Day 890 & Day 891

Day 890...Friday

The morning was bright, sunny and a little chilly but within 36 minutes we had our usual 1.9 mile walk completed.

My morning started off with a few household chores; some laundry and some cleaning around. But once those jobs were out the way I took the time to paint my nails; not something I do that often and apart from an odd occasion where I've paid to have them done, it's something I tend to do myself. I do have a UV gel nail kit that Simon bought me a few years ago but it still takes a fair while to get them done that way so a cheap bottle of quick drying, one coat varnish is my preferred go to option!

Not a bad effort for a £1 nail varnish from Primark!

Maybe now that I am retired I could take advantage of the extra time and actually indulge in a manicure every now and then. Trouble is I know once I start it will become a habit, and not a cheap one at that! Best dig out that UV light instead.

But with freshly done nails it gave me the perfect excuse to sit outside in the sunshine (to let them dry of course), enjoy a coffee and catch up on a little reading.

After lunch it was a mixture of little tasks. I had a present to wrap ahead of going out tomorrow evening, there was another 3D print that needed cleaning up, more research on the ideas for my next tattoo, some jigsaw time and re-connecting with an old friend over social media.

An old friend of ours had posted on social media about the different medications they now find themselves on and so both Simon and I had reached out to chat about diet and lifestyle choices. With both of us living a low carb/keto life we are keen to pass on what information we have gained over the years. Often people do not want to know what we do, they are content to carry on as they are and just take a pill that will make everything alright. Our approach is to do the utmost that we can to eat right and live right to try and stack the odds in our favour so that we can avoid as much of the possible downfalls of getting older that we can. No-one can ever rule out getting something horrid but at least we can try and put ourselves in the best possible position for dealing with it or avoiding it completely. For once our old friend didn't dismiss what we had to say and so we started chatting and hopefully we have been able to point them in the right direction. 

On this blog I have a couple of pages 'Eating Well, Staying Healthy' and 'Getting Real' which document my approach to a healthy lifestyle and my progress. Both of these pages are a few years old now so I think they are due either an update or a new additional page and I'm hoping to find some time to do just that. Please check the pages out if you want to know a little more about what I do!

Friday was rounded out with a gym session although I really wasn't feeling it tonight for some reason. My left shoulder can sometimes cause me issues and I think tonight was one of those nights and I perhaps just need to give myself a little more recovery time in between those sessions where I focus on my shoulders. But I still got down the gym and did something which has to be better than nothing.

Day 891...Saturday

We had a more gentle getting up this morning and with a coffee inside us headed out for our morning walk. As we had a few things that we wanted to get done today we just stuck to our usual 1.9 mile route and in 37 minutes we were back home again.

The morning was taken up with helping Simon with an interview he'd been asked to do for a retro gaming journalist in Russia! A fair few years ago (like over 20 years ago) Simon had been the lead designer on a game called Shadowman that seems to have developed a bit of a cult following as he often gets asked about his time working on it. Often Simon will be approached with questions for magazine articles but in this case the journalist is working on a documentary and so Simon thought it would be better to video his answers to the questions. This involved a little bit of set-up to get the positioning and lighting just right. We had decided to invest in a stand that will hold either a phone or video camera that comes with its own light ring as well as a small clip on microphone which once set made the whole process so much easier. And before we knew it the morning had flown by and it was time for lunch.

After lunch I decided to get caught up with writing this blog as I'd run out of time yesterday while Simon edited the mornings video before sending them off. It was also chance to get some more tattoo research done (yes I know more...but it has to be right!) so hopefully I can now get the images sent over to my tattooist at some point this weekend.

I decided to get a little jigsaw done before taking the time to get my make-up sorted ready for going out later in the evening. We are helping some friends of ours celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary and they have hired out a room at the pub across the road from where we live, which is very convenient. So for the first time in a while we are going 'out, out' so I thought I'd better put my best face on. I don't tend to do full make-up very often as it's normally just a bit of mascara, touch of blush, some lipstick and off we go so today I got chance to play with some eye colours. I'm not one for 'natural' colours and have always preferred to go for something brighter but I always feel out of practice so I made sure I gave myself plenty of time rather than rushing at the last minute.

And that is where I'm going to leave it for today...time to go out and have some fun.

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 884

Day 884...

We had a gentle start to the day and with a coffee inside us we headed out on our early(ish) morning walk but today we had a destination ahead of us. We walked the 2.2 miles over to 'The Cowshed', a local cafe, in 43 minutes to meet up with my brother and his wife for breakfast.

We had a lovely cooked breakfast, a couple of coffees and a couple of hours of catching up and a good old chat. Amazingly the return walk (the exact same route as we'd taken to get there) was also completed in 43 minutes and according to my activity tracker I achieved 70 minutes of 'fat burning' exercise - get in!

