Day 10 was felt flowers I made for a spring wreath. Craft fairs start again next weekend so I'm being a busy bee. 

Day 11 is the grape hyacinths and anemones making an appearance. 

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100 Happy Days - Day 9

New place to play! Made me smile when I saw him. Not so much now he's knocking everything over 

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100 Happy Days - Day 8

Happy today is a lemon cake I made earlier.

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100 Happy Days - Day 7

Here is what brought a smile to my face today albeit a curious smile. 

The composition make up of the yarn I'm working with as specified on the ball band. Whatever the 8.6% of 'the public fixed get damp again' is obviously didn't translate well into English. 

#100happydays

100 Happy Days - Day 6

I woke up this morning to a beautiful frosty pattern on the bedroom window. Not something we saw very often during the winter so it was a pleasant surprise. There is something quite magical about frost. 

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100 Happy Days - Day 5

I got a bargain box full of gardening goodies from Suttons a week or so ago and these were in it so I've planted them today and am keeping my fingers crossed for germination. 

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#growyourown

100 Happy Days - Day 4

After months of visits to universities with my eldest son we did our final trip today before he decides his firm choice. His insurance choice has been in the bag almost from the get go but his firm choice has been a bit of an adventure. We've been to so many places that they all tend to blend into one after a while. His final 4 choices plus his insurance all offered an additional visit day once he'd been given an offer. Two of those four have now been discounted and he's now down to weighing up the pros and cons between his other two offered places of choice.

They are both 'red brick' universities, both want the same AAB from his A Levels, both are welcoming and have similar accommodation styles. The differences are that one is close enough to come home whenever he wants, so close that he doesn't have to live away from home (that's apparently not an option). Some of the university accommodation for first years is affordable but the majority is expensive in comparison to most places.  The other one is a couple of hours away from home but the accommodation is quite cheap in comparison to the first one. I've explained to him the expensive accommodation is only for the first year and after that a house share is cheaper and that I'm willing to take him shopping for food whenever necessary which I can't do if he's somewhere two hours from home but at the end of the day the decision is his and if he's two hours away then he's two hours away. The time for independence has arrived and it's scary. My firstborn is 45 mins away at her uni and that's bad enough.

What will be will be and it's the next stage of HIS life. I need to remember that.

So anyway on with the happy days. Today was the final trip and was an accommodation viewing day at the close to home university. This bunting was cheerful and therefore was my happy moment captured

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100 Happy Days - Day 3

Out for lunch with son #2 because he had an inset day off school. Wetherspoons for a mexican chicken burger. £5.99 including a drink so no complaints there

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Skywatch

I've not done Skywatch for a long time. 

In complete contrast to the gusts of wind and showers we are having today I've chosen a picture from a recent journey we made up the A1 to Newcastle. This rainbow was in front of us for a long portion of the journey. 

#skywatch

100 Happy Days - Day 2

The daffodils started blooming at the allotment about 3 weeks ago. Nothing like a flower in a cheerful colour to brighten the mood. 

I'm pretending those docks aren't there but I can see a major invasion of them this year. Along with the nettles and dandelions.

Speaking of dandelions - I got the bed dug this morning that I started yesterday and most of the bed where I had some peas last year. That one wasn't nearly as bad as the first thank goodness apart from a bramble that seems to have come from nowhere but I got the root up so hopefully it's gone now. It's a mess but this photo shows the two days and 1 hour total time digging. That next one which looks very grassy had root veg in which I left over winter. Next on the list once the second one is finished. 

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100 Happy Days - Day 1

This has been doing the rounds and basically it's to find a bit of happiness in each day and upload a photo of it. I did it a bit haphazardly on my Instagram page but I've decided to document it properly on here starting today. 

So on day 1 my photo is of some digging I did at the allotment this morning. I am going to try and do a little bit each day rather than a lot at once and that way I won't burn out. Half an hour this morning was plenty. My back was really hurting and my body was telling me to stop. I did half a bed and filled a 70l empty compost bag with tap roots which were just starting to bud. When I stepped back to see what I'd done it wasn't much but it was an achievement and a start. 

#100happydays

Plus Size Bloggers And Being Honest

I've been sitting on this one for a very long time and kept quiet but after reading the same sort of post on several plus size bloggers blogs lately I can't sit on my hands and not type anything. 

First of all I'm overweight. It's no secret. I am a size 18 and am about 4 stones overweight. I like clothes and discovered a plus sized blogger by chance which led to links to several others and they were all promoting being body confident and their love of clothes. They were all bigger than me with the exception of a couple. 

At first I was shocked especially at the way they posed for underwear shots but at the same time admired their confidence. One thing that really struck me though was despite the body confidence they weren't being honest about the outfits they were blogging about. Again with the exception of the couple who were on the smaller side of the community. Comments such as 'I got a 24 but I could easily have fit into a 20' when it is so obviously only just fitting them across the bottom. Or things like 'it was too big across the bust so I would downsize next time' when in actual fact the said garment is stretched so badly that it's a wonder the buttons haven't pinged across the screen at me. 

Now that isn't what bothers me. What is rather concerning is the number of health concerns these ladies seem to be having lately. Bad backs, heartburn, dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy, diabetes to name just a few. Every single one of them with health problems claims to eat healthily in moderation and exercise three times a week and say their health issues are definitely not attributed to their weight.  I'm sorry but I beg to differ. It doesn't need Einstein to explain that eating healthily in moderation and exercising three times a week would result in a healthier body and weight loss.

Yes this isn't just appropriate to fat people (plus sized is fat by the way no matter how beautiful you are and try to dress up the wording). Lots of thin people who eat crap and don't exercise are just as prone to health issues. Carrying that extra weight doesn't help though and I do have to ask if a person can't be honest about how a garment fits when the opposite is so obviously true then how honest are they about the food and exercise lifestyle they lead? 

Food for thought so to speak. 

#plussizebloggers