Reasons To Be Cheerful

Apparently, we are now 6 months into the wonderful Reasons to be Cheerful blog hop established by the wonderful Michelle over at the Mummy from the Heart blog.

What a lot of lovely things this new community of bloggers has celebrated from the mind-blowingly superb to the more mundane pleasures. Many of us have also experienced bad weeks where the focus of Reasons to be Cheerful has really helped us smile despite the rubbishy stuff. I would encourage bloggers to take part and see just what this simple blog hop can do for your week and your attitude to life.

So what can I share with you this week?

1. I am on the mend. I have had the most awful bug all week but it is going away. Slowly but I do feel up to going out today for my Friday fish and chips with my Dad so I am clearly on the up.

2. I had a non-Cybermummy weekend full of baking, camping and family fun. I was worried I would really resent not being at Cybermummy but had a great weekend after all.

3. I have had some really good evenings with my husband. All too often, evenings are all about getting dinner sorted, bathing children, getting uniforms ready and so on. Somehow, this week we have got a bit of our coupley groove back.

4. My children have finally accepted that six zillion toys in their bedroom is a little excessive. They helped me choose things that they were willing to see go to the toy stall at the Summer Fair or the charity shop. We filled 3 huge plastic crates and I think housework will be way easier as a result.

5. I am sure I will have mentioned my Dad as a reason to be cheerful before. He is so lovely though so here I go again. He helps us out in so many ways whether with wisdom, humour or financially. In the middle of this post, the washing machine flooded the kitchen and Dad was there to help me clear it up and to laugh our way through it. Much better than when I spent my days alone and such incidents could send me on a downward spiral emotionally.

6. This week marked 21 years since I graduated. I have posted a little about this in the post below. I remember a sunny day full of happiness and young people launching themselves into the real world with bags of potential. There were family members there who are no longer with me, friends that I am no longer in touch with but as my late Mum told me, they can never take away your memories. It was a very special college, a wonderful university and quite possibly the most magical three years of my life. Strawberries, crisp white tablecloths in the Fellow's Garden, meeting my friend's family members particularly the lovely Laings and Godfreys, making plans, trying to forget Graduation Day means the fun and games of university life are drawing to a close. I remember someone asking me what my hobbies were and when I struggled to respond, my friend Paula said "Her hobby is sexual fantasies". That same friend is now a nun in an enclosed order. I swear you could not write this stuff as fiction! I was invited to spend a year in France which to my regret, I did not take up. I did take up the offer of a holiday in Ireland and have sweet memories of that time. I think this is turning into a blog post all of its own so will leave for another day.

So here's to good health, family fun, romance, giving, laughter and memories.

Now do go and check out other people's entries or maybe write one all of your own.



I am linking up to Maxabella Loves Blog Hop too. She really loves bloggers and we really rate her too.