Hola and Bienvenido to another instalment of my gripping life. This week I’ve had my fifth cold in as many weeks so am pretty sure am dying of incurable neshness (to the uninitiated, ‘nesh’ means someone who’s feeble and feels the cold; I’m pretty sure it’s not scouse but I only know northerners who use it).
With that cloud of self- diagnosed doom following me around like Eeyore you’d think I’d Carpe Diem or Live, Love, Laugh and other popular mottos that ‘Dawn from Admin’ cites as #tattoogoals, but alas I can report no new news. Better than Fake News though, right?
I went for lunch at Ropewalks Lounge on busy Hanover Street in Liverpool city centre. I wrote about my visit separately actually because I started to here but you know what I’m like; I get carried away when I’ve got something nice to say – such are these occasions so few and far between.
I’m nothing if not adventurous so they very same weekend I ventured all the way to the OTHER SIDE of Hanover Street back to Yard & Coop where I first visited the other week. I’d been having ecstatic visions of their buttermilk fried chicken like a young St Bernadette and couldn’t put it out of my mind so “popped in” for lunch and ordered some of their boneless thighs with fries and gravy (do not even begin to judge me until you’ve tried it!).
The staff are so lovely you just want to hug them, but I also don’t want to get barred so much so I just smile and leave an adequate tip instead and refrain from physical contact. Oh, and you get your bill in an egg box with cadburys mini eggs in. Cute!
So they get the thumbs up from me again. No surprises there. They must put crack in their fried chicken seasoning because I swore I wouldn’t go to the same place twice for at least six months but I’ve been there twice in the last few weeks and I think if I’m being really honest here I’d have my tea there every week if I could get away with it. Then ruin it for myself forever because I’m good at that.
Yes I’m quite the luxury blogger aren’t I? Desperately entering competitions*, eating with my fingers, and buying 52-piece Easter craft sets for £3.99. If you think that’s a glamorous week then you’ll be even more impressed that only a few days ago I also had cause to utter the sentence “Will you please just STAND STILL while I get the poo off the tambourine”.
*The winning answer was “My favourite LEGO superhero is Batgirl because the boys have had the spotlight for too long” btw. Solidarity, my little yellow-faced plastic sisters!
Believe it or not, I’d never been to a Home Bargains – or Home & Bargain as it’s known in its spiritual home of Liverpool – until last year when I was persuaded to go by maudlin journo/fellow blogger/reluctant mate/Home & Bargain fangirl ZoeYak who absolutely raves about it. Home & Bargain is one of the few things I’ve seen her be genuinely animated about (the others being Lindsay Lohan and Butter Pies – she’s from Preston; what can I say, we all have our foibles). And while she’s perhaps not the kind of person your mother would want you to be influenced by (sorry Zoe’s mum if you’re reading this – she’s a good egg really) she wasn’t wrong about this absolute Bargain Heaven.
I got heaps of stuff for 3 year old Primo – semi educational books for £1 apiece, the absolute ribbon and pompom fest mentioned above, some cheap canvases for him to do some ‘artwork’ on, toys, socks and other bits and bobs. I also, in my wisdom, bought a plastic sledge because “you never know when it’ll come in” then promptly left it in Subway when I was getting an Italian BMT.
My blog is first and foremost about me, and you’ve probably noticed that even though Primo features largely in my life (read: is my entire life – or at least on a par with carbs) I don’t take full photographs of him and don’t really talk about very personal family/parenting stuff.
That said, I thought it might be nice to feature some more family orientated stuff on the blog since being his mother has such a massive influence on my life. So I was thinking of shouting out some books we’ve enjoyed, reviewing one or two things here and there; nothing heavy or forced. And the first thing I thought I’d share is his new little toys that he’s so fond of: his Itty Bittys by Hallmark.
Anyway I don’t want to alienate anyone who’s not interested in children’s stuff (I mean, I barely am myself if we’re honest) but I know I’ve got a heap of parents who follow me and also let’s face it I spend nearly every waking hour with the kid – I’m going to end up talking about his toys at some point aren’t I!
I’ve been rewatching The Sopranos over the last couple of months. It’s probably my most rewatched series and I’ll never tire of it. I’m coming up to the penultimate episode and I know it’ll get me right in the feels like previous viewings. It’s crazy how you can get invested in storylines and characters and how the end of a box set can leave you feeling all at sea or worse: absolutely devastated. So I’m honestly preparing for a low mood immediately after I finish the last episode but on the bright side at least I’ll hopefully stop eating baked pasta and cold cuts at 10 o’clock at night before I do a James Gandolfini myself.
Other than that, I’ve been dipping in out of Netflix and checking out other stuff old and new which I will cover in my Entertainment section on the blog (seems the best place for that sort of thing). It’s not all latest releases or blockbuster films; it’s often dramas on Netflix or the BBC iPlayer which you might fancy giving a watch if you’re in the market for something new, have insomnia, or are up at all hours doing night feeds and nappy changes (so glad those days are over for me!).