Time for an Overdue Blog Post - Part One!

Well it's been a while since my last blog post at the end of October so figured I'd better put finger to keyboard and get writing!

Thankfully I've had the presence of mind to make a few notes over the last few weeks as I'd really like to try and keep the diary approach to writing going. So what's been happening and where to start?

Let's kick off with a bit of Disney travel news. For the first time since 2019 I can now say we have a Disney holiday booked but this time it will be a first for us as we have booked a cruise! Not only will this be our first Disney cruise but it will be our first cruise ever!

After a lot of debating and being swayed by friends who have this year experienced both Disney and non-Disney cruises we have taken the plunge and booked ourselves a place on the Disney Dream sailing out of Southampton, UK next September. Our 7 night cruise will see us venturing north as we take in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo and Sandnes in Norway. This does mean lots of research ahead for me not only about the ports we will be visiting but also all about cruising Disney style.

Since the end of October we have continued with our early morning walks getting out most mornings although we have now resorted to wellies when we venture out over the fields. 

Our cold showers each morning are now embedded in our routine and I have now joined Simon with the Wim Hof breathing method. I have surprised myself by being able to let myself 'indulge' in this 10 minute practice and this in turn has resulted in me giving meditation a try. I have always been reluctant to try meditation as the thought of 'giving in' to something really didn't sit very well with me at all...the act of 'giving up control' felt very alien to me. But after getting used to the calm of the breathing I have now started with some simple 10 minute meditations and have surprised myself with how easy they have been and how I have actually been able to 'let go' and simply 'be' in the moment.

At the end of October we were able to join a Star Wars troop with our Joker Squad buddies at Leicester Comic Con. This was the first time trooping with Joker Squad in over three years! And although we were small in number we were still able to entertain and make people smile. 

Then in November we hooked up with our East Midlands Garrison crew at a local pub's Sci-Fi quiz night which helped raise money for the charity PASIC. 

Not sure how good Stormtroopers are at pulling a pint!!

We had hoped to attend PASIC's Christmas Party earlier this month but as we both had a very slight cold we decided to stay away as all the children attending would be immunocompromised and we didn't want to risk passing anything on.

At the beginning of November Simon had a week off from work and we took advantage of the time productively. We dragged Ethan out shopping with us for a day, luring him with the promise of food and coffee and while he came home empty handed Simon did pick up a couple of shirts.

Next I had a day booked with Saint Heywood at Acadia Tattoo for my latest round of Disney ink. This time it was combining my love of the attraction 'It's A Small World' with the art style of Jerrod Maruyama...

Work in progress

Line work done and colour just started

Finished result

It was then time to take a trip 'up north' for a few days. We started by having a couple of nights in York staying in an old fashioned style of hotel which kind of evoked 'Fawlty Towers' type vibes! But York was as lovely as ever; we walked for miles, drank lots of coffee, had some lovely meals out (great to find a Byron Burger restaurant and a fab tapas too!), more walking, chance to play with my new camera, shopping and more coffee! A short trip which resulted in new shoes for Simon and new jigsaws for me courtesy of the York Outlet mall.

After York we moved a little further north to visit Stockton-on-Tees for a couple more nights. The reason for visiting here was to revisit an area that is very familiar to both Simon and I. For me this is the part of the country where I was born and so consequently I still have lots of family members who live in the surrounding area and who I hadn't seen in a fair few years. For Simon he had spent around 5 years working in Stockton, and living there during the week as it was too big a distance from home to commute. We both have lots of great memories of the area, and of the people, and so it was great to get the chance to re-visit after a lot of years away.

We were able to see quite a lot of my relatives over the course of a couple of days and we have vowed to return when the weather is kinder (it was rather wet!) and the days are longer so that we can explore further.

Throughout the last couple of months I have been trying to clear stuff from my dads house and as a result have become quite skilled at using Ebay! Consequently there has been lots of cataloguing of items, photos taken, items listed, sales made, items packed and trips to the local post office. And every time we get a delivery it means that boxes and packing materials have to be saved; thank goodness we have a shed for storage!

Ready for a trip to the post office

And with it being the run up to Christmas I decided that a review of my Christmas decorations was in order, particularly my outdoor lights. I knew I had a couple of sets that were not working 100% so I decided to invest in some new sets; this resulted in three sets of string lights and a light-up tree!

Obligatory testing of lights!

This did then mean a few days tidying the garden (in the rain) to get everywhere ready as well as planning out how to get everything plugged in. Having had some new outdoor sockets installed over the summer I had the power but needed to make sure that we had sufficient weatherproof boxes for all the cables, plugs and extension leads. Plans were drawn so that when it came to putting them all up it should be a relatively straight forward process.

