Reasons to be Cheerful: Return of linky #R2BC

 
I don't think we have ever needed to feel more positive than we do right now. However it can be hard with all that's going on. So I have decided to dig out the Reasons to be Cheerful linky and get it back up and running, on its original Thursday. The linky was started by the lovely Michelle many years ago and many of us have found it helped us through tough times. Therefore I am hoping people will join back in.
What do you have to do? Simple:

1. Link up a post about something that is making you happy or grateful. It can be a list, photos or any way you fancy

2. Add the #R2BC badge (at the end of this post) onto your post or blog so that people can easily find the linky and join in too if they want to

3. Share the love. This is the really important bit. Please don't just link and run, comment on at least a couple of posts and why not share with #R2BC too?

I'll stop by all linked up posts to comment and I'll share on social media too

1) Feeling Loved

Being stuck at home can be lonely but so many of my friends and family are checking in on me and looking after me. It makes me realise that I am not alone even when I can't get out. It's the little extra things like chocolates included in my shopping too!

The online worldwide community is fabulous too with the rainbows spreading around the globe.

2) Making others smile

I've been dressing up in something from my dressing up box every day. It's helping to make other people smile so its a good thing all round:

3) Time

I've been short on time recently due to work commitments and all our activities. Now we don't have any where to go we have so much of it! My son has been baking:

Reasons to be Cheerful: End of Summer #R2BC

 
I am joining in a bit late again this week with Michelle for her last hosting of the linky as its now September (so I need to be more organised to host!). The end of the summer holidays and preparing to go back to school is whizzing by really fast but I have plenty of reasons to be cheerful:
1) Parkrun milestone
I was very pleased to be able to capture the moment one of the Fell Foot parkrun stalwarts Conrad completed his 200th parkrun. Despite being in his 80s he is there almost every week and often tail walks. Well done Conrad and here's to the next 200:

2) Fun Night

My daughter's support group had its annual BBQ and we both had a brilliant evening. Lots of fun and games and she helped a new member to feel very welcome. I nearly got banned from Pictionary for being too quick to get it right (it did help that I was sober as driving!):

3) A-pen-dectomy

My printer hadn't been working since the great room reshuffle and I was beginning to think I would have to fork out for a new one! Luckily with my dad's help I managed to get the printer apart and then discovered that a biro had wedged in the feed mechanism. As my dad said I had to perform an a-pen-dectomy with the tweezers to get the pen out:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Time #R2BC

 
The lovely Michelle is hosting for April and from next week the link starts on a Saturday! For once I am apparently ready to post on the Thursday (if I can get my photos from my phone...). With it being the Easter holidays my reasons are all about time:

1) Time to celebrate

At my son's athletics club celebration he was awarded the U13 Sports Hall trophy. This follows on from winning the U11 2 years ago and the U13 fell running trophy for the season! Proves that its more about turning out consistently than being the fastest or best:

2) Time for friends

We travelled down to and across London to visit my school friends and their families. I never tire of seeing the skyline as we cross Waterloo Bridge: 

3) Time for a PB

My son smashed his junior parkrun PB by nearly a minute at Savill Gardens:

Reasons to be Cheerful: New Year and Christmas Edition #R2BC

 
Welcome back to the happiest linky around! I hope you have had a wonderful festive break and are ready to face whatever 2019 may bring? Michelle and I will once again be taking turns on alternate months to host the linky so its me for the rest of January. As host I will visit, comment and share all the posts that are in the linky. If you are new to the linky then here are the simple guidelines (we are far too nice to do rules!):

• Posts must be about things that have made you happy
• Add the badge code to your post (see end of this post)
• Add your post to the linkup below
• Visit the other posts and comment to share the love
• If you want to then share those posts

So what has made me happy over the last few weeks (playing catch up as been no linky for a month!)?

1) Family & Friends

I am so lucky to live within walking distance of my parents. We are able to see each other a lot and I loved spending Christmas with them:

We also spent an all too brief time with my high school friends back down in the south before Christmas.

2) Helping Hands

My son and I get a lot of help from local family members. It was great to be able to return the favour by helping to shift firewood for them:

3) New to Me

Reasons to be Cheerful

Its Thursday so that means its Reasons to be Cheerful with the lovely Michelle hosting this week! A slight change next week as its back with me even though its still May. Then we are both having a week off so that we can make the most of the school holidays with our families! Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Bluebells
They are looking wonderful at the moment as they hit their peak. One of my favourite flowers to see whilst out and about:

2) A country run

I am enjoying being back in my happy place and getting longer runs in back in the beautiful countryside:

3) Friends get together

The weekend saw one of our high school get togethers with our families. Wonderful to catch up with friends that live so far away from me. The children all got on really well even to the extent of a collective hide from the obligatory group photograph:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Family & Friends #R2BC

I do need to cheer myself up after a stressful morning so here are the many reasons that made me cheerful this week. 

