Overdue Blog Post - Part Two!

So we pick up this blog post from the middle of November 2022 and something we had not done since the early Summer.

Every few months we venture into Nottingham to spend an afternoon drawing; life drawing to be precise. Our friend, and burlesque performer, Scarlett Daggers runs an event called Dr Sketchy's that takes place above a pub in Nottingham and is aimed at artists of all levels. And because Scarlett is a burlesque performer the models are always from the world of burlesque and cabaret and we are even treated to a performance from one of the models.

Suffice to say Simon is able to produce some wonderful art work using his digital drawing tablet while I on the other hand stick to paper and pencil!

A couple of my attempts

There are even prizes handed out and Simon was lucky enough to get picked for one of his drawings...

Simon with fellow 'winners' and Scarlett Daggers

I, on the other hand, was just happy to produce something that didn't look too bad!!

The last week in November took on a decidedly Christmas theme as it was time to get prepped for a weekend of decorating. So prior to that happening there was a lot of organising and cleaning through that needed to be done. 

Molly and Dan visited for that last weekend as I was not allowed to decorate without Molly being home! So we started late on Friday afternoon and by the end of Saturday we had everything in place, both inside and out. Which considering we had three trees indoors to assemble and decorate, numerous ornaments to place around the house, swags to hang and then two gardens to illuminate I don't think we did too bad.

One of my three Christmas trees...this one is ALL Disney!!

And even R2D2 got in the act with Simon having 3D printed a special Santa hat for him!!

My forward planning for the outdoor Christmas lights proved to be very helpful and everything seemed to go very smoothly and relatively easy. And I even have a remote control for some of my lights! I had a couple of outdoor light sets that didn't have a self timer which would have meant me going outside each night to switch them on so Simon introduced me to remote switches for plugs. Wow, what a simple and very satisfying product; not only can I switch my outdoor lights on from the comfort of indoors I can also switch on tree lights that are plugged into hard to get to sockets. Best buy ever!

It was then time for another week off work for Simon as he needed to make sure he used all of his holiday allowance before the end of the year. We had a day out shopping at Meadowhall, Sheffield with the aim of getting a little Christmas shopping done. So although no Christmas presents were bought we did come away with some new boots for Ethan (introduced him to the world of Dr Martens!) and some more Christmas lights for my garden and this time they were Mickey shaped ones!

We then enjoyed a couple of nights away and this time we ventured over to Birmingham. Again we thought we would be able to get some Christmas shopping done but alas we came home empty handed...suffice to say all our shopping has been completed online instead!

But Birmingham had a lovely, and extensive, German Christmas Market which was great to walk through. We had a couple of nice meals out, we walked lots and consequently had lots of stops for coffee and chat.

Back home and with our shopping focus being online I took advantage of a price reduction and bought my first ever Disney Spirit Jersey...now these are a big thing with Disney fans and whilst there have been some lovely designs over the years that have tempted me they are not the cheapest purchase. But I couldn't resist this one as it combined my love of Disney and Christmas and at a price I was happy to pay!

And while I was shopping I couldn't resist picking up this decoration just for Simon!!

Because every Christmas tree needs a dancing stormtrooper!!

And now we were into December and the season of chocolate...high cocoa and high quality chocolate of course...

Hotel Chocolat Advent Calendar

And as we moved into December the weather decided to acknowledge the season and turned rather frosty and cold. After a couple of early morning walks in freezing temperatures with very icy pavements we decided that staying home in the warmth with a hot coffee was the better and safer option. Although we still maintained our routine of cold showers, Wim Hof breathing and meditating.

We enjoyed a fabulous night out for my birthday (actually on my birthday) at La DeDa Cabaret in Derby. It was another fun filled night out with burlesque, comedy and cabaret and I even had 'Happy Birthday' sung to me by the audience.

Out, out!

The following morning we were out early with Ethan in tow to head out for a posh breakfast as part of my birthday celebrations. We have discovered a deli in Nottingham (Delilah Fine Foods) that does an amazing breakfast that suits our keto way of eating perfectly...the pancetta is to die for! I even picked up a few Christmas pressies from their array of food goodies on sale too.

Oh and I also did rather well on the present front with even my old team from pre-school surprising me with a rather appropriate Star Wars themed gift...