And we have reached mid-November so let's leave it there as I make a start on a new post.

See you soon.
xx

Since we last spoke...

After a few weeks away from the keyboard I thought I would check back in with a bit of a look back over what I've been up to of late...and if truth be told I've attempted to start this post many times over.

It's not that I haven't had something to write but that I've simply gotten out of the habit of writing. Whilst doing my 'lockdown diary' (for want of a better description) I had a 'reason' for writing something every day. I had given myself a challenge of writing a record of what was happening to me and the world around me. But after completing 893 days worth of my diary I had begun to feel that all I was recording was the mundane, the every day happenings of my life and that if I was to write it needed to be less often and with more to write about.

I knew that recording my life as a 'diary' would have days where nothing much happened or nothing that I felt was worthy of being written down, and as the pandemic moved on and life became more 'normal' there was less for me to muse about and pass comment on. And on the odd occasion that I did venture out into the realm of opinions I was disappointed by the negativity levied my way in return. After all I was writing to document my life and my thoughts and not to please others. But I discovered that this did not sit well with my innate nature of wanting to please and not cause anyone upset...so I stopped writing. I didn't want any confrontation with anyone and I let that (and them) stop me doing what I wanted to do...so here we are and I am going to attempt to write more often than I have of late just because I want to.

So what have I been up to over the last six, or more, weeks?

Well, our usual routine has continued and we attempt to get out first thing most mornings for our daily walk. Weekdays we tend to be out and about around 8am and stick to a shorter route of a couple of miles while at the weekends we may stretch our legs a little further or simply venture into the likes of Nottingham for more of an urban stroll. Since getting a fitness tracker back in the middle of May I have now recorded just over 300 miles walked, which I think is pretty good going. Not only is it good for us physically to be out and about by simply moving and absorbing vitamin D, but there is something about being outside in the fresh air that is good for the sole. It also gives Simon and I the time together and the time to talk without the trappings of 'life' getting in the way.

Cold showers are still apart of my daily routine although I have drawn a line in the sand and am sticking to my limit of 3 minutes and 30 seconds! I understand the beneficial effects that cold showers can produce but it doesn't mean I have to like them! Simon is now persuading me to try the Wim Hof breathing method which I think I maybe taking him up on...I will report back at some point in the future and let you know how I fair!

Over the course of the last few months we have made a few tweaks to our diet and exercise routine. We are still following a keto/low carb way of eating but have reduced the saturated fat content to see if it can make any difference to our overall good health. We have also increased our strength training sessions from twice a week to three times a week with a further two workouts that concentrate on body-weight exercises aimed at core/abs and legs. We have found a doctor to work with who understands the keto way of eating and approach to a healthy well being and we are fine tuning what we do and how we do it. As part of that we are still using an intermittent fasting approach to our meals with our first meal of the day now being around lunchtime rather than first thing in the morning. All of these approaches seem to be working for us, both physically and mentally.

The beginning of September saw us take a little day trip over to Macclesfield to visit my tattooist Saint Heywood at Acadia Tattoo. It had been about thirteen months since my last tattoo and I still had a number of ideas for what I wanted and where. By the end of the day I came away with a new piece to my left leg, a small addition to my right wrist and Simon came away with some script to his right arm.

Left leg - Three Good Fairies from Sleeping Beauty; Fauna, Flora & Merryweather

My smaller tattoo was in remembrance of my dad who passed away in March. When my mum died in 2015 I had a small gold star inked on my wrist to remember her by, as we all inevitably become stardust when we pass, and so it was only fitting to have the same again in memory of my dad.

Gold star for my dad

Script for Simon...a quote from the book Slaughterhouse 5 'So it goes'

And I already have another date booked in the diary for the beginning of November as I still have more ideas for yet more Disney themed ink.

Around the middle of September we had another road trip and this time we headed over to Birmingham as we had a concert booked. We have been long time fans of an LA based band called She Wants Revenge who over their career have had moments where the band has no longer been together and so getting an opportunity to see them live in concert has been rare. We saw them for the first time in a very small nightclub in Sheffield back in 2012 and we thought that would be the only chance we ever got to see them. Fast forward to 2019 and an announcement that they were back together and touring which led to us seeing them in Islington in London; and again we thought that would be the last time we would see them live. And then lo and behold a new tour was announced which seemed initially to concentrate on the US but before long they announced dates for the UK and Europe and with a date announced for Birmingham it meant it was a no brainer for us as it was only an hour away. So the band we thought we would be extremely lucky to see once we have now seen three times, and each time we have seen them they have played small venues and each time they have been phenomenal.

