Paying for the royals

Hi lovelies!

Well very soon we will be hearing the news that another royal baby has been born.

Baby Sussex will be seventh in line to the throne.  I am unashamedly a royalist and believe in the monarchy.  It is a institution that we as a country, should be immensely proud of.  Many countries do not have a Queen or a King so we are blessed.  They do a fantastic job (well some of them)

Although I am a royalist I do believe there should be a restriction on how many we are required to pay for as a country.  The monarch, Next in line to the throne and their families should be our responsibility to pay for and support.  After that they should be on their own and expected to find employment as would any other person.  By this I mean HRH Queen Elizabeth, Husband and her children, and then Charles' children should be on the royal payroll.  The others should support themselves. whether this is by charging for royal engagements or getting a job would be entirely up to them.  (If I ruled the world!).  This means that royal such as Princess Beatrice etc would support themselves.

Its not a popular idea among royalists but its a opinion I have and stick to.  After all cutbacks should effect everyone not just the working man.

Let me know your thoughts, do you agree or not?
Either way its food for thought!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you here again real soon.
Bye for now

Hales xx

Life!

Hi Lovelies!

You know, I was reminded this week how life is so precious.  We get one shot at it and we aren't like cats and have nine of them!  How are lives turn out is shaped by many different things, enviroment, experiences, the way we are treated and how we treat others in return.  Many things can effect the way our lives evolve.  But the main thing is how we decide to live it.

For example, there are many examples of the bullied becoming the bully, but on the other hand there are even more cases where the bullied become defenders and saviours of others.  So you see although our lives are touched by circumstance it doesnt mean it has to be driven by it. I guess what im trying to say is,  make your life reflect you.  You may have been dealt the most awful cards in life but you know what?  You control your life and the way it goes.  You control the direction your life will travel.  If you dont like the way your life is going, change it!  Make it reflect the person you really are.  Have a life which you want and love.  The world is out there for you to enjoy!  Go enjoy it!

Bye for now!

Hales xxx

Sandals - the shoe kind not the holiday!

Hello lovelies!
Now I have big feet.  Its a fact!  I take size 9 or 10 in ladies shoes.  That's bigger than the average size ladies shoe size.  Now, I want to wear the same kind of shoes that the lovely size six ladies can wear and I have to say now days its getting easier and easier to do.  More and more companies are catering for the plus size.  Not only in clothes but also in shoes.  I have been having a look round and theses are my favourites and my "I'd love to haves" for the summer months!


What about these beauties?!

They are from Simply Be  and are priced at £35.00.  They are perfect for the beach but teamed up with a maxi dress and bolero I could see these being perfect for a evening out.  Love the flower on the top but maybe that's my Hippy side coming out!  These really are statement shoes.  Of course I could never wear them because of the heel but a girl can dream right?

Next take a look at these!  How FREEKING awesome are these!  I love leopard print but its hard to wear it without looking like some kind of porn star wannabe!  Either that or Bet Lynch!  So I'm totally in love with these shoes.  If anyone would like to buy me these *cough* Mr PB *cough* they can be found HERE  they cost £28.00 and I need a size 9!

Then I found  THESE  . They are pretty little flip flop style with a toe post and pretty diamante detailing to the top.  They are flat so perfect for me.  The price is pretty good too to be honest. £15.00 will bag you these and they even come in three colours.  They wouldn't take up much room in your suitcase either.



Finally I tried out the George at ASDA and the F&F at Tesco websites.  To be honest they had nothing that you'd enjoy wearing unless you were 75+  And I most certainly am not!







Dorothy Perkins had a really good range and I really liked the look of these  ones.  They are funky and would be great for festival. I really like them I think they may find their way via Royal Mail to our house! Priced at £18.75 they are a bargain.







So that's the sandals I found out there.  Of course there are many others but these are the ones that caught my eye.

Maybe, just maybe I shall be sporting a pair really soon!

Bye for now

Hales xx

To Dream is to wonder

Hi lovelies.  

I hope you are well.

Recently Ive been having some really strange dreams.  It got me to thinking.  What are dreams made of?

Now I know that psychologists will tell us that its the working of our mind, That experiences and things we have seen influence our brain when we sleep.  But is this true.  This is just a theory and not proven.

“

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. “ 

Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Dreams can be scary and beautiful, up lifting and courageous, sad and happy.  All these things and everything in-between.   They can make us laugh or cry, happy or sad.  They can be personal, erotic, make you want to do things or not or they can be just mundane everyday life occurrences.  Just what are they?  

Now I know that sometimes I have a dream and its a experience ive had in my life or things I've done, but just where does the extraordinary things come from?  I know that some people have prophetic dreams.  Dreams of things that come to pass.  Others dream dreams that they perceive to be something they should do and they go for it.  Good on them.  I personally do not want to be riding a unicorn butt naked, led by a troll through the city centre as per a recent dream!

