Listography - top 5 simple pleasures.

Last Thursday saw the welcomed return of Listography over at Kate takes five which I love so of course I am joining in, although a little late!



Image courtesy of Dreamstime



1. Cake.



No matter what life throws at me, nothing is more relaxing then sitting down to a lovely piece of cake with a cup of hot chocolate. Not great for my waist but very lovely and especially nice in the colder weather.

Image courtesy of Dreamstime

2. Reading.

I love to read, any thing from a magazine to a novel and I also love to curl up with my little one and a pile of books. It's a fantastic way to spend a dark cold winter afternoon. My favourite author is Agatha Christie and I love having an early night to curl up in bed and read for a few hours.

3. Doing my nails.

Doing my nails is one of those things that I really enjoy doing as it lifts my mood and makes me feel much more put together. I think having two teenage daughters that are obsessed with their nails and different nail art designs also helps as they often inspire me to try new things.

4. Chatting with the kids.

I love it when we have time to just sit and chat together. It is so nice connecting with them and seeing the world though their eyes.

5. My blog.

I really do love everything that I have to do for my blog, there is nothing that I ever dread, working on it really is a simple pleasure!

Listography - Top 5 personal achievements of 2013.

This weeks Listography is back with the lovely Kate and I was a bit unsure as to if I should take part in this one as in all honestly 2013 has not been a particularly great year for myself and my family, but then I thought that I must be able to think of five things that I am proud of although they will not be nearly as exciting as the lists that I have been reading from fellow bloggers that have already posted their lists!!

 

My top 5 personal achievements of 2013.

 

1) Starting my blog. Even though I had a break in the middle where I was unwell, I am proud that I came back and continued blogging as I do really enjoy it and it will be a nice reminder of life when I am old and grey.

 

2) Getting a family car. This may seem silly to some but a couple of years ago we decided to get rid of the family car as we thought that living in a town we would not need one and we were struggling to keep up with the costs of running a car. That was the biggest mistake we have ever made as it was absolutely horrible not having a car and we felt so isolated. Last year when I wrote my new years resolutions one of my goals was for us to buy a family car and get our family back on the road and in April this year we did.

 

3) I have finally thought of a business idea that my husband and I can start together and we are hoping to be up and running by next Summer. Being ill my husband and I have always thought that if we could think of a business that we could run together it would solve a lot of our problems as if I am unwell I can work from home or rest at home and he could manage without me whereas if I am employed by someone I can not phone in sick whenever I'm unwell as my illness varies so much I would soon get fired. Anyway after many years of thinking up ideas and then realising that they are not viable we are now very excited to start 2014 and are both hoping that it will be a brighter year then the past few.

 

4) Winning an ipad. Not really an achievement but something that I am proud of as I entered a lot of competitions in order to win one!

 

5) Not gaining any more weight! I may not have lost any like I had hoped but at least I am no heavier then I was this time last year and it is probably the first time in a long time that I have managed to go through a year and not get any bigger so at least I am making progress!

 

So there you have it, my list may not be as exciting as some and I may not have achieved as much as I would of liked but after the year we have had I will be grateful for small mercies! Hopefully this time next year my list will be much more exciting!

Listography - Guilty Pleasures.

This weeks listography is being hosted by Older single mum and the topic is guilty pleasures. Here is my list of guilty pleasures, which I must admit, I am rather embarrassed about!

Yum!!!

1) Vampires! I am a sucker for a bad vampire trying to be good and this obsession started long ago with Buffy the Vampire Slayer in my teens when I would lust after the character Angel. As I have grown older I am still swooning over bad boy vamps like Spike from Buffy and Damon from The Vampire Diaries. There is just something very exciting about a dark and dangerous hunk trying to be good plus the fact that they always look oh so yummy!

2) Agatha Christie books. I absolutely love them and have quite a collection. I also really enjoy watching them on TV too.

3) Watching the Disney channel. When my two older girls started watching the Disney channel I very soon became subjected to shows such as Hannah Montanna and Wizards of Waverly Place. Now that they are older, they do not really watch the Disney channel anymore, but I still do!!

4) Dancing in my kitchen. When no one is home I crank up the music, normally tunes from the late 90's and as I cook and clean I sing and dance around the kitchen! Sometimes I even use a wooden spoon for my microphone!

5) Christmas! Now at this time of year, it is perfectly acceptable to be talking about a love of Christmas but for me, it is a bit of an obsession and I am constantly thinking about it. I like nothing more than watching a Christmas film in April or listening to my favourite Christmas cd in July. I just have to make sure that no one is home or else I would drive my hubby insane! He has actually banned me from playing my Christmas cd unless it is December as he is not as keen on Christmas as I am!

So there you have it, my list of guilty pleasures - what are yours?

Listography - 80's and 90's gameshows.

I have found a game where you are given a topic and you have to list your top five which I think sounds fun, so I have decided to join in. I hope that you will find these fun to read as well.

Todays listography is - top 5 80's and 90's game shows.

This is quite hard for me as I must admit that I have always been a fan of game shows and I do think that UK game shows were probably at there best during this era although the prizes were somewhat to be desired! Anyway, here is my top 5!

1) Funhouse.

This was my all time favourite show when I was growing up and I would always dream of being able to go on the show. The whole concept of the show blew my mind, I couldn't believe that children would be allowed to do such things and get to win prizes as well! You have to remember that this was at a time when there was no such thing as the big soft play centres that we have today so I was mesmerised by the fun house and  I would spend hours playing make belief that I was actually a contestant on  the show, trying to recreate the fun house in my bedroom with pillows and blankets.

2) The crystal maze.

This was another great concept with the different zones that you could visit. There were four different zones which were the Aztec zone, the Industrial zone which later changed to the ocean zone, the Medieval zone and the Futuristic zone. It's funny as back in the 90's when I was watching the show, everything on set seemed so real and it really did amaze me. However, when I recently watched a repeat on sky it didn't seem to be as well made as I had first thought. They made a board game of the show which at one point I did own and I must admit, the board game was actually quite good.

3) Knightmare.

This show was great and there had never been anything like it before which made it really stand out. It was one of those shows that would actually scare me at times but even though I was scared I could not stop watching it! It also really confused me as I had no knowledge of computers or anything technical, but I was of an age where I knew that it was a game and not real so I would spend a lot of time trying to figure out how it was done.

4) Catchphrase.

This is a show that most will have heard of as it has been a long running game show with a few different hosts over the years and it was even on TV earlier this year with Stephen Mullhern as the host and my children got to watch it and play along. My fondest memories of this show are the early years with Roy Walker as the host. Every Sunday evening we would sit in front of the television with our tea and watch catchphrase and this was the only time that we were aloud to eat in our living room which made it seem even more special and it was also something that we could all join in with, trying to guess before the contestants got it right.

5) Family fortunes.

Another long running game show that has been hosted by a few different people over the years. I first started watching this when Les Dennis was the host in the late 80's and I still enjoy watching it today when hosted by Vernon Kay. It is such a simple game but still very entertaining and it really does make me laugh when you hear some of the answers that people give.  I like these types of shows as my daughters can sit and watch with me and play along as you do not need to be Einstein to participate.