A little later in September we were able to join our fellow Star Wars cosplayers at Huddersfield Comic Con as part of the East Midlands Garrison and spend a day making people smile, posing for photos and raising money for the charity PASIC. We opted for Stormtrooper for Simon and Governor Pryce for myself.

This was our first time out trooping since Simon had broken his wrist back in May and happily we have another date coming up towards the end of October with our good friends from Joker Squad.

And in other 'geek' news Simon was approached by the soon to be opening 'Derby Computer Museum' about his time working for Derby based computer games companies Gremlin Graphics and Core Design. Inside the museum there is a room dedicated to British computer games from their beginning up until around 1999 and Simon has been able to provide them with some artwork as well as a video interview. Core Design produced the game Rick Dangerous which Simon developed way back in 1988/89 and still to this day is the game he will get asked about more than any of the others he has worked on.

Simon was only too happy to get involved and donated a signed poster, scans of his original drawings and notes, as well as spending a couple of hours recording the interview. Although we did have a slight recording issue when memory cards became corrupted so he did have to sit for a second recording! But this did mean that on our second visit I was able to donate a working Nintendo Gameboy and games to add to their collection. The museum will be opening on Saturdays from the 3rd December and we have been invited to their launch party towards the end of November!

At the end of September we had a few days booked away to go and see Molly and Dan down in Bournemouth. The last time we'd seen them was in July when they had travelled to see us for a weekend so it was great to be able to take a few days off and spend a little longer with them. 

The visit also involved a trip to Ninja Warrior in Southampton! Molly and Dan had been there earlier in the year and were very keen to get Simon to have a go (they knew better than to ask me!!). Thankfully Simon had recovered from his broken wrist (with no help from the promised physiotherapy that never materialised!) and was more than happy to join in the fun. I took on the role of videographer and photographer for the day while they all threw themselves around from one obstacle to another. And whilst it was not something that I would do it was a great couple of hours of fun and sweat and was very well organised. There were two courses to complete as well as a very large inflatable course all of which you could complete as many times as you wanted within your booked session time. I think Simon was pretty pleased with his efforts and managed to 'keep up' with the 'young 'uns'!

Posing after two hours of warrior stuff!

Over the course of our time in Bournemouth we had some lovely meals out, walked lots of miles and encountered an arts festival that had taken over the whole of the town centre. There was even a 'Drum and Base on a Bike' event happening which took us slightly by surprise as we wandered through the town. It was a completely separate event to the arts festival and involved around 200 or more people cycling while drum and base music blasted out; it was a most peculiar, yet invigorating site to see.

On our way home from seeing Molly and Dan we took an extra night to stop over in Surrey so that we could catch up with Simon's work colleagues who are all based in that area. Simon had not seen his colleagues in person since February of 2020!!

Just before we embarked on our time away down South I decided to buy myself a camera; a proper DSLR camera! Photography is something I've fancied having a go at and have never really had the time or the inclination. With Molly having studied photography and subsequently set up her own business (Shutter Studios) I've always hand someone on hand should I need something 'proper'! My photography is normally limited to my phone...which to be fair does a really decent job but I wanted the challenge of learning a set of new skills, and proving to myself that I can rise to the challenge.

So over the course of our time away and the last few weeks I have started to use the camera and begun to figure out what all the buttons mean and even dip my toes into the proper lingo. Although I do feel the need to carve out sometime to watch videos and read up on the subject so that I can get the best out of it. The organised side of my personality wants to learn how to do this all 'properly' and in a logical orderly fashion and the challenge for me will be to 'just have a go' and figure it all out on the fly. So this will be a challenge not only from a technical stand point but also allowing myself the time and the creativity to simply try and not worry about conforming to any 'rules'!!

And before I waffle on anymore I think I will bring this post to an end and make a start on the next one!

See you soon.
xx

Day 17

Day 17 and welcome to the weekend!

This was supposed to be a busy weekend. Today I was booked in to have some new Disney ink with my favourite tattoist Saint Heywood at Acadia Tattoo and tomorrow I was to be out for lunch with some old work colleagues from my banking days.

So instead of being out and about and catching up with friends I will be staying home and staying safe.

Today has been quite a chilled out kind of day. I was able to jump onto my online shopping and add some extra bits ready to collect early next week. My supermarket of choice is now limiting its customers to only amend their shop in the 2 days prior to collection and with a strictly worded message telling shoppers we should only amend once and only if its urgent!! Really hoping over the coming weeks this all starts to calm down and the supermarkets come up with solutions to the obvious demand.

