Four Days for the Price of One - Day 830 - Day 833

I'm not sure where the time has gone this week but it has been difficult to find the time to write these blog posts so in the end I am writing up four days in one go...

Day 830...Monday

So the day started, as is our new normal, with an early morning walk; however we only managed 1.3 miles in 23 minutes as rain stopped play. We'd not got our waterproofs with us so we made the sensible decision to head for home when the precipitation started!

Our morning was then taken up with what we referred to as 'Kondoing the wardrobes'. When we revamped our bedroom the other year we adopted the Marie Kondo approach to tidying and we have adopted it ever since. It is a great way to ensure that you only hold onto those items that you genuinely need or love. Since it had been a while since our new wardrobes had been fitted it was time to re-evaluate the storage and assess whether it was working and whether we were actually making use of its contents. We did pretty well and only filled two bags with clothes for our local charity clothes bank.

So after a spot of lunch we hopped in the car and dropped off the clothes, stopped by my dads house to drop off a couple of bits and then had a quick tour around our local Lidl.

Back home and after a coffee and a quiet hour we decided that the weather was more conducive to walking and headed out completing 2.3 miles in 47 minutes.

Day 831...Tuesday

The weather played nice this morning and so our usual morning walk of 1.9 miles in 38 minutes was much enjoyed although at the top of the hill it did feeler a little cooler than of late with a strong wind that I described as bracing.

Then my day took on the theme for much of this week...gardening. Now I am not a gardener at all, my mum used to love gardening however I have not inherited that love, but my task this week was my dads garden. As we are about to sell the house both the front and back gardens were in need of a lot of taming if we wanted to make them look presentable. The morning was focused on the front garden and by lunchtime I'd done a pretty decent job and the whole plot looked a lot smarter.

I came home for some lunch with Simon before heading back to my dads to start on the back garden...a much bigger garden and a much bigger task ahead. It was heavily overgrown and full of weeds and other bits that shouldn't have been there.

By the end of the afternoon progress had been made, although I'd literally just scratched the surface.

I could just start to feel my muscles beginning to ache but that didn't stop me squeezing in a weights workout to round out the day!

Day 832...Wednesday

Thankfully the weather was much better this morning than had been forecast yesterday which meant we could take our usual 1.9 mile walk in a steady 38 minutes, despite my achy body. Why does gardening have such an impact on the body, no wonder it's not my favourite pastime!

So we had a repeat of yesterday today with a morning and afternoon spent at my dad's house gardening. It did rain a little mid way through the afternoon but I was able to occupy myself with other little jobs inside the house. The focus of this week is to get the house looking presentable for estate agent photos next week, so lots of moving things around and storing them out of site.

After a shower and a coffee we decided to head out for another walk in lieu of our usual exercise session. Simon is a little restricted as to what he can do with his arm in cast so walking is proving to be a great alternative; we took a different route to normal in an attempt to find a less hilly route. It was a little less hilly but there's just no way to avoid an incline or two where we are; but another walk of just over 2 miles in 44 minutes was achieved.

I was very glad to finally stop, put my feet up and watch this weeks episode of Ms Marvel.

Day 833...Thursday

And despite my achy muscles we started the day with our usual 1.9 mile walk in 37 minutes.

I was then straight out the door to my dads house to carry on with the gardening although today I had a little company as I was joined by my brother and nephew and by the time I left at lunchtime the back garden was looking pretty good and a whole lot better than when I'd started on Tuesday!

So for the first time in a few days I was able to spend the afternoon at home, although there was no rest for me!

Lunch and a shower out the way it was time to get some research done ahead of podcast recording later in the afternoon. We were talking about the upcoming Epcot Food & Wine festival as all the details of the various food booths have just been released. And as my podcast co-host, Michelle, will be visiting during the festival I had the task of picking some tasty treats for her to try!

We had the most efficient podcast recording session ever as in under an hour we'd not only recorded a show to be released this weekend but also a show for our Patreon supporters. But we had good reason to be efficient as at 5pm UK time tickets for next years Star Wars Celebration in London went on sale and I needed to be poised and ready.

