Whirlwind Week!

Wow, what a week, I don't feel like I've stopped for breath! On Monday, Mr G started his new job. He wasn't in until midday, so we were able to go to Slimming World first. He was home quite handy, so we were able to go out for a walk after our tea. We were naughty and had one of our Greenhalghs pies with chips and mushy peas. 

On Tuesday, I put in a full shift of housework, did some batch cooking for the freezer, worked my socks off and again he was home earlier than predicted. We went out for a walk after tea and got some lovely pictures along the prom. 

Tea on Tuesday was Savoury Mince with Grilled Potatoes from the new Slimming World cookbook, I think it's called Fast and Filling. Really tasty, surprisingly, for a Slimming World recipe. I'm not a huge fan of their meals or cookbooks, I find their recipes quite meh. But I'd definitely make this again. 

On Wednesday, my cousin and I decided we would go for a long walk, he was in at eight that morning until five, so it was that or being stuck in doing housework all day. We decided to go to Bangor pier, which is one of my happy places. I wanted to see the new Beatles friendship bench at Ashley Jones Fields.

How awesome is that? Apparently there's going to be another friendship bench put on Penchwintan Road too. 

We walked to the end of the pier and had a scone and a hot chocolate. While we were drinking ours we heard the cafe owner call out 'White Hot Chocolate' and our faces dropped. One for next time, then!

Bloody gorgeous it was too. We made our way back and spotted this little doorway. We investigated it but there was no way my cousin could have done it in her flip flops, so we decided to do that on our next jaunt.

Not content with walking nearly 9 miles in the day, I then went for a little walk in Moelfre with Mr G after tea (Dirty Macaroni with cheesy garlic bread and salad), while the boy was in football training. We saw a seal in the sea, couldn't get a very good picture though. 

Been seeing a lot of bunnies on our walks lately

Found this... interesting... whatever it is, what would you call it, a sculpture?

Thursday was another cleaning and cooking day, but we went out for a walk in the evening. Friday was the first day Mr G had to go in in full kit and kaboodle, for a photo op. 

My cousin and I decided we would investigate the little doorway, in better shoes this time. Well. Jesus. Steep wasn't the word. She stopped dead halfway up and said she couldn't continue, apparently my face was a picture because there was no way in hell we could have made it down the way we'd come. I said 'what do you want me to do?', imagining I'd have to phone 999 for her to be rescued, and she assured me that she would carry on, but just not at that moment. Finally we were on our way, and when we reached the top, there was benches and the most beautiful view over towards Anglesey, both bridges, and you could see the pier, too. 

Fields behind us, with a stunning mountain view, and a path to our right, we started to venture through the fields, before we decided that we would stick to the path, because it should lead us to Bangor pier or thereabouts. 

 

We still managed to get lost walking through the woods before we ventured back on the correct path. Next time, we will follow the path through the fields and see where that brings us out. Apparently it's a circular walk. 

We walked down to the end of the pier and both tried the white hot chocolate. Oh. My. God. I am still thinking about it days later. Absolutely stunning drink. It just looks like an empty cup, though! No cake or scone that day, although we did take the complimentary Biscoff biscuit. 

I needed to pop to Aldi and then let my cousin lead us home, the way that she used to stagger home from town in her youth. We were treated to some more beautiful views on the way down Belmont Road. 

Tea was Chicken Fajita pasta and garlic bread, a Slimming Eats recipe we have had on our planner for ages, and it was delicious.

Dragged him out for another walk, poor sod, although he was glad that he had done it every night, once he was home.

Saturday we had a couple of hours walking in the morning, it was pouring with rain and once we saw a gap in the weather we put our trainers on and we were off. 

Then it was Ukraine v England, we'd invited Bill around to watch it and have a few drinks. I made us 6 ounce burgers, fries and beans, followed by homemade sticky toffee pudding and ice cream. Fantastic performance by the England team. Not such a fantastic performance by me, tanking nearly two bottles of wine. Mr G had one bottle of beer and then stuck to his soft drinks. Wish I had, now. 

So, of course I was ruined today. And today, we were going to see Crusaders play at home for the first time at Colwyn Bay. So, I made us a fry up...

And I left most of mine. We got to Colwyn Bay about an hour before kick off and saw quite a few old faces (and new ones). It was... different. Obviously more of a professional set up, but there just seemed to be stewards everywhere watching every move we made. All really nice, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't as relaxed and laid back as Queensway was. Toilets were spotless and plenty of them, too. The old Wrexham lager bar was there! I stuck to water and pop. 

We started off really well, I think we were winning 26 nil until just before half time, and then they started scoring. Just before the end, we got two penalties (and lessons have been learned - take the two!) and then scored a try. It was nerve wracking waiting for the clock to wind down, but we got the win! The place was bouncing and I was hoarse from singing and cheering.

After a rousing rendition of Delilah, we were on our way home, with a spring in our step, and one I made earlier nicely defrosted for our tea. Slimming Eats Chinese chicken curry and rice. 

Mr G is working the very first shift in the store tomorrow, he has had the privilege of that. He will be home by lunchtime, and has Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday off. The latest he is working this week is 4 pm. It's going to make our lives so much easier. I can whizz through all my chores while he is out of the house, and then we can go on some decent walks, although it looks like a very rainy week ahead of us, so he'll have to take one of the golfing brollies out of the car boot for me!

Slimming World in the morning, for me, anyway, Mr G will have to go to the 5 pm session. I have no idea how we've done this week, it's been a bit of a mixture. Also, the battery in our scales has gone and we haven't replaced it. A couple of naughty things (pie, scone, hot chocolates for me and his area manager treated all the staff to a chippy dinner the other day), a very naughty Saturday night, but also I've walked 43.8 miles this week, taken 109,768 steps, and eaten very healthily otherwise. I'd be happy with a maintain, but that might be pushing it somewhat! So, hopefully a less hectic week ahead, Mr G can settle into his new work routine, I can make sure my motherly and housewifey chores are all done while he is in work, and make sure I batch cook a few more meals so that his time off is our time off.