Time again for my regular Ten Things Link Up post. Lovely blogger Stevie at A Cornish Mum first got the ball rolling when she encouraged her readers to all link up by sharing 10 things about anything. I decided to follow her lead and think of 10 things in the past month that I’ve liked. Why not head to Stevie’s blog and find out for yourself how to join in. It’s great fun !

So without further ado, here is my list for April.

A surprise and rather lovely invitation

A couple of weeks ago my eldest son phoned me.Him.. “Don’t freak out Mum”.. which of course got me slightly nervous… “me and Sam are getting married”. Me…”Oh, that’s wonderful sweetie, I’m so pleased. Have you set a date?”  Him…”Yeh…June” Me..” Next year?” Him…”Nope, this year!”

Yes, darling son, I am freaking out in a…Oh my God, how do I lose the weight of a small elephant in two months!…sort of way, but apart from that I’m absolutely over the moon for them!

Son number 2 has got himself a job following graduation

It’s a well-known fact that having a university degree these days doesn’t guarantee anyone a job following graduation. It took my eldest over a year before settling into a full-time job after leaving university, so as this is the year my youngest graduates with a Maths degree, we all started to get a little nervous as the job hunting process began in earnest. Thankfully, we were able to breath a sigh of relief when he found himself a full-time job with a new company that offered the added bonus that he could study for his actuary qualification at the same time. Another plus point is that he will be living locally again which of course I’m really looking forward too.

A fabulous holiday in Cornwall

I won’t dwell too much on this one as I’ve blogged myself silly about it over the last few weeks to the point where I’m in danger of boring you all to sleep.

Becoming president of my WI

This came as a bit of a shock after our president had to resign after two days of being re–elected at our annual meeting. I had thought that my position of vice president meant that I could spend the next year standing safely on the periphery whilst still being useful! I still have wobbles that I’m not up for the job, but addressing the ladies at my first meeting went without a hitch despite being really nervous, and our fab committee is very good at holding my hand and guiding me through all of the regulations and red tape etc. I love my WI with a passion and want it to be a huge success. The next year is going to be really exciting and who knows, I might even get to learn how to make jam. I am wondering whether from now on I should be addressed as Madame President…erm, probably not!

Getting into reading again

Now that I belong to our WI book club, I’ve ditched my light and fluffy chick lit and moved on to something meatier. Last month’s book choice was The Help by Kathryn Stockett, a novel set in early 1960’s Mississippi about the relationships between the white women and their black maids. I’d seen the film version already so knew the story. After a rocky start trying to get used to the dialect of some of the characters, I found that I just couldn’t put it down. It entertained, yet was thought-provoking at the same time. I have to say that I totally recommend it. I’m also enjoying the meetings we have to discuss our chosen book. It’s always good to hear others opinions and talk about issues thrown up in the storyline.

Learning to crochet

I used to crochet when I was about 11. I remember making ponchos using up any odd bits of wool.Fortunately ponchos were pretty big back then and me and my friends thought we were the bee’s knees. Forty plus years later and I’ve decided to give it another bash. I’m still practising but have now mastered a granny square. I’m rather chuffed with myself. Safe to say that I’ll give ponchos a miss this time around.

Venturing out in the garden

I love my garden, but I don’t do cold and wet, so it does tend to get neglected over the winter months until there’s a bit of warmth in the sun again. When it’s at least jumper without a coat weather, I’ll finally venture out and discover that my once happy garden is looking sad, forlorn and a mess.  Armed with a pair of secateurs, a pair of gardening gloves and my new garden waste wheelie bin, I’ve managed to work a little magic and the transformation is well on its way. I was quite amazed to discover a pop up garden waste basket in the bottom of my pond today. I’ve been wondering where that went, and now I know!

A trip to Bath for a hair appointment

I am really lucky that Bath is only a 25 minute train ride away from Swindon, so I often prefer to hop on a train to shop there rather than stay in Swindon which has to have the most uninspiring town centre ever! Over a year ago I decided to treat myself to a hair appointment at a salon there. My stylist was the very lovely Katie. We hit it off instantly, and have since become good friends. So not only do I get a fabulous hair cut each time I go, but I also get to have a good catch up for an hour!

Being told I was fun again!

Last year at work was hard for me. Being in pain most of the time because of a horrible leg ulcer turned me into a moody cow. Snappy at times and nothing like my usual happy self. For the last eight months my leg has been healing and the pain has pretty much gone and I have turned back into the old me. To be told by my line manager that she loved the new fun-loving me absolutely made my day!

Blogging!

I love my little blog. It’s nothing special, just somewhere that I can ramble on a bit. It’s a bit of a mish mash of this and that, and I have no idea what blog category it would come under. I can’t do anything fancy with it as my less than limited IT skills don’t allow me to, but it’s mine and it’s unique to me and I’m rather fond of it. I would dearly love more people to read it, and truth be told, I would secretly love to be nominated for a blogging award (ha…dream on Brigitte!) Without my blog I wouldn’t have met other lovely bloggers who have been an inspiration and supportive when I’m feeling stuck and can’t get my head around something technical. And anyway, I love the thrill it gives me seeing it published. So I shall keep on rambling and mish-mashing because to me, blogging rocks…ok!