Just before 5pm I clicked on the buy tickets option and found myself on a queue holding page, as 5pm ticked over I was put into the queue and told I had over an hour to wait! Well I was convinced at that point that any chance of getting tickets was looking doubtful, but as I sat and watched the screen the wait time went down surprisingly quickly. Within 20 minutes I was choosing my tickets; the most expensive Jedi Master tickets were all sold out which was fine as we didn't want those as we were after the 4-day tickets and the four day tickets is what we got! A much more cost effective buy than the individual tickets and so by 5.29pm I had our confirmation that we are going to Celebration next April!!

But by 6pm I was starting to see a lot of disappointed fans who'd not been able to secure the 4-day ticket and could only buy the more expensive single day options. It certainly isn't a cheap hobby being a Star Wars fan and I feel exceptionally lucky that we've been able to secure (and been able to afford) the tickets and a hotel. London 2023 here we come!

Phew - the end of Thursday and hopefully a slightly quieter and less garden focused day ahead tomorrow.

See you all then...hopefully!
xx

Day 589

Day 589...

Today has been a Thursday and it has been yet another busy day.

Me and Molly headed off to our local Ikea first thing this morning with a shopping list in hand. Molly knew exactly what she wanted and having checked stock levels online yesterday she even knew the whereabouts in the store to get all that she needed.

On arriving we were about to walk straight in but we were greeted with an automated message advising us to wait until the light turned green. I hadn't even seen the red/green light system and had actually forgotten that some stores had adopted this system when social distancing was a big thing. But we dutifully waited all of a minute before we were 'allowed' to enter the store, and once inside it seemed to have been a pointless exercise!

Going around the store it was lovely to see that the majority of shoppers had opted to go without a face mask although it still baffles me when I see a couple with one half wearing a mask and the other not?! We had a lovely wander around the store and even managed a little look at all their Christmas bits and bobs.

It was an extremely successful trip as we came away with all that Molly had wanted plus a few bits that I had wanted to pick up and we  also came away with the obligatory packs of meatballs and bags of mini cinnamon rolls...including the special Christmas gingerbread edition.

On the way home we stopped by Dunelm as Molly wanted a shoe rack from there and I had my eye on a new black and sparkly laundry basket. We came away with both plus some stocking filler type Christmas gifts...my first official Christmas presents bought for this year!

After a spot of lunch me and Molly jumped online to get her car booked in for an upgrade to the stereo system. As her car is a few years old the existing stereo is just a radio with CD player without any USB or AUX points so she wanted to get it upgraded. And as luck would have it we found somewhere that not only had the stereo in stock but can fit it for us tomorrow afternoon.

Then I nipped out to the post office as we had a sale of one of Simon's posters to send out and while I did that Molly was able to attach a new sun-visor to her car as it had been missing one. Simon managed to find one online and it had arrived this morning...it's a slightly different shade of grey compared to the other visor but it fits and will do the intended job.

In between all of that I'd had numerous phone calls concerning my rings that I'd dropped at the jewellers to be repaired the other day. The upshot of which is that I will be able to pick them up tomorrow but there is a little confusion about the finish on one of the rings...I thought it was a gold ring but the jeweller informs me it is actually white gold and has repaired it as such, so apparently it now has a different finish to what it had...?? Really not sure what is happening as jewellery is not my forte, so I will pop along tomorrow and see for myself; to be honest as long as the ring is intact and fits then I will be happy.

I'd also had my new boots arrive today...a new pair of Dr Martens that were in the sale and were just too good an opportunity to pass up...

...plus the pattern gives me Spaceship Earth vibes (for those of you who don't know what I'm referencing this is an attraction at Epcot at Walt Disney World).

The remainder of the afternoon was spent helping Molly. She wanted to make sure that the storage system she had bought from Ikea would house all the items she wanted. As the system is made up of a series of ready made drawers she was able to test out whether everything would fit in the drawers and part of this was for me to show her the Marie Kondo way of folding clothes. When we'd had our new wardrobes fitted last year we'd discovered the ways of Marie Kondo, the tidying guru, and her preferred way of folding clothes. And her way really does mean that you are able to get more items stored effectively and stored in such a way that you can actually see what you have. The good thing was that everything that Molly has will fit into the drawers that she has bought - phew!

And with that done I had just enough time to grab a coffee before heading down the gym for a little light weight work-out. And with the gym session completed I had a new meal to cook for dinner; a recipe I'd found a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to try called 'Gumbalaya' a mix of Gumbo and Jambalaya that is keto friendly and turned out to be very yummy!