My birthday weekend also saw us take a trip up north to hook up with our very good friend, and my podcast co-host, Michelle. This was a chance for a catch-up as well as an exchange of Christmas presents. We decided to meet up at Meadowhall Shopping Centre as this is about half way between where we both live. 

The day started out a bit grey and foggy but as we ventured further north the weather conditions took a bit of a turn. It started with seeing reduced speed limit signs, along with signs warning of 'salt spreading ahead' and then everywhere turned wet which quickly turned into slush on the roads and before we knew it all but two lanes of the motorway were covered in snow! And that was all in the last five minutes of our journey. But we arrived safely and after a few hours spending time with Michelle (and shopping!) the weather improved and the roads were all clear for our return journey home.

But seeing Michelle did mean that we could surprise her with a very special Mickey Mouse figure...

Michelle & Mickey!

...all printed, assembled and painted in Snow White (Michelle's favourite princess) colours. Suffice to say Michelle was blown away with it. I will share more details in a later post to explain how this all came about!

And then the day ended rather strangely and unexpectedly. We arrived home to find a lady wandering along the road to our house...she looked lost and so we stopped to ask if she needed help finding somewhere. It turned out that the lady was homeless and on seeing us asked if we had a phone she could use as she needed to call the emergency services as she wanted to 'kill myself'. At that I quickly phoned through for her and we then spent the next few hours trying to get her the help that she needed.

Both the ambulance and police services were reluctant to help explaining that it wasn't a job for the police but for the ambulance and vice versa! They were both experiencing severe delays and could not give us an estimate of when someone would be able to get out to help the lady. So in the intervening time we found a bench and supplied her with hot cups of tea, biscuits and a blanket to keep her warm as well as talking with her to see if we could figure out what had happened and whether there was anyone that could help her.

It turned out that she was under the care of a local trust who support the homeless so we decided to try and sort the situation ourselves by calling them. As luck would have it the person that Simon spoke to was an old school friend which helped make everything that bit easier. Ultimately we ended up driving the lady to the local trust just a few miles away and cancelling the ambulance. The police did call us back when we were enroute to advise us of the same information that we'd already found out ourselves. We explained what we were doing and they expressed their gratitude. We can only hope that the lady herself has been able to get the help and support that she very evidently needed.

On a lighter note...I did manage to complete two suitably themed jigsaws during the lead up to Christmas...

As we moved towards Christmas we had another busy weekend that saw a night out for me with the pre-school ladies and a busy Sunday for Simon as he was a guest speaker at Nottingham Video Games Expo.

Simon has been asked numerous times over the years to speak at various video game events about his career but has always declined. He is always much more focused on what he is currently working on rather than looking back at what has been. But as this expo was so close to home he decided to give it a go and see whether or not it was something that he would like to do more of in the future.

And Simon being the organised and professional individual that he is had spent the preceding weeks producing a presentation that documented his career making video games that spans over 35 years!! Check out his website for more details of his extensive portfolio! www.simonphipps.com

Simon in full flow delivering his presentation

Signing autographs for fans!!

I think it probably surprised us both at just how interested people were in all aspects of his career and we spent a lovely couple of hours chatting and reminiscing. So will Simon be taking part in more of these type events in the future? Who knows...I think it will all depend on where, when and the time involved. But as least Simon now has this experience to refer back to and will be in a better position to make decisions around any future requests.

And this brings us to the last full week before Christmas. Ethan's last day at work was the 16th, as he'd got left over holiday to use up, while Simon had to wait until the 21st...and it is from there where I think the next post will pick up!

xx

Day 760

Day 760...

Easter Sunday...although in our family it should be simply called 'excuse for some chocolate day'!!

As I am such a softie I still get my 'kids' easter eggs despite one living away from home and the other being 24! Molls and Dan got their eggs last weekend but poor Ethan had to wait till today. On the plus side I won't be pinching any of Ethan's chocolate as the majority is his favourite white...way too sweet for me. I shall enjoy some 90% dark after I've finished writing this blog piece.