So where do you think these dreams come from?  Have you had any fantastical dreams lately?

Bye for now

Hales xx

 

Monthly catch up march 2017

Hello everyone.
So today I'm starting a new series which will be a monthly post catching up on our family life.

This month has been nothing if not eventful!
Firstly we have had four birthdays!  Firstly Mr PB on the 3rd and then  DIL on the 7th.  Followed by Big son PB on 14th then mine on the 19th.  Finally little son PB who was 22 years old.  Where have the years gone!  I can remember the boys being tiny and the time has just flown by! Obviously due to my illness in the middle of the month birthdays celebrations have been rather muted and in fact almost none existent!  We will make up for it later in the year!

Spring has definitely sprung!  The weather is so much milder and its lovely to wake up to the sun streaming through the window in the morning.  There isnothing better than a bit of sunshine on your cornflakes! (anyone remember that advert?)

Our two little princesses are now four and six months and continue to grow and just be beautiful.  they bring us so much joy!

 Chuckles has finally started to smile at us when she sees us.   (shes very selective who she smiles at!)

Mimi is a joy as always.  She is really an intelligent little girl.. At parents evening her mum was told she is reading well above her age level and in fact is at the level that would be expected at the end of the year above her!

Bob is a sweetheart.  He loves to play fight with grandad and has just found you tube videos that show Mario games being played!  He is addicted to them and makes us watch whenever we go round there!

Miss PB is doing well.  She is in the middle of revising for her stats.  This is causing her no problems and she is far from being stressed out by it all.  She is quite laid back like her Daddy and very little phases her.  I am still in awe of how she helped to revive me when I was so poorly.  She is certainly a special little girl.

We are blessed with our family.

As far as the blog is going, I am pleased with the direction ts taking.  I plan to do some more reviews and an looking at different items to review.  As you know my favourite thing is make up but I intend to try to do more non make up reviews.  What do you think?

Well that's a quick update from us.

Thanks for stopping by and We hope to see you here again real soon! 

My Bullet journal

Hi there lovelies!
Hows things?
Its been lovely and sunny here in Suffolk. A distinct change in the weather. It seems Spring has sprung!

This year Ive decided to give bullet journaling a go.  Its changed my life!  It really has.  No more missing appointments, forgetting friends tea/coffee meet ups, no more missing bill payments.  I'm totally organised!  If you know me you will know this is quite surprising for me!  In fact me being organised is positively  a miracle! 

 So this is how my journal looks.  I bought a LEUCHTTURM 1917 from Amazon .  I also bought a pen holder in which to store my growing number of pens!  Also from amazon you can find it here. It helps me to keep everything together and organised.  its amazing how much stuff you start collecting!

Firstly I set up my "goals for the year".  I didnt want to call it new years resolutions as I never keep to them and then feel dissatisfied with myself, so they are the goals I aim to reach.

I also set aside a page for quotes I hear throughout the year and I either like or are inspirational.
I have a page on books i want to read or have read.  I aim to read twenty books this year.  That is my goal and this page helps me keep track.

I also keep two pages for bible verses that I like.  We have a verse to learn each year for church and that's here.  I like to keep this page so I can turn to a specific verse when i need it!

Typically my weeks are set up like this.  I do a two page spread for each week and it works pretty well.  (I couldn't find a two page spread that wasn't full of my appointments etc!)  I prepare the page two weeks in advance so that I have a idea of what we have in store for that week.

I also keep track of my period and moods in the journal.  I'm interested to see if my moods are affected by my periods.  I'm sure they are but I guess I'm just looking for confirmation.  This is a good way to track it. 

I also have my Christmas list in there! I know its really early in the year but we are on a limited budget and  like to pick up bargains when I see them especially for the grandchildren.  These pages help me to keep a eye on what Ive bought and what I still have to buy.  Its a good system.

I also put in photos of people I love and want to pray for.  This adds something personal to my journal and it helps keep me focused when praying.

 Sometimes its hard to remember to do things you love.  Its important to give oneself love and so I have a small list of things that I like and like to do.  Also new songs that Ive discovered, sometimes played on the radio or stuff I hear coming out of my daughters bedroom!

Finally and most importantly I think I have a gratitude log.  Sometimes in life we forget things we are grateful for and the many blessings we have.  Something as simple as a warm bed to sleep in is something that a person would be extremely grateful for if they didn't have it. And so on.

