Marks Grans Blog

I'm going to take a wee break from blogging for now.  I've quite a lot on just now, not least I have now to clear our dining room and strip the wallpaper off to prepare for the plasterer coming in a couple of weeks.  Our house was built in the 1930's and the plaster has all dried out and is very sandy with lots of bumps and holes in it and as we want to paint the walls rather than put any paper on we need to get the plasterer to give it a skim coat. As our dining room also has the stairs off it, we need to do up the stairs too which at present is covered in framed photos of our family - and I do mean covered, both sides!  There is quite a lot to do before he comes and we're also preparing to update the kitchen too so its all hands on deck.  I'll still be around commenting, putting in my tuppenceworth on blogs I read and hopefully once all my busyness is done and dusted I'll find time to return but I hope everybody keeps well in the meantime. Take care and thanks...

Is it possible to be happy all the time?  What is happiness?  Is it different for everybody?  I'm being very deep and meaningful today.  Why?  I downloaded a book to my kindle yesterday.  It's called The Greatest Secret by Rhonda Byrne as a follow up to her very successful book 'The Secret'.  I've got the Secret and I love it.  It makes a lot of sense to me.  So when I spotted her follow up was 99p on the Kindle I thought I'd give it a try too.  Now to be fair, I've barely started it so I can't really comment on it yet however so far the premise seems to be we can live our life and be totally happy and without stress or worry essentially 24/7.  It's one of those things you read and think 'yeah right'.  But I suppose when you think of people like nuns, monks and other very spiritual people they do seem to be at peace and very calm and worry free.  I also think happiness is a different animal for everyone.  What makes m...

It still amazes me that it is 2022 (or at least it will be tonight!)  I remember so clearly going from 1999 to 2000 when everyone thought all the computers would turn up their toes and die, in fact I have a Disney beanie from that year called Millenium Bug!  Time flies as they say! My New Year goals have already been tweeked.  My plan had been to get the plasterer in to do the dining room walls, then we'd decorate the room (just painting the walls) then get the carpet, however hubby pointed out a flaw with my plan.  Our kitchen is off the dining room and when doing the kitchen, all the stuff from the cupboards etc, plus the kettle and toaster etc will probably have to move to the dining room for a while plus hubby will need room to build any new base units we need and where better than the dining room!  So, as he said we don't want to be trailing all that over our new carpet.  He's got a point.  The trouble is, I can see the dining room in my minds eye...

I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas.  We did, we enjoyed having our children and their families on Christmas Eve for dinner and we had dinner at my mums with my brother and his wife on Christmas day.  On Christmas eve I cooked the meal and made crackers without the crack!  Our dog is terrified of the cracker snaps but I know everyone loves a silly hat and a silly joke at Christmas.  As I always give everyone a silly present on Christmas eve I decided to incorporate it all together and created paper bags with a crown made from some card I had, decorated with glitter and hubby printed out some silly cracker jokes and it was all tied together in the little bags with names on them so they acted as place mats too!  Everybody loved them and the children all went home with their crowns still firmly on!  That's a tradition I'll likely carry on with.   On Christmas day my mum was determined dinner should be at her house but we feel it's too much for he...

I'll probably not be doing any more blogging till after Christmas.  There's nothing much happening here to blog about anyway.   The new variant is running amok and I've a mind to just lock ourselves indoors and stay that way till New Year.  I've done all I'm doing regarding present buying, I've bought and made some cards which are now waiting to be delivered, I'm going off to Costco tomorrow to buy some food, mainly for our Christmas Eve meal with the family and thats that.  I've some presents to wrap but other than that I feel very organised and ready to curl up with my book and forget the world! This picture is of one of the three advent calendars I made for our three children in about 1990!  I had had a major operation and wasn't allowed to do anything much for a few weeks after it.  My children were about 10, 9 and 6 at the time and the pattern was in the Prima magazine.  I managed to finish it just in time for December 1st and that year they ...

This is going to be a rare photo heavy post.  I've enjoyed having the break away from the computer and to be honest for the next few weeks anyway I expect I'll be away again but I thought it would be nice to document what we've been up to the past few weeks. This photograph was taken by my grandson on our way to the Christmas tree farm this weekend.  It is in the Campsie Hills which are on the other side of the city from us, about a 50 minute drive and isn't it wonderful.  We usually wait a bit longer to get our tree but when I saw the forecast was for clear, cold but dry and sunny weather for Sunday I decided we should go for it and we had a wonderful time. Hubby held tight to the tree while our son in law cut it down!  My daughter and I were the main tree pickers and the men went along with our choices, even though they were convinced the trees would be too short/long/bushy etc etc.  They will be just perfect! My daughter and her family brought their new addit...

As christmas draws nearer I'm spending less and less time on the computer.  Normally at this time of year I'd be spending more time on here but something has shifted and I don't quite know what it is.  I used to love sitting in the late afternoon while dark outside, watching a film or a You Tube video while I crafted something or made masks etc, however my creative juices have totally run dry.  I actually bought a birthday card for someone recently as I couldn't be bothered to make one.  My days are meandering by and I find I'm not getting as much done as I feel I should.  I'm only just keeping on top of enough housework to keep us from 'catching' anything!  I don't feel down or depressed but I just can't be bothered to do much just now.  I'm spending way too much scrolling on my phone or reading books and magazines and in between that I've to visit my mum a bit more than I used to for the moment.  Today I woke up at 6am and got up before...