Author: seasidesparkles

Little Sparkles 7/2016

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It’s been half term week so lots of time to spend with my lovely little family, we’ve had a few days away at my parents and done a few things around home too. In fact all that has been missing is a lazy day at home, perhaps we’ll do that over the weekend.

Sparkle 1 : The Simple Things

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I am a believer that it’s the simple things which create a happy, warm childhood. On Saturday morning it was just Little Man and me at home and we sat down together and played Minions. We created stories for some of the characters and then created our own little challenge the Great Draw Off using Colin the Minion as our model. It was a lovely time to spend one to one with my Little Man.  Simple as it seems we also had a really fun time at the local swimming pool, swimming has been curtailed recently as the pool has been closed for refurbishment so it was good to get back in for a splash

Sparkle 2 : Valentine Hearts

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These beautiful crochet hearts are sold in our local haberdashery shop to raise funds for our local cottage hospital. The owner was describing to me how she hides them around her house on Valentine’s Day for her children to find with a little message. I loved this idea so did the same on Valentine’s Day for our two littles and Mr S, writing why I loved them on the paper heart. I didn’t hide them but had them on the breakfast table at the appropriate settings. The hearts went down really well and definitely a new little tradition I would like to celebrate on Valentine’s Day

Sparkle 3 : Dressing Up

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For Valentine’s Day, Mr S organised a meal out for our little family. It was not simply a suggestion to go out but one he presented to me all booked and planned, with Mr S away so much at the moment it was so lovely not to have to think about planning and preparing a meal. However what makes this sparkle, is that on two opportunities this week we have enjoyed dressing up for an occasion, wearing our special clothes and spending time thinking about outfits, doing make-up and hair, wearing fancy jewellery etc. The first was our Valentines lunch and the second was going to the theatre with my parents. Day to day, I am very casual, life at the seaside is relaxed and informal, so it’s been a real treat this week to dress for an event.  I do think it’s polite to make an effort to look nice when someone is treating you to a special occasion and I’ve enjoyed dressing myself and the children smartly and stylishly. I even ensured that Little Miss and myself had a little girlie pink in our outfits for Valentines but resisted the challenge of dressing in a rainbow of colours for the theatre trip!

Sparkle 4 : Joseph

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I have written a post about going to see the musical Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dream coat, but it was a truly brilliant show, so joyful and uplifting. It was a real highlight of the year so far and I am very grateful to my parents for the treat.

Sparkle 5 : Back to Mum and Dad’s

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It is so lovely to go back home to my parents for a few days. I get to revert to daughter and simply potter around the house, the cupboards are full of my favourite foods and I get to try my Mum’s new lotions and potions. I also get loads of help with the children and generally the children are charming and very cute to their different audience. This week I managed a genuine lie in until 8am, read a whole book, escaped to the shops for a little mooch and didn’t need to cook any meals, I felt thoroughly spoilt.

Sparkle 6 : Alvin and the Chipmunks

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To be honest I wasn’t expecting to have the children’s film Alvin and the Chipmunks as one of this week’s sparkles.  The trip to the cinema was a convenient thing to do whilst we waited for Mr S’ car to be serviced at the garage in the county town and the film was the children’s and definitely not my  choice, those squeaky voices!  It was the first time I’ve been to the new cinema and I loved the retro feel to it, it brought back happy memories of my time as a cinema usherette, one of my favourite jobs.  However the cinema isn’t the sparkle but the film itself for its very strong and positive messages about families and belonging.   Alvin is a little mischief and gets into lots of trouble but he is loved and cared for throughout by his Dad no matter what he does and the film ends with an adoption scene.  The children were excited to see this and talked about their meeting with the judge.  The film helped to reinforce the message we’re always giving that we are the children’s forever family and even when things get tough we will always be here for our children, forever and ever.  It was nice to see such a positive film about adoption.

And lastly

The half term is coming to close now and the routine beckons again on Monday. I hope to use the last few days just to recharge and get ready for the new half term. It’s a short one this half term and I’m looking forward to those first signs of Spring and the anticipation of longer and warmer days.

Go, Go, Go Joseph

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This week we were treated to a trip to the theatre by my parents to see the touring production of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It was amazing; a joyful, energetic and kitsch interpretation of the musical.

