#LittleLoves – July 2023

Welcome to this month’s #LittleLoves post, which is part of a series that you are very welcome to join. It’s been a busy old month here in this household. Thankfully ‘school’s now out for the summer‘ and we can relax and enjoy a bit of a rest. Here are some of my #LittleLoves from the past thirty-odd days or so…

Read

With our holidays fast approaching I treated myself to a couple of books to keep me entertained on the flight. I opted for some easy reads as I’ll no doubt lack the motivation and brain power to fathom much else. I’ve already started reading Serena Terry’s ‘The Secret Life of an Uncool Mum‘ and I’ve skimmed through the first few pages of  Alexandra Potter’s ‘Confessions of a Forty-something f##k up‘ and so far they both seem right up my street.

Watched

My husband and I completed watching the final series of Netflix’s ‘Love’ and have since started watching ‘Manifest‘, a gripping show following the mysterious disappearance of an aircraft that strangely lands five years in the future. We devoured season one and were ready to hit ‘play next episode’ only to find that Netflix doesn’t have season two or three, they do however have season four thus we’ve found ourselves having to catch up via Sky Go. How strange to offer seasons one and four but nothing in between!

Heard

E brought a letter home earlier this month regarding the Young Voices Choir for 2024. Last year we opted out of the experience as it involved a trip to Manchester with a midnight return and quite frankly she had enough going on at that time. This year however she’s decided she wants to join her peers on stage at the AO Arena and thus is now practicing a range of songs (all of which she has to learn word for word) which we are now listening and singing along to on a daily basis.

Made

I’ve spent the majority of this past month making and writing lists. We’ve had packing and food lists for J’s Duke of Edinburgh expedition (which he totally breezed!), equipment lists for lengthy walks in the Lakes, to-do lists for E’s end-of-term homework tasks, shopping lists for our various holiday items, and most recently it’s been packing lists for suitcases. I feel as if my life depends on lists and right now I’m not even sure where I’m up to on the damned list!

Wore

Having scoured the shops for months on end I finally found the not so short-shorts that I’d been searching for. Given that I’m short and somewhat wobbly in stature I’ve got chunky thighs and thus tend to opt for knee-length-legwear. Not only do I wish to avoid the inevitable chub rub that’s bound to occur should I risk showing a bit of leg, but it’s also less to apply lotion to and saves the public from having to endure the sight of my tree trunk legs (nobody wants to see those!).

What is it with female fashion right now? Shorts aren’t shorts anymore, they’re practically underwear sized and given that everything seems to be fashioned from Lycra there are no pockets or places to store anything. Talk about useless…

Having spent the past year looking for suitable shorts to no avail I was just about ready to give up on the idea and was just about ready to rip and snip my jeans to alter them on the sewing machine. That was until I spotted the menswear options in Tesco whilst carrying out my big shop – yes that’s right, I’m now of an age where I gather my fashion where I get my fruit and veg.

I don’t care whether they are technically men’s shorts, they are the perfect width, length, and material, and they have pockets – actual pockets, not sewn-on fakes that fool you into thinking you’ve got somewhere to stash your iPhone until you attempt squeezing said device into the pocket only to find it’s an aesthetic addition without function.

Given that I’d found ‘the perfect pair’ I decided not just to get one but three sets of shorts as that way, I can avoid the fashion frustration (oh the perils of being short and dumpy) however many years down the line.

And Lastly

Though it doesn’t feel much like summer with the endless wet and windy weather, the summer holidays have at last arrived. Our alarms have been firmly switched off and we’ve spent the past few days adjusting to life without the regular routine.

No more lunch boxes, no more school runs, no more school shirts to clean and press, no more last-minute dashing to the shops for random essentials with less than twenty-four hours’ notice… Don’t get me wrong, I do rather love our routine when we are in the swing of it but I won’t lie – it’s great to let it go for a while and to live life a little more leisurely.

Thanks for reading my #LittleLoves post, I look forward to catching up and reading through your #LittleLoves posts