1) Fun with family

We had a lovely few hours in London with my sister and brother in law at the RAF Museum. All of us had smiles from seeing these wonderful machines:

2) Fun with friends

There were 17 of us for Sunday lunch at my friends' house in Berkshire. Plenty of smiles and laughs to be had:

3) Duvet day

Reasons to be Cheerful: Time #R2BC

This is Michelle's last week hosting as the linky comes back to me for October! I had better be super organised from next week. Let's hope I have as much time to be organised as this week... The advantage of being underemployed is that time has not been in short supply. So what have I had time to do this week that has made me smile:
1) Time with family and friends
This week I have spent more time with my local based family including a trip to Victoria and Abdul, tea out and a relaxed coffee. When things have been a bit bonkers this is so essential! Accidentally bumping into a friend when out and about is great reason to smile too.
2) Time to organise
The airing cupboard was out of control so I spent an entire day culling our bedding and towels and putting in back in an organised fashion. How long will it stay this tidy:

3) Time to finish fixing my iPhone

To get all the features of my phone working I had to get help to remove the LCD plate off the remains of the old screen:

Luckily once again my dad had time to come to the rescue and we successfully put the plate on the new screen and I now have a fully functioning phone with Home button and both cameras!

4) Time to appreciate my garden

I am very lucky to have been given some autumn flowering plants which are providing colour for me and food for insects:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Friends and Home #R2BC

It's Thursday so it is time to celebrate our reasons to be cheerful! I have now recovered from a fun but tiring week co-ordinating a Single with Kids holiday in Pembrokeshire and have had plenty of reasons to smile as we are now midway through our summer holidays. Here are a few of them:
1) Old friends
We managed to come back from Pembrokeshire via Buckinghamshire to spend time with my High School friends and their families. Great to catch up in good company and in good weather! We have been friends since 1983 and spending time together is still fantastic:

2) Back to Kendal
As much as I loved Pembrokeshire I did miss Kendal so its great to be back with more time to soak up our local sights. This is Stramongate Bridge one of several old bridges across the River Kent:

3) Kindness & Support

Reasons to be Cheerful: Families and Friends #R2BC

In a change from my usual reasons to be cheerful I am not having a photographic one! With it being the summer holidays its time for a change and keeping it short & sweet. So here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Family
I am so glad that being off school gives me plenty of time to spend with my family. During the school year things rush by and its hard to show them how much you appreciate them. Its been good to have time with my nearest and dearest and hope that there is more to come as the summer holidays go on.
2) Friends
The holidays are a great time to spend time with friends whether they are local or from far away. I have enjoyed getting to know other adults on my estate too. My son has been spending more time with the children on the estate and with his best friend from school. Let's hope this a step to deeper friendships.
3) Home sorting
I have made major inroads on sorting out the house whilst not having the inconvenience of work! So hopefully now I have a home that I am able to have folks round to more often which will make me smile even more.
Please join in and share your happy posts. 

Reasons to be Cheerful: Family, Friends and Fun #R2BC

Miracles happen and I am ready on time with my host post! Really hoping that more of you will be back this week even if it is the UK school holidays. Here are my reasons to be cheerful on what is the first week of our Easter holidays:

1) End of Term

We all finished school on Friday and after meeting in town we had a surprise and bumped into my mum for a 3 generation walk home in the sun:

Two weeks of no school runs is heavenly and hopefully we will have lots of reasons to smile by the end of a fortnight.

2) Fun in the sun with friends

My son and I travelled down to Berkshire on what turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year so far. We had a fabulous weekend with friends and my son loved all their outdoor play equipment:

3) Football Golf

Reasons to be cheerful: Enjoying the holidays #R2BC

Thank you everyone who joined in last week despite it being the school holidays! Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Rose
My roses are still going strong and they are looking stunning at the moment:

2) Car trouble

A reason not to be cheerful was my car failing its MOT this weekend... However the garage managed to make me legal again in time for a drive down south!

3) Fun with friends

We spent the weekend with my school friends back in Buckinghamshire. A super sunny day in their garden and my son loved their table tennis table:

4) Shiny fridge

Having a low stock of food in meant that I got a chance to give my fridge a thoroughly deep clean. A good chance to chuck out things that have expired and get everything better organised.