And with all that done it must be time for RuPauls Drag Race UK...see you tomorrow.

xx

Soggy Saturday

Day 416...

Well today has been rather busy and rather wet!

We started the day with rebuilding our bed...we had assembled it last night but had realised that one side was lower than the other. Well, it was good enough to sleep on last night but it did mean that this morning we had to take it all apart again and re-assemble it!

It was then a wet car drive to take Molly to her Saturday morning guitar lesson. While she strummed out we hit the coffee drive thru', the very slow coffee drive thru'...it must have taken half an hour just to get a couple of coffees. Although to be fair we had nowhere else to go and it wasn't like we could have sat inside the coffee shop as we are still not allowed to 'dine' inside!!

And then the rest of the day has been taken up with trying to get our living room and Simon's work space back to normal, and as I type we still have work to do. The biggest challenge was getting Simon's work desk back into his work space which is actually on a mezzanine type floor with a very narrow staircase. The desk was a self-assembly piece of furniture that was assembled in place many years ago. We had managed to get it down in one piece by lowering it down but we were not sure that we would be able to manage the same in reverse. But with the combined strength of me, Simon and Molly and a little ingenuity from Simon we managed what I had thought was a lost cause. I'd even suggested to Simon earlier in the week that we might have to buy a new self-assembly desk because I thought there was no way we would manage to get it back into the space. But I am so glad I was proven wrong.

Once Simon's desk was were it was needed we then focused on getting everything else back into the house from the garage where it had been stored these last few days and then deciding whether we actually wanted them back in the living room and if so where. We have also had the job of placing soft pads under all the furniture so that it doesn't mark the new wood flooring.

We are taking the opportunity of having an empty room to refill it with a fresh pair of eyes. When we revamped our bedroom last year we took the chance to 'Kondo' the room and our clothes and so we are taking the same approach with our living room; do we need it? Do we still like it? Is it serving a purpose? It is quite fulfilling to re-examine what you have always had and make those decisions that perhaps ordinarily you would not make or would put off making.

So it is almost nine o'clock on a Saturday night as I write this and Simon is busy sorting the speakers for the audio system so I better go and help!

Take care out there, see you tomorrow.
xx

Coffee in the Sun

Day 194...

Another non-working Monday today and our usual grocery click and collect pick-up. Following the new guidelines brought in last week the store colleague operating the lockers (or as we call him...Marky Mark!) was wearing a mask today for the first time which was good to see.

We seemed to get home and get everything packed away in record time today and then we jumped back in the car and headed off to our local Ikea. Molly is re-organising all her Shutter Studios stock and supplies and wanted some new desk storage boxes and filing system and had found online exactly what she needed.

Visiting Ikea was great, everyone was wearing masks and was keeping their distance as best we all could. Molly found exactly what she was after and we picked up some more storage boxes for us as well and despite the queue for the checkout being rather long it moved very quickly and was very well organised.

We then decided to stop off for a coffee and something to eat on the way home. We visited a local cafe that we had tried a couple of weeks ago; we were able to sit outside in the sunshine and maintain social distancing. All the staff wore masks, they had the new QR code to scan and as always the service and food was lovely.

After we got home it was time for another coffee, sat outside again, with both Simon and I reading our respective books; I'm making good progress through Dr Aseem Malhotra's 21 Day Immunity Plan and Simon completed in one sitting a graphic novel by tidying guru Marie Kondo called 'The Life Changing Manga of Tidying Up'.

The rest of the afternoon saw Simon working on his mouse droid project. He has 3D printed rubber tyres for the wheels and is now modifying the chassis so that the wheels will sit within it properly and not only work but look the part as well. There has been lots of filling, resin applying and then sanding going on.

Molly has been getting all her new storage organised which in turn led to an overhaul of some of her bedroom; sorting through, cleaning, hoovering and throwing things out - I think we've all been bitten by the art of Mari Kondo! I even sorted a couple of my handbags out as well!

My afternoon was taken up with grabbing more photos of things for selling on Ebay which also involved some online research before I could actually start posting them online. Molly had her usual Monday evening karate lesson which meant taxi service from mum and dad in between more mouse droid sanding and online ebay posting!

So yet again another very productive Monday, it feels like it has been a very purposeful day and a day where it actually felt like we were almost doing 'normal' stuff...long may that continue.

