Lazy Soup

This year I treated myself to a soup maker and it really has made a difference to my diet.

I always used to make soup in a pan and then transfer it to a blender blah, blah, blah.  But now I have this beauty and soup making isn't a chore anymore.

I used a casserole pack of veg, salt & pepper, a vegetable stock cube, some herbs and some water:

I filled the soup maker to the first line with the veg:

Added seasoning, herbs and stock cube:

Filled it to the second line with water;

And switched it on.  As you can see, it has settings for smooth, chunky and juice:

Just a mere 21 minutes later I had lovely, tasty, fresh soup.  It makes enough for 3 big bowl fulls:

Less mess and a lot less washing up.  Of course you don't have to be as lazy as me, you could prep your own veg and not buy ready done :)

If you've been thinking about getting a soup maker then I would highly recommend it.

Happy Halloween - me and Maddie will be watching Hocus Pocus tonight :)

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Eating Out - Sprinkles

An amazing place has opened up just a five minute walk from Paul's, it's amazing and it's dangerous!

Let me tell you all about Sprinkles:

It sells the best ice creams in the most fantastic and weird flavours as well as waffles and crepes.

This waffle was covered in brownie pieces, fudge sauce, banana, nuts and ice cream and you may or may not be surprised to hear that I just couldn't manage it all!

I think we are trying to work our way through the menu and boy are we enjoying doing it!  Their cherry ice cream is to die for :)

Paul never has any trouble finishing his!

When Paul's sister, Frances, came over and said she'd like to go there we were both out of the door and on our way to Sprinkles before she'd finished her sentence :)

And she enjoyed it just as much as we do.

Here is one of their massive crepes but look at all of that healthy fruit piled on top, OK it is covered in maple syrup and ice cream :)

Sprinkles is open from 7 in the morning (yes indeed, ice cream for breakfast) until 11 at night and it is almost always packed.

Now here's a little plea from me to Paul - can we go there at the weekend darling because I think it's been far too long since our last visit xxx

I hope the pictures didn't make you too hungry :)

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Week Forty Three

I still have lots of stories from the summer to tell but I really wanted to get back to my weekly round up posts too.  So here's week 43....that means there are just over 8 weeks until Christmas!

My week started with a trip to the garage to have the car serviced, MOT'd and finally cleaned:

It was also the week I started blogging again and I can't believe how happy it's made me to be back, here's me with the chief photo bomber!

I had lots of cuddles with my boy:

And watched my first Christmas film, I really couldn't wait any longer :)

I witnessed a crash while out on my walk, all because the drivers didn't have the patience to let the fire engine on an emergency go first!

Alfie was very naughty and found a massive stick in the garden, I always get scared when he has a stick in his mouth and starts running:

I'm' still with Slimming World and my progress has been great but I'll do a whole post on that soon. Am I still have dirty pudding after I've weighed in? Of course I am :)

I had a very rare weekend at home so my friend, Sarah, came over on Friday night and bought Chinese with her....and a bottle of cider :)

Then we settled down in our usual spots on the sofa to watch Gogglebox:

On Saturday I got a few jobs out of the way early and because the weather was so nice I managed to cut the grass, hopefully for the last time this year!

And then I tackled this mess.  I'm sure everyone has that one area/cupboard/drawer in their home that really needs a sort out.  Mine is my hallway and I've been telling myself for ages that it needs a good tidy, it's been such a dumping ground.

After a couple of hours!!!! of hard work I'm pleased to say it's looking much better:

So I rewarded myself with this:

As the clocks went back and we gained an hour on Sunday I decided to have breakfast in bed :)

Then my day was free to do some Project Life catch up, I'm currently on week 32 and I'm loving getting back in to filling my album again:

Then on Sunday I met up with my family to toast my Dad who died 7 years ago, I had his favourite tipple, a Jack Daniels....cheers Dad xxx

And I finished the weekend off by knitting a Christmas present while the boy dozed on my lap :)

Now I'm ready to rock this week like a boss!

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Makes Me Happy, Makes Me Sad

Last year I did some blog posts showing something that had made me sad followed by a picture of something I'd hunted out to make me happy.  I thought it might be nice to do it again, after all, it's always nice to search for happy things (that's the Pollyanna in me talking).

This week's sad is a horrible piece of graffiti near my office.  Now I love a bit of Banksy but I really don't get the mindless tags you see everywhere now:

I walked round the corner to this lovely view which definitely made me happy.  I love autumn so much and it's all due to the lovely colours of nature:

So graffiti artist (and I use that term very loosely) if you could learn to be as creative as nature then you might be on to a winner.

I hope you have a great and happy weekend.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Days Out - Swanage

Over the summer I decided to take a bit of a break from social media and concentrate on me and Paul. It's a bit strange then that this first post back doesn't really involve Paul at all, well maybe a little bit.

Paul had to work one Saturday so I went out for the day with his lovely sister, Frances, his nephew Sam and a couple of Sam's friends. 

We went to Swanage for the day and it's at this point I have to introduce you to the world's worst tour manager, Sam:

We had a lovely walk around Swanage in the sunshine:

Then we stopped for refreshments, obviously!

Just as this mountainous lump of cake arrived the heavens opened and we had to run move briskly for cover!

The sun came out in time for our picnic and then we headed for the steam train that was going to whisk us away to Corfe Castle:

Now this train only makes one stop en route to the castle but when I asked our tour manager, the one who spent nearly a year travelling the world, why it stopped at such a small place he didn't have a clue!

We had a lovely walk around the castle and the village:

And then it was time to head back.  I didn't want to be late home because Paul didn't have a key to get in and I hadn't got him anything for dinner yet. Our tour manager assured us that the last train back to Swanage left at 17:10, great because by that time it was 17:30!  We headed back to the lovely little station to find out that there wasn't another train until the evening service started at 19:00. Paul was due back at 20:30 and it would take us well over an hour to get back :(

So we headed to the bus stop for a 40 minute wait, it was worth it though when me and Frances managed to bag the front seat on the top deck!

There was some amazing scenery on the way back, it's a shame the windows were so filthy. 

Another run brisk walk back to the car and we had just under an hour to get home, not a problem I thought until we hit the queue for the Sandbanks ferry! The sunset I witnessed from the ferry made it all worth while:

I leapt out of Frances' car as soon as she pulled up in her drive, dashed to Asda for some nosh for Paul, tore home, ran Pippy round the park and on our way back Paul drove past. I thought I'd got away with almost being late but I was busted because he'd already driven past once and saw my car was missing. 

He's now got me a set of door keys cut just in case Frances should lead me astray again while he's hard at work :)

It was a really lovely day though with great company and Paul loved the pick and mix sweeties I got him from the vintage sweet shop. 

I can't wait to get this story and these photos scrapped. 

Thanks for stopping by

Jo xx

I'm Back!!!

Sorry I've been gone so long but as you can see I'm still alive:

And so is she:

I've missed blogging and reading blogs and because someone, not mentioning any names, has been nagging me, I'm working on some new blog posts right now!

See you soon

Jo xx