Managed to complete my jigsaw with relative ease, quite nice to do a simple straight forward puzzle as the next one I think may take a bit longer.

We took our usual walk out this afternoon which took us via my dad's house so that we could see him and chat through his living room window and then we had a little stop at his local corner shop where I was able to buy some wine, chocolate, HP sauce and finally some tinned tomatoes!! You know the important stuff!

Without wanting to repeat myself these are peculiar times that we are living through and we all need to be prepared for this going on for a fair while yet. Earlier today whilst outside a couple of my neighbours were talking over a garden wall, the next thing I see is them both stood next to each other chatting away as they would have done in normal circumstances - really?!! One then came over to me and started chatting, which was lovely, but I made sure I put myself the other side of my car on purpose so that she couldn't get any closer; why are people not taking this seriously? Just because I know you and see you most days doesn't mean we can get up close and personal, just keep your distance. I'm not being rude I'm just being safe and trying to do my bit to help all of us.

xx

Bye Bye 2019...Hello 2020

Well it's that time again when it's customary to look back at one year as we start a new one.

And to be honest 2019 has been a bit of a roller coaster of a year with some very low points peppered with a few highs.

The year started off fairly standard returning to work after two weeks off over the festive period only to be struck down by a stomach virus after just 2 days of work. This resulted in 4 of my staff team all being out of action with the same virus which meant I had to close the pre-school I manage for 3 days; a first in my 18 years of pre-school work!

Moving into February and one of my best highlights of the year. I was lucky enough to get VIP tickets to see my most favourite of bands 'White Lies'; this meant not only did I get to see them in concert but also got chance to watch them do their soundcheck, meet them and get my photo taken with them as well as come away with some great merchandise. This was a fantastic night and one that will stay with me for a long time...to say I was a little bit excited would be an understatement!

Enjoying the soundcheck

Meeting the band - eek!

Front row!!!

This was the start to a couple of weeks of fun times; celebrating a friends 50th, attending our regular burlesque evening at La Deda Cabaret, getting my pencils out at a local life drawing class called Dr Sketchy's and even a weekend away during an unseasonably warm weekend at the end of February.

In amongst all of that I had an appointment for a routine mammogram...just one of those regular things that us women of a certain age get asked to attend. Two weeks after the scan I received a letter from the hospital asking me to visit because they just wanted to 'double check' my scan...nothing to worry about...just one of those things! Suffice to say there was something to be worried about and a diagnosis of breast cancer saw the next 4 months being a blur of hospital appointments. Here's a link to a blog post that marked my last day of treatment and goes into more detail about my diagnosis and treatment; Last Day

During these four months life carried on as normal as possible; Ethan was finishing his final year at university and Molly had the last few months of sixth form ending with her A-Level exams, we had more 50th birthday celebrations, I took part in a charity fashion show, there was Avengers End Game to see, Molly turned 18 and another burlesque evening!

Then in May I was able to get a little more ink...and Molly got her first! See my earlier post; And Some More Disney Ink

Molly getting inked by the lovely Saint Heywood at Acadia Tattoo

And the completed ink...just had to be The Lion King

And for me a pink ribbon...

During this time we had also made the decision to book a holiday to Disneyland Paris...it had been 4 years since our last trip to Paris as a family and 6 years since our last visit to Walt Disney World. We were desperate to get a little Disney into our lives and with all that the year had brought so far we were determined to get out there and live life to the fullest! See the post - 69 Days and Counting

June saw Simon and I celebrate 30 years of marriage....

A 'now & then' photo!

...Molly and Ethan both sat their final exams and finished their respective times in education and my treatment came to an end.

In July we had the chance to support an event called Real Food Rocks held in the Lake District; it was chance for people to discuss and learn more about our approach to food in relation to our health. How if we wish to retain our health or reverse conditions like type 2 diabetes then we need to look at the foods we eat and readjust. Read my post from July all about the event - Real Food Rocks

The end of July saw Ethan achieving a first in his Computer Science degree and we had a great day at his graduation. He then secured himself a programmer job working for a computer games company which is something he has always wanted to do.

August saw Molly receive her A-Level results doing fantastic with an A*, A and B, she is now busy working part-time while establishing her own photography business Shutter Studios

This year was becoming a year of changes; both 'kids' leaving education and moving out into the big wide world, us getting used to the fact that the 'kids' are no longer 'kids' and then my body going through changes as a result of my treatment.

