Friday Favourites #1

Happy Friday everyone.

It's been a tough old week here in Daffodil House! (Our house isn't actually called that but I like the sound of it - hmmm maybe one day....)

On Sunday night I started to feel unwell and I woke up on Monday barely able to move thanks to Brain and co! I guess that set the tumble weed going. My laptop went on strike, our internet was playing up and I used a months worth of data on my mobile phone in 4 days (woopsie)! well, honestly what is a girl meant to do when she cant really do much else but watch Youtube videos and Netflix?! I don't think it quite works like that when you explain it to a shattered husband - even with fluttering eyelashes - I did only say nearly all of the data, not actually all of the data had been used - as a result I've turned my mobile data off for the month - this makes me feel a little sad but I must remember there was a time without mobile internet... what did I do?! Panic was short lived, the internet in the house was restored (thank you wifi fairies) and my laptop started to come back to life after a bit of light maintenance. I started to feel better too by Wednesday evening. *BONUS* I decided to get an early night on Wednesday. I figured that having a good sleep and 'recharging my batteries' would only be a good thing to keep me on my feet - How wrong was I? I managed to get to sleep okay (my medication pretty much knocks me out) but for some strange reason I had the worst nightmare and it was one of those ones that shakes you to your core and your'e scared of sleeping again in case the nightmare comes back! I don't have nightmares often at all! How odd! Anyway at some point much much later I managed to get back to sleep and I woke to the sound of my phone ringing at 1pm! EEEEK! I had jobs that I REALLY had to get done ie the food shop - My sister helped me do my food shop, my brain just wasn't in gear ~ I just wasn't in gear. I left stuff in the shop that I'd paid for (scan and shop error) so had to go back, forgot to buy something that we have totally run out of and bought extra of two items that we already have in! All in all a successful Thursday I'd say. Well, it did turn out ok in the end to be fair. I got a lot more done than I thought I would and my sister was extremely patient - and the lady in tesco was an angel!

Anyway, not I've given you the run down of this week, I'll tell you why I have decided to write a series of Friday Favourites.
There are some bonuses that come out of being ill and they are things that I would definitely have taken for granted before. No matter how hard the moment, day, week, month or year gets there are always things that we can be grateful for, take enjoyment from, learn from or just appreciate. I've decided that every so often I am going to put in a list a of my current favourite things. They might be really simple, little things that I have noticed and feel the need to remember or something that I genuinely feel that I HAVE to share because it's just so darn great!

Here are the five things that I am currently loving. I'm channelling positive vibes here, people!

• Family time - On Wednesday my mum drove me to fetch my prescription because I wasn't well enough to drive myself. Before going home I went and spent some time with both of my parents and we had drinks and cakes/biscuits in their garden. They are having it completely re done and it's in it's latter stages of the development. It's stunning! My dad was quite involved with setting out the plans for how the layout was going to be and both of my parents have been involved with the "fine tuning". It's all been done so that my dad can access the whole garden in his wheelchair to give him full independece in his retirement. One part of the garden that they insisted was kept is a huge stone walled flower bed. We built that as a family when my brother, sister and I were young. It was a real family bonding task I'll tell you! It houses the tree that my siblings and I used to climb up and shout the colours of the traffic lights while the others were zipping around on their bikes. We call it The Ungy-Bungy Tree. Next to the tree is the original metal framed swing that my Grandparents bought for us when we were little. The wooden seat rotted but a plastic seat was purchased for my two year old nephew. We used to take it in turns to swing as high as we could and when we got to the highest point we would shout out the longest Beatrix Potter character at the top of our voice and see if we could say it before the swing reached the bottom. Mine was Jemima Puddle-Duck! I can hear myself and my sister giggling now! Her character was Mrs Tiggy-Winkle! - we would be in hysterics for so long that Mum and Dad used to have to calm us down before bed time "oh, those girls"! We used to see next doors chickens when we got to the highest spot too. They haven't had chickens for many years now but it will be interesting to hear what my Nephews childhood memories of that garden are when he's a grown up! Hopefully just as crazy and just as fun! 
• (okay, okay I cheated a bit - this isn't really a separate favourite because he is my family  so just count it as being one - with my family please). My Husband - He definitely deserves to have a highlight of his own. This week in particular he has been a gem. I mean the sparkly, expensive, dreamy, wonderful and exquisite kind of gem! Ok, that's enough of the vomit inducing niceties Ha! He's working A LOT this week - I say workING because although it is Friday and he would normally finish work on Friday, it's different this week. He is also working tomorrow! It means that he leaves at daft o'clock in the morning (3.30ish) I and wont get home until gone 4pm! At the start of the week he had to deal with a mess of a wife when he got home but somehow he still decided to drive for an hour to the nearest Apple store to get my faulty iphone 6 replaced! On top of that, we're going to have a guest (and her baby bump - cant leave the bump out) here to stay this weekend so he's been helping me get stuff ready! The very least I could do was run him a bubble bath with my luxury bubbles in! That boy deserves a break! 

A catch up with my parents on Wednesday. The pick-me-up I needed. Photo taken on my shiny new iphone 6 *yay the camera works*

• Fresh Bedding - There really is nothing more satisfying than opening the bedroom door and getting a waft of 'fresh linen' scent brush past then snuggling into comfy, clean bedding and resting my head on fluffed up pillows. I love the feeling of cool cotton sheets after a relaxing soak in the bath, especially after feeling mega rough!

• Wholewheat pasta - Yep, you read that right! It deserves to be here in my five favourites because when you feel yucky the last thing you want to be doing is standing over the cooker or taking forever to prep a gormet meal. Recently I have cut out all white pasta in our house to whole wheat and you know what, I cant tell the difference! This week I made a pasta bake. Quick, easy, inexpensive, filling and delicious! I like mixing two different styles of pasta in my pasta bakes to make them hold the sauce and it just gives a different texture and look.

I get this pasta from Tesco. Yum Yum!

• Instagram - I've had the app for ages, hardly ever used it but since the start of may and signing up to a picture every day thing I have got really into it! I really like looking at other peoples pictures and scrolling through the hashtags! (You can follow me @littlgoldendaffodil)

• S Club 7 - They are back in my life! Welcome back to the teenage years! Me and my friend are going to see them live TONIGHT - my last "unopened" Christmas present! I'm definitely not going to be jumping around and dancing like a loony at this concert - as much as I'd love to in the moment, I know I will regret it and I can not be doing with 'brain bootcamp' (in other words, having the sweats from doing nothing, feeling like I'm that poor bit of plastic inside the magic 8 ball getting asked a million questions and being shaken all over and still just plucking an answer from a liquidy cloudy mess) also I'd probably face getting an ear bashing from the medical team and I certainly do not want that ta very much! 

I hope you've had a good week and remember, if it's not been so good there's still plenty to cheer you up. Laugh about the silly little things and don't let them drag you down (it is so much funnier later on when you are telling the story to someone - I speak from experience. Laugh when the red has faded from your cheeks, you will feel better for it). My parents always taught me that 'tomorrow is a new day'. They used to say this rhyme as we went to bed "See you in the Morning, Just as day is Dawning at the start. of. another. new... day". I've never forgotten it and I will hopefully have my own little tinkers to say that too! Yes, I am very aware of how much that makes us look like the Brady Bunch or The Waltons - it was seriously NOT COOL as a teenager but now, as a 30 year old, I treasure it! I want to be that Brady bunch family! At least we didn't fight and scream at each other - much ;)

What is one of your favourite things at the moment? You never know, you might share a little nugget of gold that could be just what the next person is looking for (or me)!

Love and hugs