In our family we have such fond memories of Joseph and it seemed the perfect choice for the first musical for the children to see live at the theatre. I went to a lovely little primary school where the highlight each year was our school play, it became the focus of the summer term and happy hours were spent rehearsing, painting scenery and making costumes. I feel so grateful to have gone to a school where the creative arts were valued and promoted. Joseph was one of the plays we did and I remember quite clearly being in the chorus with my white t-shirt printed with Joseph in vivid colours singing away happily to all the songs. When watching the play I could remember the scenes from our school production, especially the Deputy Head as a very frightening Potiphar! Our family loved the musical so much that we bought the cassette of the soundtrack and many, many childhood journeys were spent singing and listening to it in the car. It is some testament that nearly 35 years later, I am still pretty word perfect in all of the songs from the original musical. In what could be a sense of history repeating itself I downloaded the songs onto my iTunes this week and played it on the car journey home!

The atmosphere at the theatre was lovely, a real sense of excitement and it being half term there was a wonderful mix of children, parents and grandparents. The performance was sold out and the audience all appeared pretty excited and happy to be there and all knew the songs well; there was lots of enthusiastic participation, particularly at the end when among the standing ovations, reprises and dancing most of the audience were singing along too. It was one of those lovely moments you just want to freeze and take in how wonderful it is, this is live theatre at its best. The lead was played by Joe McElderry a winner from X Factor in 2009. I remember him vaguely from the time, Oor Joe, but I’ve always been a Strictly girl on Saturday nights. However I was so impressed by him, he was stunning as Joseph, his voice is incredible and his acting in the role was perfect too. He is what Joseph should be and is definitely my Joseph.    The other characters all were well cast and genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves in what must be a pretty energetic play. Despite it be a touring production, the scenery and props were fun and created a great show, Little Man liked the talking Sphinx and camel and there were some rather clever costume tricks too.

It was a really special afternoon at Joseph blending a little nostalgia from my childhood, the children’s first musical at a theatre and a brilliant show which had 3 generations of us standing and singing and clapping until our hands were sore. Needless to say I’m now looking for our next musical experience, there is nothing comparable to brilliant, live theatre.

Little Sparkles 6/2015

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It’s been a week of kitchen drama this week in which I’ve become far too stressed than necessary.  Mr S has helped to put things into perspective and reminded me not to stress over material goods which can easily be replaced.  After many phone calls and emails things are now proceeding more smoothly but it’s been a challenging week. However, as always there are sparkles and it’s been Pancake day which is always a favourite in our household and with an Inset day today, we’ve had an early start to half term.

Sparkle 1 : Pancake Day

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We normally do pancakes after school but as Tuesday is our busy day we decided to start with a pancake breakfast as we have more time in the mornings. It was a brilliant way to start the day and whilst Little Miss had a little toss of her pancake, Little Man preferred not to risk his.  The fillings were classic lemon and sugar. As is tradition I took a photo of the children cooking their pancakes, it’s one of those traditional poses we do each year and send to the grandparents and this year Mr S too who was away. As I had some batter left over we had a little pancake for tea too but our best ones were definitely for breakfast.

Sparkle 2 : Bright sunshine

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There were 3 occasions this week when the clouds lifted and we had some stunning weather, crisp blue skies and warm sunshine. Luckily, I was outside on all 3 occasions and felt wonderful, the sun makes me happy, relaxed and energised. Life is better in sunglasses! On Sunday morning, we were at a local beach in the sunshine and the children were happily playing in the sand dunes, rolling down, laughing and pretending they were Star wars heroes, a man passed us walking his dog and commented that it was a little bit of heaven, I couldn’t have agreed more.

Sparkle 3 : Quality Viewing

I’m not a teary person, but two programmes had me in floods of tears this week, Call the Midwife with another tragic tale of a thalamidime baby and a documentary on assisted suicide. On two consecutive evenings this week, I happened upon some really quality viewing, connected unexpectedly by a theme of Motor Neurone Disease. The first was a documentary called Simon’s Choice about a man’s decision to take his own life in an assisted suicide, it was honest, thought provoking and heart breaking and offered a credible argument for assisted suicide. However by chance I also watched the film, The Theory of Everything, based on the autobiography of Stephen Hawking’s first wife for another perspective on life with MND.  In a particularly striking scene she insists that he is to be  resuscitated and to live when doctors thought it may be kinder otherwise. It was a curious juxtaposition of programmes, one showing a man living with MND and the other showing a man dying of MND. Personally I think assisted suicide is a very difficult and complex decision and one that needs to be addressed with a calm and balanced debate.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/feb/11/how-to-die-simons-choice-review-beautiful-film-assisted-dying

And finally ..

Its been a quieter week than normal, as most of my free time has been occupied with domestic matters. However we’re on holidays now and off to my parents for treats, surprises and sparkles.

