Faffing Friday Edition #13
Let the faffing begin .. I had a lot of catching up to do.
Before we get down to the business of Faffing I’d like to welcome the flurry of new subscribers that have found their way here this week. And can we have a fabulous fanfare for my first paid subscribers? You know who you are … thankyou so much 🎉 All of you here … it’s really lovely 💗
My Faffing Friday ‘Stacks/Newsletters/Posts whatever we are calling them are basically a curation of my week - what I’ve been doing, reading, watching, eating, buying IRL or on the interweb. All archives here.
SUBSTACK UNIVERSE 🧡 I’m going to mix it up a bit and share some of the ‘Stacks I’ve loved reading here this week. As everyone gets to know their way around this platform you’ll find there there’s so much lush stuff to discover.
🧡 As a neurodiverse 61 year old woman it was great to connect here with Sophie at and read ‘Isn’t it ‘ironic?’ about the ‘trend’ of being diagnosed with ADHD/Autism.
🧡 How do you cope when your child is grieving from Lisa at very sad and inevitable at some point if you are a parent.
🧡 Some free book excerpts from and another great read this week from them - Too Young To Think About Menopause? Think again, sis!
🧡 Loving everything Jenni at writes - here’s her latest, The Mid-season Edit.
🧡 Loving merch launch for so many reasons but here’s 5 - love the quotes on her tees, I have a Teemill shop too so it piqued my interest, she is a very helpful human here on Substack and I’m sure in real life and it’s a very small world IYKYK and she’s in the North East of England like me 😉
and ICYMI my own recent essays; Ten Reasons Why I Want You Here In My Community and I’ve Got The 61 Year Itch
STREAMING 🍿 In the last Faffing Friday edition I shared how much I Loved Dick. It sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole about Kathryn Hahn as I loved her in it. I came across Transparent .. 5 seasons of it actually. Oh it’s magnificent. How had I never come across it before? I’m learning so much from it as well as really enjoying the family dynamics its so good at portraying as well as the humour. I can see why it won so many awards but sadly it ended under a bit of a dark cloud due to sexual misconduct allegations for Jeffrey Tambor who plays Maura.
If you love a vampire story like me then Season 2 of Interview with a Vampire is out on BBC iPlayer in the UK. My streaming taste you’ll probably realise by now is very eclectic.
Here’s a taster of Season 1.
I’m sure it can be found on other streaming services if you do a quick search { for my outside UK readers}
SHOPPING 🛍️ I bought these fisherman sandals this week. I love Crocs. There I’ve said it. I don’t care. They felt so so comfy the minute I put them on but they didn’t look how I’d imagined. They make me look like I’ve got little hippo feet. Is that a thing? In my head it is 🤣
I paid full price but a quick search I’ve just found the black colour way with 40% off on the Crocs website. If you envisage yourself sans hippo feet then go for it.
FOOD 👩🏼🍳 I have no pics of this and I’ve made it a few times already over the last month or so since my friend sent me the link. Greek Salad Feta Traybake. Honestly, it’s so easy and makes a great side dish to a main like chicken or fish. It’s one of those rare recipes that actually turns out how it looks in the picture. I don’t know about you but that really is a rarity for me.
SAVE FOR LATER 🔗 Women – don’t get larger, don’t get older, don’t have fun, don’t dare to wear - ‘especially if they’re in a skimpy bikini, and they have the audacity to be north of 40, over a size eight, or simply happy in their own skin.’
How to make your perfume last longer - we need to. It’s getting more expensive by the day.
Weightlifting at retirement age keeps legs strong years later - I’m into this idea and going to try out myself. Yes, I just wrote that down so I have to now. You all know now.
Have you heard of Rawdogging? No not dogging 🤣 { too much? Sorry .. that’s me 🙈} Rawdogging. Me either until I came across this article but apparently it is a thing.The term, borrowed from the slang for intercourse without a condom { more 🙈 emojis} .. go on you’re dying to read it now. It’s not what you think!!
and this - Sex, Lies and Magazines is a lengthy read but such a good one. It’s of a certain time. Remember Just Seventeen and Smash Hits magzines? Well, this will take you back in time but you’ll grimace too about what used to be classed as mass entertainment.
“Magazines were a magical portal made of bitter-smelling print on crackly paper that led me straight to the glamour and grime first of pop, beauty and friendship, and later fashion, interior design and culture.”
READING 📚 Hags: The Demonisation of Middle Aged Women.
“Victoria Smith has decided in this book that she will be the Karen so nobody else has to be, and she ends on a positive note, exploring potential solutions which can benefit all women, hags and hags-in-waiting.”
I’m not saying it’s an easy read but so far an interesting one. I’m up to Chapter 3: Dirty Hag. I’ll keep you posted.
As always, ciao for now and don’t forget …
Hitting the Like 💗 button and re-stacking is the most massive help in getting the word out on Substack about my newsletters.
ANNNNDDD .. I love conversations so the comments is good place to start a chat with me.
SO much here, Sharon, so many links I want to check out! 🙌 Re the Crocs, I keep eyeing them up every time I go into Office 😍, I want to make that feta tray bake NOW, and I actually used to write for Just 17, when I was at at school, I did little bits for the news pages (have you come across Fiona Gibson on here, she has her own Substack and mentioned J17 days in at least a couple of essays - the NOSTALGIA! Literally had the t-shirt - did you, too?!) 🫣 XOXO (OOPS! Totally forgot to say the most MASSIVE thank you for the incredibly kind shout out, and lovely words! 🥹)
Thanks for the mention Sharon! We hope more and more women starting thinking about menopause and perimenopause before they are in the thick of it. ❤️