5) Maize Maze

A fun day to make up for a housework day! We got thoroughly lost in the maize maze:

get the InLinkz code

Reasons to be Cheerful: Friends and Fun #R2BC

The blog hop is still being hosted over at Ojo's World this month so please go and say hello! I am glad she is in charge as I am rushing around like a mad thing at the moment.. and this is why:

1) Seeing friends

It is nearly 31 years since I started at school with my best friends! That is quite scary to contemplate but we all still get on so well when we gather with our many children. This weekend it was our summer gathering so we headed on down to Ascot (via Sudbury Hall). What is so great is that all 9 of our children seem to get on like a house on fire too:

2) Legoland

We hadn't been to Legoland since moving up to Cumbria 4 years ago so made the most of being close by to visit on Monday. There were plenty of smiles like these:

3) New neighbours

It was such a delight to see that a little hedgehog seems to have moved into the street. Let's hope he/she survives all the cats:

Hope lots of you join in and link up with Jo! 

Reasons to be Cheerful: School's Out for Summer! #R2BC

Thanks everyone for joining in last week as always I loved reading all the posts. Hopefully everyone is enjoying the weather even if it is a way too hot! Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) School's out for summer

The children and I all finished the school term on Friday. So nice to have 6 weeks of no school runs and only alarms for special days out! I do have to go in for one day during the time but that's not much in the scheme of things. We have so much to look forward to.

2) Seeing family and friends

One of the great things about living in a tourist spot is that people tend to pass through and stop to say hello! So far this week an old friend from my young free and single days took us all out for lunch as he headed home from Keswick.

Reasons to be Cheerful Week 17 - 2014 #R2BC

It's been great seeing more people returning to this linky whilst its been hosted at Ojo's World this month - hope you all stick with it when it comes back to me in May! I am feeling kinda shattered after going back to work after Easter so keeping my reasons mostly to a photo edition this week:

1) Time with friends

It was one of the 3 annual get togethers with my secondary school friends this Saturday. There were 5 of us plus 3 husbands and 8 out of 9 of our kids. Plenty of conversation, wine and good food - oh and of course chocolates:

2) Easter Fun at Sizergh Castle

I already blogged here but this is a taster:

3) Four years of Blipfoto

This was my 1460th daily photo in my Blipfoto journal:

Why are you smiling this week? 

Reasons to be Cheerful Week 11 #R2BC

Doesn't time fly when you are having fun and its time to share our reasons to be cheerful again. Really hope that the lovely weather we have been having in the UK brings everyone out in a rash of smiles! Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Friends

When I was expecting my daughter back in 2003 I joined an iVillage ante natal group and met a fabulous group of mums to be who were all due between October and December 2003. We supported each other through pregnancy and babies. I met a few southerly ones whilst our babies were tiny but as we were spread across the UK some where just too far away. A few of us have a group on Facebook where we can chat and get support or just let off steam. 

Last Friday I finally managed to meet up with 2 of the other mums when I travelled down to Wigan for a party. It was strange but it felt great to meet 2 women I have known for nearly 11 years but never seen in person. Our children clicked very quickly too so it made it a very enjoyable evening. Really hope to see more of them.

2) 40 Bags in 40 Days

Instead of giving things like chocolate up for Lent I'm giving up clutter! I signed up for the 40 bags in 40 days challenge. This means that every day I have to chuck out or give away the equivalent of one bag of stuff I don't need. It's quite therapeutic but manageable as its not vast. One area I did was my recipe book shelves:

Reasons to be Cheerful: A Happy Christmas

I really can't top Jo's post for cheerfulness but we had such a wonderful Christmas I have many reasons to be cheerful. I am also back hosting in January so watch this space!

1) Remote Family & Friends

The one thing about having spent 25 years living in the home counties is that most of my family and school friends are still down there. So a bit like the wise men the weekend before Christmas we pack up Christmas gifts and make the trek down south. 

My son and I exceeded our record for numbers seen in the weekend this year with a total of 20! Catching up with my brother and his family, my step daughter and my children's cousins was lovely if brief. Then a Sunday lunch with 16 of us based on friendships going back 30 years.

Check out my place name!

2) A Family Christmas

There were 11 of us for the main event on Christmas Day with extended family staying altogether. It was so relaxed being with everyone and my children had plenty of attention as everyone else was grown up. My daughter was put in charge of handing out the presents:

3) The joy of children

One of the greatest joys about being a parent is watching your child's face when they open up their gifts. My children were so excited by receiving the Lego they had asked for:

Plus a few surprises:

4) Festive Family Fun

I have already written about our lovely Boxing Day walk which all added to a very Happy Christmas. It was topped off by a trip to see Hansel and Gretel at the Brewery. Going to the Christmas production there has been a tradition for the last 6 years! This year it was an international theatre company New International Encounter and the production was partly in Norwegian. Here is a snippet:

5) Operation Tween Bedroom

Now we are back its all systems go to try and get my daughter's bedroom fully up to tween mode! We are using to Christmas money to complete the furnishings and fittings and its great to see books coming back down from the loft to compliment the new ones she was given for Christmas:

So why are you smiling?