 

A few of my favourite things – A painting

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If I was to rescue one item (not people) from my burning house, it would be this painting of a local landmark just a few minutes from our house. It’s a beautiful picture, I love the colours, the blue of the sea, the delicate colours of the flowers and the white of the lighthouse and the location really is as beautiful as it looks in this picture. However this picture is so precious to me as it is the closest connection I have with our baby boy whose ashes were scattered here.  Whilst the nurses gave me photos of him I prefer to remember our darling little boy by the real time I spent with him wrapped up in his little basket and now through this beautiful picture which everyone can appreciate without ever knowing the true significance of it in my life.

The picture was bought a couple of years after our tragic loss and the moment I saw the painting hanging in a local gallery, I knew it was fate. I was with my Mum when I saw it for the first time and upon understanding the significance of the picture she just went into the gallery and passed over her credit card. It is the most precious present I have ever received.

I am relieved that we didn’t choose to leave our little boy’s ashes at the baby remembrance garden at the crematorium. It is a significant distance from our home as I needed specialist treatment from the nearby hospital and I didn’t want to be separated by lots of miles from him, I needed him close. I love that he is in such a beautiful place and that I can be there in minutes. I have never gone there to cry or mourn and I’ve never left flowers or teddies but it’s my place for stillness and being at peace. By nature of its location it’s a place I often would walk our dog, I run here and take the children here on walks, rarely a week goes by when I’m not by the lighthouse. Seven years later, I don’t experience the raw, painful grief I once felt, if I’m on my own and just thinking I simply feel very sad and wonder what he would be like at this age. It helps enormously that we have our children. I am spiritual and look on our two children as a very special blessing. Our two are one year in age apart and our son’s due date was exactly the middle of this year. I comfort myself that by losing one so much longed for and loved son we were able to have two amazing children. It is not a consolation but helps me to try and make some sense of what happened to us.

Originally I had planned for the picture to hang in our bedroom but at the time we had just had an extension built and it looked perfect in the new bright, airy room. This room is now the children’s playroom and I love that it is a room full of fun, happiness and play. It seems right that the painting is on the wall there at the heart of family life.

Little Sparkles 5/2016

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This week has been quiet and we just seem to be treading through the days, spring must be coming soon, please. Here are the sparkles for the week…

Sparkle 1 : The Lightbox Week 5

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The light box comment was simple this week, with half term, pancake day and Chinese new year there is lots of fun to be had this month. I had planned on ‘Fun, frolicking February’ but didn’t have enough Fs! I am due a new order of letters and symbols this week, I love my lightbox in the kitchen injecting some light and fun!

Sparkle 2 : My new crush..

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I have to admit to having a new crush, but I think it’s more a teacher infatuation as I am besotted with the astronaut Tim Peake. In my lessons we’ve been following his work at the Space Station and this week we got to watch the live link up, in the cosmic classroom project which was available to all schools. In a twenty minute session, he answered children’s questions about life in space. His broadcast was amazing and anyone I’ve spoken to who has watched it can’t stop praising and enthusing about the transmission, he was so entertaining and made space and learning so much fun for children and adults alike. I’ve watched it and Little Man and his class watched it too, his TA reported back that he sat completely mesmerised by the broadcast. He spoke so much about it at home, space ping pong, drinking bubbles etc.. I really love the education work Tim Peake is doing, he has been such a positive force for encouraging children and adults to get excited about space and want to learn more.

Sparkle 3 : Me Time at our local spa

This week I treated myself to an Indian Head Massage, for completing my detox. Of all the treatments this is my favourite, I think I get lots of stress and knots in my shoulders and the head massage helps to relieve some of the symptoms of my migraines. It was an extremely relaxing session and made me resolve to do a little treat like this more often.

Sparkle 4 : Deliciously Ella baking

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I am still really focused on clean eating and following the guidelines remarkably well. Hard as it was, I never even succumbed to a crumb of the gingerbread cakes we made on Wednesday. However to satisfy my sweet tooth, I tried a Deliciously Ella recipe this week, baked orange and fruit bars which although are made of simply nuts and dried fruit are a gorgeous treat.

Sparkle 5 : Ballerina Necklace

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I finally got round to choosing and ordering Little Miss’ ballet exam present and her new necklace arrived this week. Its lovely, just what I was looking for and the purple pearl matches her ballet uniform.