Take care, stay safe...keep your distance, wash your hands and wear a mask.
xx

Guitar, Hair & Folding

Day 185...

Well the day started off with a little more cleaning around our 'new bedroom', which translates as Simon reaching all the places up high that I couldn't get to yesterday.

Then we took Molly to her Saturday morning guitar lesson and while she strummed away we had a quick walk around a DIY store looking at storage boxes as we think we may need some to go inside drawers or on shelves. The fallout of having watched Marie Kondo and reading her book is we have a complete new way of looking at storage! We then treated ourselves to a drive thru' coffee and panettone.

Once home Simon had a little work to do on his R2D2 and mouse droid builds. He is currently 3D printing some rubber tyres for the mouse droid using flexible filament and so he needs to make sure that the hubs the tyres go onto are all prepped. This meant painting everything with epoxy resin to ensure a smooth finish on all the 3D parts.

While Simon was doing that I dropped Molly off at the hairdressers; her first time since lockdown and actually her first time since October/November of last year! She has very long hair and doesn't tend to go to the hairdressers that often, she was about to book herself an appointment when lockdown began and so it has been a bit longer between appointments than normal!

Before and after!!

In between taking and then fetching Molly from the hairdressers we had to sort out all the rubbish leftover from the wardrobe build. This did mean that we were able to 'rescue' some decent pieces of wood and a few electrical bits that will definitely come in useful either as spares or for Simon's prop building! Although it also means that another trip to our local recycling centre is on the cards.

But then it was onto the fun stuff of getting our bedroom back to 'normal' and figuring out where all our clothes and stuff will now live. We have more hanging space than before, along with special storage for shoes and lots of shelves and drawers and all in wardrobes with their own lighting; it's all very grown-up!!

So our afternoon was spent folding everything the Marie Kondo way into small rectangles and researching various storage options for inserts into drawers and boxes to live on shelves and much more. We would also like to get a piece of bespoke furniture to provide a little more storage that reflects some of other furniture throughout the house; more of a decorative piece. We also need to get some new curtains and also decide on some new flooring as we would like to replace the carpet with a wood floor.

So all in all a very productive Saturday.

Take care out there, stay safe, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx

Good Friends and A Spot of Tidying

Day 178 

It has been a lovely day today, the weather was great and most importantly we got to meet up in person with my very good friend and fellow podcaster Michelle.

We were meeting Michelle at a local cafe and this was a great excuse to get a little dressed up and put on proper make-up for a change, something that has taken a bit of a back seat over these last few months. The good thing was we were able to grab a table outside in the sunshine, have a few coffees and a good old catch-up. And although Michelle and I talk every week either when we record our podcast or when we have our weekly Sunday evening Disney quiz via Zoom it was so good to actually see each other in person, and it felt like it was only yesterday that we had seen each other.

Michelle was on her way to get some more ink added to her Tangled tattoo and so we took advantage of her being close to where we live to meet up...and of course we both had Disney themed face masks!

Once home we had another coffee, sat outside in the sunshine, while we planned our attack for the afternoon. We have just started watching Marie Kondo on Netflix and today her book 'The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up' arrived and we are really loving the approach to 'tidying', decluttering and reorganising. This afternoon's task was to 'tidy' our clothes as part of our new bedroom happening this week and this involved getting out ALL our clothes and making one big pile before going through every item to decide whether or not it should stay or go.

Just a few items to go through!!

By the time we had gone through everything we had 11 bin bags to go to our local hospice clothes bank. The idea is to handle each item and decide whether or not that item brings you joy and although I don't think I really did that it certainly gave me the freedom to let go of things that I would have otherwise have kept on the premise that 'it may be useful' or 'it's too good to throw away'. 

We are also adopting the Marie Kondo way of folding your clothes so that everything is folded into a small parcel which means that everything you own can be seen when opening a drawer rather than being squished at the bottom of a pile. I must admit I was very skeptical about what Marie Kondo was advocating and thought it may have been a bit too 'woo' and was aimed at simply throwing everything away and going very minimalist but I have been very pleasantly surprised and am now very keen to watch the remaining episodes and read the book in full.

Well I best stop writing this blog post as I still have all my newly folded clothes to put away!

Stay safe, wear a mask, keep your distance and take care.

xx