But after a very relaxed start to the day we headed off into Nottingham for Dr Sketchy's, our regular burlesque themed life drawing event. Organised by the delightful Scarlett Daggers the event runs once every few months and features a model and a performer. Today we were joined by pin-up model Nora Drenaline who gave us some fabulous poses and then we were entertained by the ever wonderful Anna Fur Laxis. The afternoon starts off with some quick one, two and five minute poses and then continues with some ten and fifteen minute ones. Mid-way we have a burlesque performance and I cannot recommend seeing Anna Fur Laxis enough she is an absolute delight as well as being cheeky and funny.

 And the afternoon is completed with even longer twenty minute poses...here are some of my efforts...please remember I am not an artist! I simply have a pencil, paper and an eraser (while sat next to Simon with his digital drawing tablet!);

And that's how we celebrate Easter Sunday...burlesque performers and life drawing in a pub in Nottingham on a lovely sunny day.

Today was a bit of a Disney, punk vibe!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 720

Day 720...

Today was a stay at home kind of day as today we had the flooring laid in our upstairs bedroom...the room formerly known as 'Molly's bedroom' and soon to be our study/craft room.

This gave me the opportunity to catch up with a few online based jobs; not very exciting but unfortunately needed. 

With the impending changes to energy prices I had received emails from our energy companies of choice advising of the extortionate increases that will be coming our way from April. These are horrendous jumps in prices. I think we all expect to pay a few more pounds each year but when they are quoting increases of 54% it is horrific to think about. The impact for all of us is going to be so significant and there is nothing we can do about it. So I had a look to see whether there were any better tariffs around to get ahead of the upcoming changes but unfortunately it doesn't seem that there are!

I then ventured into the world of mobile phone upgrades...ugh! It fills me with dread every time this rolls around although I hadn't realised just how long I'd been putting this off. Our contracts expired eighteen months ago and so we have been eligible for an upgrade for a bit of a while. But as our phones are working perfectly fine and enable us to do whatever we need we hadn't been in a rush to upgrade and now I remember why. Too many choices and not enough information made easily available to make decisions. The information to compare models of phones seems to be hidden with just the colour and the camera mega pixel details displayed prominently. Then we seem to have a mixture of 'plan' options from the 'ok I can live with that' to the outright ridiculous! And when prices seem to be going up left, right and centre I really don't want to be increasing any more costs. Having become bored very quickly with searching I decided that the best thing I could do was the ironing! At least with that I could actually achieve something!

Next it was another easy job to buy online a couple of tickets for the next Dr Sketchy's event in Nottingham. This is a few weeks away, taking place on Easter Sunday, but I wanted to get the tickets bought while it was in my mind.

It was then time for more research! We are wanting to attend a food festival in June called Real Food Rocks and as the tickets have just gone on sale I needed to look into hotels. Whilst the event is only about an hour and a half away we have decided to make a weekend of it and book a couple of nights away so that we are not having to contend with early morning and late night driving. But as we now have the electric car I am not only trying to find a hotel close to where we want to be but one that also has EV charging points. As this has proved to be a little difficult I also looked for charging points close to the area that we will be in.

Well after much research I have found one hotel with it's own chargers and another hotel with a retail park opposite that has a number of chargers. I have also discovered a small service station not far from the location of the festival that also has a couple of rapid charging stations. So it's now just a case of deciding which hotel we would prefer (as there is no difference in price), booking it and sorting tickets for the festival itself.

By mid-afternoon the flooring had been laid and the room looks great. We will leave it for a couple of days before we start to move things back into the room. I think our first purchase is going to be a filing cabinet so that we can start to clear our existing Welsh dresser of paperwork as ultimately we will be getting rid of the dresser. The paperwork will then be stored in the new 'study' and once the dresser is no longer needed we will be replacing it with some new cabinets to display all our Disney and Star Wars memorabilia! It's like we are playing one giant game of Tetris!

We then played host to one of our neighbours who needed somewhere to escape to while an estate agent was showing some prospective buyers around their house! And later with a little daylight left I made sure to take some time to move some more jigsaw pieces around. I'm making pretty good progress but as there is so much colour I'm finding it's just as easy to place recognisable pieces into place rather than try and out sort a particular section of the puzzle.

Throughout the day Simon has been working on a commissioned piece of video game art for a contact who produces retro games and needed some cover art producing at short notice.

And then because we had some chicken to use up (thanks to Asda providing products with a pathetic use by date!) I decided to make Keto Chicken Curry Pie - yum!

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 705

Day 705...

Another wet, windy and grey day but that did not stop us getting out of the house.