Sparkle 6 : Neighbours

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Finally for this week, a special sparkle must go out to our neighbours who are so kind and thoughtful. Whilst Mr S is away one of my neighbours pops in to look after Little Man so I can pick up Little Miss from Brownies and he can go to bed at his normal time rather than having to come with me too. Normally it’s the same neighbour but as she was away this week another came instead, I’m so lucky to have neighbours to call on. I also received a phone call from the neighbours behind who phoned to apologise for the mess their new garden is causing with the dust from the stone cutting and offering to pay for our windows to be cleaned. We assured them that this was not necessary but it was a very kind and thoughtful gesture. A total contrast to their next door neighbours, a second home couple from London whose extension caused so much noise, inconvenience and who ignored planning permissions etc.. and never once apologised for the disruption. Such behaviour is quite typical of second home owners and does make them rather unpopular, they don’t seem to understand that you need to respect and become part of your community.

And finally ..

I’m looking forward to next week, its Chinese New Year and pancake day and early starts to half term for all of us, me from Wednesday lunchtime and the children from Thursday afternoon.  It’s time to make the final half term plans, including a visit to Grandma and Granfer’s with some special trips.

Wahey, its Wednesday!

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This term has seen a change in our routine and I have a new highlight of the week, Wednesday. Whilst I work on a Wednesday morning, I am doing a little project at work on Wednesdays away from the classroom. It’s become my morning for being creative and trying new ideas and whilst I am someone who genuinely does enjoy their job this is really adding to my job satisfaction. Consequently I tend to leave work at lunchtime pretty excited and after a few necessary daily chores and prepping up a slow cooked tea I can do the school pick up and then spend some really nice time with Little Miss and Little Man with no distraction.  As Little Miss has moved up in ballet it’s now the one night when we have no clubs or activities and as I’m off on Thursdays too Wednesday has developed its own special feeling.

This term we seem to have developed a little routine, walking home to a kitchen set up for some baking. Today it was gingerbread cakes, last week lemon drizzle, I love a little midweek treat and the sweet baking smell just warms up the house. In between baking and decorating we play a little Wii U and then after tea the children decorate and taste their cakes as pudding. It’s a tea when we spend longer than normal around the dinner table and it’s just lovely to talk. After tea, we do a bath which is another treat as often we only have time for a quick shower and then its story time and a relaxed bedtime. I don’t do homework on Wednesdays I want to have fun with my littlies.  I love the quality time on Wednesdays and our current routine is perfect for the winter, I’m hoping that in the summer we’ll be able to go straight to the beach from school for sandcastles, paddling and picnics. I love our hump day!

January 2016 – Homemaking

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In 2016 I thought I would start a series of monthly posts and theme them with a word to describe each month. January has been a very long month full of wet and miserable weather and lots of days hibernating inside. It’s been a month focusing on our home and the more domestic aspects of life so my word for January is homemaking.

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By virtue of the weather, spring cleaning has come early to the Sparkles home this year. Kitchen cupboards have been cleaned and refreshed, wardrobes have been blitzed and organised, book shelves have been renewed whilst I am really pleased how we redesigned the playroom with the new white storage unit which fits beautifully. To counter the darkness of the winter days, we have had fresh flowers each week, tulips are one of my favourite flowers and I love when they are in season as they are now. I have also used my lightbox to help brighten the days as the little phrases bring a smile.

In home making I have looked very carefully at the food we eat too. I did a detox for 3 weeks this month and it was remarkably simple, effective and really made me focus on fresh, wholesome food, how to nourish ourselves to give us the goodness we need not to merely survive but thrive. As a consequence I have purchased a few books, Jamie Oliver and Bee Wilson and followed a few new Instagram accounts for meal inspiration, including Deliciously Ella. I have cooked so many new recipes this month and they have been delicious. I’ve used lots of different herbs and spices, ingredients such as legumes, chia seeds and wholegrains and feel so much better in myself. I have also been using My Fitness Pal to record all my food and have used the nutrition features carefully. I did think that I had a generally healthy diet but my work this month has seen a few tweaks which are rewarding me with more energy, stamina and food appreciation. This all seems very noble and like a new year resolution, its more coincidence and that the new year has afforded me a little more thinking and planning time. It’s rare for me to have used January for new starts.

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I’ve not bought much for the house this month save a few new kitchen utensils, it’s been more about cleaning, decluttering and following the advice to keep things that ‘spark joy’

I love being at home and making our home, warm, welcoming and cosy.  To me homemaking is a positive and creative focus.

Little Sparkles 4/2016

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This has been a long month and one in which I have been very home focused, a month of home making, decluttering, adding a few sparkles and trying new recipes to feed and nurture us all. My sparkles this week reflect this home focus, perhaps I’m hibernating!

