I love this Link Up idea of the lovely Stevie from www.acornishmum.com It’s a great way to connect to other bloggers although at present I am very much the granny of the bunch, as it seems that everyone else has young families. It would be lovely if any bloggers who just happens to read my little blog, also joined in with our link up. Do give it a whirl. It’s great fun!

It’s the end of March and it’s been a pretty full month in one way or another. Without further ado, here are my highlights!

I. It goes without saying that the birth of my first grandchild at the start of the month is a pretty humongous highlight. Maci-Rose Scarlett is of course the most beautiful baby in the world…fact! She is adorable and melts the hearts of even the grumpiest of people. I think Mr R’s title of Grumps is going to have to change as he is an old softie when it comes to his new granddaughter.

2.  Starting “A Blind Date With A Book” at our WI meeting. The idea is to wrap a book you’ve read and write on a sticker or tag a brief description of what the book is about without giving too much away and not include the authors name or the book’s title. You donate the book and hopefully someone will take a risk, choose the book and pop a £1 in the pot!

3. Talking of books. I joined a newly formed book club this month. Our first book is The Island by Victoria Hislop. I’m afraid to say that I only got around to starting it on Thursday and I need to finish it by Wednesday. Thank goodness for school holidays is all I can say! I’m half way through the book and loving it. A lovely surprise was discovering that it’s set in an area of Crete that I visited years ago. I’m now hankering on a revisit, but that might be tricky since Mr R won’t fly.

4. In October 2013, totally out of the blue, a tiny, insignificant spot turned almost overnight into a horribly big ulcer, and my lower leg and foot blew up like a balloon. it took months to get a diagnosis of Pyoderma Gengrenosum, a rare rather nasty auto-immune disorder. For months I had to put up with a lot of pain and no improvement. Fortunately though I could carry on working and trousers hid the dressings. For the last 9 months I have been going to my local medical centre for dressings twice a week rather than struggling to do them myself, which is what I had previously been doing. The nurse that I see has been amazing and we have built up quite a friendly relationship. This month, my wound has finally almost healed up with minimal scarring, and I hardly feel a twinge now. My lovely nurse has reduced my dressing change to once a week and finally the end of the long road is in sight. I will have to carry on wearing compression stockings most of the time, but that is a small price to pay. I may or may not have a reoccurrence and need to be careful not to bang my leg. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed!

5.I run an after school cooking club with my friend, another teaching assistant. This month it was the turn of a fantastic bunch of year 4s to learn new cooking skills. They took part in a smoothie making competition, made a healthy couscous salad and scones to take home, and finally, as a group, made a delicious vegetarian biryani which we all devoured sitting around the table. Some of the children even asked for seconds and thirds! They were an enthusiastic bunch and it was a real pleasure to teach them.

6.Mr R and I rarely go on date nights, but earlier this month he bought tickets to go to a classical music concert in Bristol. Going to watch an orchestra was, in all honesty, really no big surprise as Mr R is dotty about classical music. If he had booked tickets to see anything else I would have been totally gobsmacked!

7. After putting up with a gas fire that regularly broke down and was really draughty when not in use, we finally got it replaced with a spanking new, non draughty one. I’ve been putting it on in the evenings even if it isn’t really that cold, but shh…please don’t tell Mr R that. He won’t be a happy chappie!

8.Visiting my lovely mum and dad. Although mum and dad don’t live that far away…just an hour by car from door to door…we don’t get to see them as much as I would like to, and I do feel guilty that we don’t pop in more often. Dad is now 86 and mum will be 79 later this year. Both are still very independent and until very recently still loved to pop down to their little caravan by the coast. I am so lucky to have the best parents anyone could wish for and it is down to them that I have grown into the person I am today.

9. Buying a new handbag after realising that my old one had become an embarrassment. I have my beautiful Radley bag that Mr R bought me for my last birthday, but that is for best only. What I needed was a roomy everyday bag. I’m not a great Cath Kidston fan, but I  rather like her spotty bags, so that’s just what I ended up buying. I love the fact that I can find everything in it although at the moment I’m being selective in what goes in it. Very shortly no doubt, it will end up full to the brim with everything, and most probably, the proverbial kitchen sink!

10. It’s the first day of the school holidays and my boy is coming home ! My youngest, Jack, who is in his final year at uni, is taking a few days off from the relentless revision to spend with his mum. one of the first things we will do is go to Asda of all places. He says that he likes to look at their home department, but in reality it’s probably to see if his mum will fill the trolley with treats!

So, that’s my list. I hope that you enjoyed reading it. Do please comment. I always really enjoy reading them, and share my post if you feel inclined to! Do use the button below and see what happens!

Brigitte xx