We had another event to attend today and this time it involved our 'pencils' as it was time for the first Dr Sketchy's Nottingham of the year.

We enjoyed an afternoon of life drawing with a little burlesque thrown in for good measure. And while Simon used his digital drawing tablet I stuck with the more traditional paper, pencil and eraser!

The afternoon started with model Pixie Trix, posing for a number of short poses; 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes and a 10 minute pose to get us all warmed up!

Next we were entertained by the glorious Mysti Vine with a burlesque routine before she gave us a 15 minute pose. 

Mysti Vine

After a short break we had two twenty minute poses to finish out the afternoon. 

Pixie Trix

Mysti Vine

We then had a very wet and squally drive home as we seemed to being battered by yet another storm, the third to hit the UK in about as many days!

So I think it's time to curl up in front of the TV with red wine and chocolate and ignore the wind howling around.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 557...Getting Arty!

Day 557...

Today was a Sunday with a purpose as we had an event booked to attend.

But before we headed out the door Simon managed to get another layer of plaster filler onto the walls that he is repairing with a view that tomorrow he will be able to sand back and hopefully have a smooth and even surface ready to paint.

So late morning we set off for Nottingham and ordinarily we would have driven into the city as it's only around twenty minutes away but today there was the Robin Hood half marathon taking place which meant most roads from our direction were at best restricted but most were closed. Thankfully, we have a tram that runs into Nottingham and which has a terminus just a couple of miles from home so we decided to make that our mode of transport for the day.

And whilst the tram is a great service; easy to use, free parking at the terminus, relatively clean and no more costly than car parking charges in the city it does take around double the amount of time compared to driving. And I will admit that by the time we got to our stop the tram was quite full and I was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic and also wished that other passengers had perhaps used a little more deodorant!! 

As we are not great users of public transport it was interesting to note that the take-up of people wearing masks was around fifty-fifty. We have opted to not wear masks as we don't feel the evidence supports their benefit to us or anyone around us and am I always astounded, and confused, at the way in which people do use them. Groups where some were and some weren't, couples were one half wasn't, people with the mask under their chin, getting onto the tram without a mask and walking through people to find a seat and only putting a mask on once they were seated - just seems to go against what they would appear to believe in. 

Arriving in Nottingham we were a little early so we stopped for a coffee before heading to the Canalhouse pub where, in their upstairs function room, Dr Sketchy's Nottingham was taking place. This is a burlesque/cabaret themed life drawing event that we have been going to for a fair few years now. Our last in person event was in February 2020 and although host and performer Scarlett Daggers had held a few online events it was great to be back doing something that had previously been one of our regular outings.

Dr Sketchy's are held all around the world and the Nottingham event has been running for 12 years. Simon, being the artist in the family, had discovered it many years ago and had attended a handful on his own before he eventually persuaded me to join him and 'have a go'. I am no artist by any stretch of the imagination, but the whole point of Dr Sketchy's is for anyone, of any ability, to come along and draw, enjoy the entertainment (the models will also perform), have a drink, maybe something to eat and giggle at the choice of music played by DJ Spike as he attempts to put the models off their poses with his musical choices.

It really is a very open and relaxed affair welcoming all abilities, all ages and all backgrounds. It's chance to switch off for a couple of hours or so, get out the pencils and doodle....or in the case of Simon get out the digital drawing tablet and create some wonderful images. 

Today, we had Scarlett Daggers modelling along with Starla Bright, who also entertained us with a cheeky burlesque number. We started off with a few one minute poses, then a few more two minutes poses, some five minute ones followed by 10 and 15 minutes ones before finishing off the afternoon with a 20 minute pose.

Here are just a few of my 'efforts';

Two minute poses - Scarlett Daggers

Five minute pose - Scarlett Daggers

Fifteen minute pose - Scarlett Daggers

Twenty minute pose - Starla Bright

As it is a while since I have picked up pencil and paper I was pretty happy with my results, and despite hating (and therefore avoiding) drawing faces I was pleasantly surprised with my efforts on my last drawing of Starla and when she commented that she liked it and thought it reminded her of her sister I was a bit shocked and maybe a little pleased with myself!

And with pencils packed away it was time to head home but with a date in late November in the diary for their next event. We had a small wait for the tram and found ourselves standing for the majority of the forty minute journey home.