So that's my journal.  It keeps me grounded and organised.  It gets me where I need to be, when I need to be there.  I challenge you to try keeping one.  Its extremely addictive but great fun.  There are facebook groups you can join to get ideas and meet like minded people.
I'm so glad you joined me today and I hope to read your comments below
Take care
Bye for now 
Hales xx

Imbolc and being a Christian

Hello lovelies!

The 2nd of February marks Imbolc.  For those who don't know it is a festival in the pagan calender.
It marks the breaking of winter and the coming spring.  We celebrate the return of the sun and look forward to the warmer weather and spring approaching.  To the daffodils and snow drops poking their heads through the soil and giving us a riot of colour to cheer our days.  As the warmer days appear we look forward to the spring equinox and all that brings.  Imbolc is kind of a halfway point between winter solstice and spring solstice.  Its a chance to spring clean and fling open the windows and let the fresh cold air flow through the house making the stale air from our homes (shut up over winter) blow away! 

We are Christians but we keep the festivals of the year.  I personally consider myself as a christian pagan.  Ive been told many times that this is a contradiction of terms but I believe not and let me tell you why.
The wheel of the year and the solstices etc are all naturally occurring events.  I believe God made the world and so any changes that are made to it (for example seasonal changes) are from him.  I believe that the Gods and Goddesses (mother nature etc) are in fact angels who look after the earth.  Angels were sent to earth to guard the gates of Eden to stop Adam and Eve returning, the Bible tells us this.  So we know that angels tread the earth.  I shall be burning a candle to celebrate the coming of warmer days and the fast approaching spring!

Tell me your thoughts below

Bye for now

Hales xxx

Tiaras

Hello there
I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful sunny weather.  Im not one for extreme heat so this weather is just perfect.  The only downside is that princess stays awake later and so its harder to wake her up!  She is usually such a earlier riser that it usually her waking us up!  Still its half-term next week so she can have some lie ins!  I love half terms and always have since the boys were really small.

We are still waiting for number two grandchild.  She is determind to keep us waitting.  Grandad is so excited and keeps hastleing the Mum-to-be.  He has the car on stand by to take them to the hospital as they dont drive and I think hes a little broody but wont admit it!

Well enough with the gossip!  and on to the crafting!  I thought i would try my hand at tiara making.  Its something ive wanted to do for a while and Mr CM bought me this book to try out.  To be honest the book was hard to follow and not really very helpful, but i found that i could learn as i went along.
Here are some of my atempts which have sold already so iI must be doing something right!  Please excuse the quality of the phots but you get the general idea.

 

This post has taken me two days to load!  When everyone in blogland was saying how much blogger had been playing up I had no problems!   Now I get it!

Well thanks to you all for  stopping by to read, I am off to catch up with everyone elses blogs as google reader tells me I have 223 new blog posts to read!  time to settle down with a cuppa me thinks!
Bye for now lovelys xx

I

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines!

Mr C-M and I have planned a night of DVDs and cuddles for tonight!  No 3 son is taking care of the Princess so we can watch our films in peace and quiet!  Valentines Day is a funny day isn't it?  Its the day when we show our love and appreciation for our loved one.  The thing is I hope that I do that everyday and even if I don't tell Mr C-M how much I love him everyday , that I show it in  many different ways, everyday.  There are many different ways to show love.   So Mr C-M if you are reading this I love you! LOTS!

So enough of the mush!
I am blessed this year to be taking part in the Bloggy Love swap hosted here

I was paired with the lovely Jenna and in the post i received this lovely package!

Lovely packages!

lovely goodies all for Moi!

Thank you Jenna so much!  I hope you enjoy your gifts too xxx

And so the day is nearly here!

So in little over 48 hours it will be the big day itself!  I am looking back and remembering lots of things I've done this year and things that happened in our family.  all in all I believe we are blessed and I thank God for that.
I am also sparing a thought for those less fortunate than us.  In particular the elderly, housebound, people who are lonely and the homeless.  To be homeless in this freezing weather must be awful and I remember them in my prayers

To all my friends new and old, in real life and "tinternet land"  I wish you a merry Christmas and a blessed and happy new year xx

November 11th

today is remembrance day.
not just for those who have lost their lives but also to remember those who are still fighting for what they believe. whether you think its right or wrong, spare them a thought today

getting up early!

Image by alexdecarvalho via Flickr

i love the autumn and winter they are my favourite seasons. no doubt about it! what i don't like is the fact my body changes to adapt the the difference
this ends up with a crazy sleep pattern! two teenagers who wont get out of bed! (in fact that happens when its summer as well) and the old battle of when to put the heating on! i have a rule that I've always stuck to. it is on 1st November, off the 1st march! regardless of the weather. if you are cold put on a jumper and bed socks and i never let the house get too hot. i think if we all stuck to that rule then the benefits to the environment would be great but also we would save money which is even better!

winter ahh lovley