This week on my Lightbox

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In a week of heavy rain and storms, I liked my little quote reminding us to dance in the rain. I’m a great believer in that there’s no thing as bad weather but the wrong clothes and even when it’s raining you can still have fun! The photo below is from Thursday on our walk to school, the only bright day of the week.

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Pinafores! 

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I love pinafores so am very excited about the new trend this year. I ordered one this week which has arrived and it’s gorgeous. Whilst I had imagined myself skipping along wearing it with a simple t-shirt, and converse pumps it’s been worn this week with a black roll neck jumper, boyfriend cardigan, leggings and boots.

Fitbit’s Shooting Star

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I do like my Fitbit and even on my enforced exercise break I’m still trying to do 10k steps a day which is working pretty well. This week I got the Shooting star award for reaching 20000 floors since I began, propelling me as high as a shooting star. I like the imagery, I’m a shooting star!

Tooth Fairy 

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It was very exciting in our household this week as two teeth were lost, Little Miss’ second tooth and Little Man’s first tooth. There was none of the drama from Little Man on his tooth, it just fell out unlike the wriggling we had with Little Miss. I did get a 3.50am wake up call from little Man who had woken up very excited that the tooth fairy had been and ran into my room to share the exciting news.

Eating well

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This month I have looked very carefully at my diet and made a real effort towards cleaner nutrition. It needs to be workable and realistic but these two books have helped to develop my thoughts and opinions about healthy diets. I listened to Bee Wilson on Woman’s Hour, on which she was so brilliant that I was inspired to order her book. I also have been making every meal from scratch and have rediscovered the stunning flavours of herbs and spices in cooking. I don’t want this to be a fad diet but a real awakening of what healthy food means to me and how to feed and nourish my family.

Believe in yourself like I believe in you …

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There are some Eureka moments in being a parent mixed in with many WTF times. Today Little Miss came to read me the story she had written about a little boy learning to ride his bike.  The line which stopped me and made my heart sing was the fairy saying “Believe in yourself like I believe in you”.  I have no idea where I got this phrase from as it does sound like something out of a Disney film, but it is a little phrase I share with the little ones to boost their self confidence and hopefully sprinkle positive thoughts about themselves.  To hear it being read back to me makes me hopeful that the positive messages are getting through (IMO this is one of the more twee lines, some are a lot more wise) and that these positive remarks are helping Little Miss and Little Man to develop into positive, confident children.

 

Little Sparkles 3/2016

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This hasn’t been a very sparkly week as I was house bound for the start of the week with a sick Little Man and then was really poorly myself with a severe migraine and accompanying vomiting for most of the remainder of the week. This really wasn’t a good mummy week, far too much TV and Wii U after school and I’m not even sure how I managed the school run on a few days this week. However the children were amazing and were far more helpful and sympathetic than I could have hoped for. Treats are definitely in order this weekend. Consequently the little sparkles are quite limited this week but even amongst all the sickness there have been a few glimmers.

  1. My lightbox.

  

After careful consideration, I chose part of a Winnie the Pooh quote this week. It was Winnie the Pooh day on Monday to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of A.A. Milne and at work we did some lovely sensory themed activities. I chose this quote as I am always in awe of my children who are so brave and strong for the life that they have lived at such a young age. They were separated from their birth mother, lived in foster care and finally came to us as their forever family through adoption, they have dealt with the trauma so resiliently. The quote is also to remind them to be strong and confident as they grow older.

Call the Midwife.

I really enjoy this series as I’ve always been keen on social history. The new series started last Sunday with a standout episode focusing on a baby born with deformities caused by thalidomide, it was a stunning hour of drama which has been much discussed and admired this week.

Get Well note.

I was so touched by this note from Little Miss and Little Man   accompanied by a play doh flower (which soon became another model!) They have been amazing this week and I am very lucky to have such kind and loving children.

Saturday Night Games

We always try to have a family time on Saturday evening and after an early tea we like to play board games, it’s always a fun time. This evening our choices were What a Performance and Frustration and it was a special, relaxed time just being us.

New Books

I want to try and read more this year and last weekend picked up a couple of books. Last night I started the first, Moving by Jenny Éclair. I love the premise of a house holding the memories of a family and have enjoyed the first few chapters. I am a real homebody and love our home, it felt like home the moment we stepped in. As we left our first viewing we turned around, negotiated a price and moved in six weeks later. Our home is full of very happy memories although I’m not sure of the plot line in the book will be so happy.

Next week, we should all be back to normal so hopefully there will be more sparkles to illuminate the week.