Back home it was time for a coffee and chance to look over what we had done this afternoon with the obligatory posting to social media. Here are a couple of Simon's pieces...

Starla Bright

Scarlett Daggers

So nice to have a Sunday that revolved around actually getting out and 'doing something' and doing something that we have always done in the way we have always done it.

See you all tomorrow.

xx

Memory Tuesday

Day 328...

And we have a Tuesday once more!

Into work for me this morning and it was a pretty standard few hours with the usual emails, banking and then sorting the next lot of invoices ready for distributing at the end of the week.

As I had the afternoon off I thought I would stop by my dads house as I've not seen him for a couple of weeks. He'd had a bit of an accident in his car at the end of last week and thankfully he wasn't hurt but I think his pride may have been knocked a little. But nothing that can't be fixed it just means he's without transport for a few weeks while the car gets repaired, which just means he needs to ask for help when he needs it - easier said than done!

When I got home, and with a freshly brewed coffee in hand, I caught up on a few of my own emails and a few work ones too! Before we rounded out the day with a little 'gym' session; Simon was very brave and ventured out into the absolutely freezing garage to lift weights while I stayed in the warmth of the living room and rolled about for a bit!

So today Facebook memories rolled around and really brought home the difference a year can make and how we find ourselves living at the moment. One year ago today we were attending Dr Sketchy's in Nottingham in a pub with actual people - oh how times have changed! Dr Sketchy's is a life drawing class that combines art and burlesque; an afternoon of poses, drawing and entertainment. These are run once every few months and after being a little unsure about attending (I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination!) I now thoroughly enjoy them as it's my little foray into Simon's artistic world and something that we can enjoy together. I can't believe it has been a full year since we last got chance to do this. We have attended some online 'virtual' Dr Sketchy's but it's really not the same and I can't wait till we can get back to doing them in person.

Another memory that popped up was from two years ago, from when we went to see White Lies in concert and had VIP passes which meant that we got to see the band complete their sound check and we got to meet with them, chat and have our photo taken. One of the best nights EVER...love this band so much and was thrilled to get the chance to meet them. Here's me looking rather pleased with myself...

...ah take me back...I miss concerts! I am so thankful that over the course of 2019 we were able to see White Lies twice in concert, here in the February and again in the December as well as seeing one of my other all time favourite bands, She Wants Revenge, in the August of that year. So glad we made the most of those opportunities and if this past year has taught us anything it's to grab the chances as they come along as you might never get the chance otherwise.

I will leave it there for todays post, take care out there.
xx

Day 88

Day 88...

Today started like a typical lazy Sunday with a struggle to get out of bed!

But once up and about it was straight down to our supermarket of choice to fetch our 'collect' order. Me and Molly have this down to a fine art and were a little disappointed as we had to wait for our shopping to be brought out to us! Once home it was the usual routine of wipe everything down, get rid of as much packaging as possible, wash all the fresh food and then pack everything away.

By the time that was done it was make a coffee and settle down for a couple of hours of drawing as it was another online Dr Sketchy's Nottingham; hosted by the ever lovely Scarlett Daggers and poses by one of our most favourite burlesque performers Anna Fur Laxis. Now I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination but I will happily have a go...nothing fancy just pencil and paper...here are a few of my efforts from today;

Afterwards armed with another coffee I thought I would spend a few minutes sat outside on the patio; as I sat down there was a rumble of thunder...I think I lasted about five minutes before the rain started! So back inside and I decided to start a new jigsaw...this is another Disney one from their Villainous range and based around the villain Jafar.

Slow progress is being made...have you seen how similar all those edge pieces look?! Although I did get a new jigsaw delivered today as well, ready for when this one is complete...and yes it's another Disney one...but this is 2000 pieces - eek!

And then to finish out the day there was another Disney Zoom quiz hosted by the podcast I co-host, Disney Dream Girls. I had set five questions all relating to Disneyland in Anaheim and then we had some music and movie related questions. Between me and Molly we didn't do too badly but the most important thing was that we had a good giggle and enjoyed the opportunity to chat with people from all over the world.

And that was today...a lazy Sunday that turned out to be not that lazy after all.

And tomorrow we re-open pre-school for the first time since the 19th March.

Take care out there,

xx