So our trip to Disneyland Paris in August seemed to time itself perfectly. We all had a fantastic time...and I really must find the time to look back at the holiday and get a few posts written and photos shared.

We ended August with a trip to London to see another of my all time favourite bands, She Wants Revenge, who played the O2 academy in Islington. We had seen them only once before, many years ago at a small venue in Sheffield and were thrilled to get the chance to see them again.

As we moved into September I had a hospital check-up which went well and now means I have an annual mammogram for the next 5 years just to make sure!

But within a few days of receiving that good news Simon's mum was diagnosed with heart failure and atrial fibrillation. This then plunged us into 4 months of doctors appointments, phone calls at all times of day, hospital visits (so many that we joked the car could drive itself there), organising home care and panic alarms, calling out paramedics, house sitting waiting for medical equipment to be delivered, liaising with social care, hospital staff, doctors, nurses...it was a never ending deluge of 'stuff' we had to deal with. Now what I should make clear at this point is that Simon is an only child and therefore the responsibility for his elderly mum all fell at his feet and he accepted that responsibility with good grace, care and diligence despite everything. Simon had also been the sole carer for his parents over the last decade or more, doing all he could for his dad when diagnosed with dementia until he passed away 3 years ago. He supported his mum through his dad's illness and then subsequently with every day life after his dad passed away. But this has never been an easy situation to handle, and one that has lasted for most of Simon's life. It is only through events over the last few years and months that we have begun to realise the emotional abuse that Simon, and as a consequence me, have been subjected to by his mum. This is not the forum to go into details but suffice to say the actions and behaviour of one person have had an unbelievable impact on our lives and well being. Sadly this meant that when she passed away just before Christmas it was met with a great sense of relief rather than sadness and mourning, along with the realisation that we are now free to move forward with our lives.

Oh and while all this was happening I got told that the pre-school I manage was being evicted from its current premises (we had been there for 17 years) and that we had just over 3 months to find somewhere new! This was a complete shock to us all and absolutely heartbreaking. But plans are in place and things are now moving forward; there will be lots of changes ahead but the good news is that we hope to be in our new premises by the end of February.

But despite these past few months we have pulled together, made each other stronger and somehow found the time, energy and strength to carry on and get on with life as best we could. So while we had to sacrifice going to the gym or getting Molly to her karate classes, or had to re-schedule day-to-day stuff we still enjoyed some precious moments.

We had some great nights out with friends and family, we introduced Molly to The Rocky Horror Show in the theatre, we enjoyed a night out to see Tim Minchin live, we had more burlesque nights and more life drawing afternoons!

We also were able to get out with our fellow Star Wars cosplay friends and troop at a number of events. We attended Feel the Force in Peterborough, a special comic-con set up for families with additional needs and for the third year running we attended the Nottingham Hospitals Charity Children's Christmas parties. And with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker film we were asked to take part in one of a number of troops held at our local Odeon cinema which saw us raising money for two charities; MIND (mental health) and PASIC (cancer support for children & young people).

Feel the Force - with Joker Squad

Nottingham Hospitals Children's Christmas Party - with East Midlands Garrison

Odeon Cinema, Derby - troop with East Midlands Garrison for the release of The Rise of Skywalker

The last weekend in November saw the house get taken over with Christmas decorations...both inside and out! I just love this time of the year and love the tradition of decorating the whole house!

Part of my back garden - love these blow mould decorations

My main tree...and it's all Disney of course!

Black & Silver tree

And tree number 3 lives in my kitchen!

For my birthday weekend we headed down to London to see White Lies in concert (again) at Brixton Academy. This was a special concert forming part of a small tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album. They played the album in full plus a selection of other songs; it was a fantastic concert, with an amazing atmosphere...we made new friends, had beer thrown over us and Simon got kissed by a random man! Such a great night!

Singing my heart out!!

Made this frame to remember both White Lies concerts 

And just before Christmas we had an evening at the cinema to see the latest Star Wars installment...the evening started at 6pm with a showing of The Force Awakens followed by The Last Jedi followed at one minute past midnight by a showing of the latest movie The Rise of Skywalker. Back home and in bed for about 2.45am to be up at 6.30am for work!!

We have then rounded the year out with a very relaxed Christmas and New Year, we have re-connected with relatives, spent time with friends and family and simply enjoyed the time we have had together as a family.

We are now looking forward to what the year ahead shall bring. We are making plans for that big Disney holiday we have been longing for and making sure that every moment counts.

Wishing you all the very best for 2020 whatever that may bring you. Keep smiling and keep those you love close and cherish every moment you have xx