On our return home it was time for another coffee and an afternoon of getting a few odd jobs done. While I jumped online and did a little shopping Simon spent the time getting productive with his 3D printer.

I've ordered a soda stream because we are fed up of not being able to buy sparkling water and figured a small investment now would save us in the long run plus we'll be using less plastic. We also ordered a couple of wooden shelves for our study/craft room so that I can display my recently bought Disney Funko Pop figures. And I updated our grocery shopping order for collection tomorrow, although I am getting more and more unhappy with the service as more and more items seem to be unavailable. I just don't understand why staples like eggs and mushrooms are not available; shopping is an annoyingly necessary activity and this just makes it even more so.

We have also signed ourselves up to one of our Star Wars troops for a few weeks time. It has been awhile since our last troop as we couldn't get back out there until Simon's broken wrist was out of its cast; no way his stormtrooper armour would have fitted over that! So it's great to know that we have a date on the calendar and can look forward to getting back out there with our fellow cosplayers.

Simon's afternoon has been spent recalibrating his 3D printer after he'd had a failed print earlier in the week. He'd been attempting to print a large model in one very long print (about 3 days long) but had suffered a blockage in the extruder! Sounds painful I know, but basically the filament that feeds through to create the print had just jammed. So once it had been cleared Simon decided to recalibrate the printer and with the help of a YouTube video was able to get everything dialled in and working as best as it could. He has also decided to not risk a long print and so instead has 'sliced' the model into much smaller pieces, although once all the pieces have been printed they will require some assembly!

While Simon got all technical with the printer I kept things a lot simpler and moved some jigsaw pieces around.

And that was Saturday. See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 877

Day 877...

This morning we were up at our normal time as we had promised to play taxi service for Ethan. He had a day out planned with his work at a local paintball centre and he needed to be in Nottingham for 8.45am as they had arranged transport to get everyone to and from the centre.

Once we'd dropped Ethan off we decided that this mornings 'early morning walk' would be an urban one as we set off around Nottingham city centre. We quickly completed 2.4 miles in 43 minutes and ended up at our favourite Caffe Nero for a coffee.

Before we headed for home we had a quick stop by Primark because it would have been rude not to. And whilst there were a couple of Disney items that I was drawn to I decided not to bother as I wasn't 100% sold on them. We also nipped into Holland & Barret, the health food shop, as we wanted to pick up some Konjac noodles; these are low carb noodles, in fact they have zero carbs in them. We'd tried them last week and were pleasantly surprised by them and decided to get a few packets in. It's not something that I would tend to go for but I know that Ethan misses not having noodles or rice when I make a stir-fry so these are a good alternative for us.

Back home and Simon spent a few hours on and off throughout the day getting on with some work. This is not something that he would ordinarily do at a weekend but as they have a deadline fast approaching ahead of  'Gamescom' in Germany towards the end of the month he wanted to put in a few extra hours today. He'd expected his other team mates to also be online but no-one else appeared to be, but as we have a day out planned for tomorrow Simon wanted to get his extra hours done today.

I managed to complete my latest jigsaw and would you believe it I was a piece missing; that is two jigsaws that I have completed one after the other with missing pieces - how weird? 

Missing piece??

Now whether those pieces are hiding somewhere in the living room having got disturbed by having windows open and draughts coming through I don't know - only time will tell I suppose.

I have also been doing a little online searching for a hotel near Molly so that we can visit in a few weeks time. We have a hotel that we have used the last few times and I was hoping to find somewhere different but after searching I was back to our 'usual'. Not only was the cost either comparable or cheaper than others I looked at but it also has free electric vehicle charging points which obviously are a must for us.

It was then time to go and collect a very red, sweaty and knackered Ethan from Nottingham following his day paintballing. Now Ethan is not the most active of people and I think he will be feeling todays efforts for the next few days to come!

Simon has also been working on his next 3D print that will actually be something that we can both appreciate and will be something that we will display in our new study/craft room...I will reveal more as things progress. Suffice to say it's a decent size and at the moment is predicted to take over three and a half days and one kilo of filament!

And with that I think I will stop for the day as I am very hot and sweaty and need to cool down, have some food and watch some RuPauls Drag Race.

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 869, 870 & 871

Day 869...Friday

This morning started with an increase to my cold shower so I am now at two minutes and forty five seconds! Still got a little way to go to match Simon's four minutes but not doing too bad.

My phone weather app was telling me there was a 74% chance of rain but the skies were blue so we went out on our early morning walk armed with the umbrella just in case...did we need it? Nope!Anyways we did our usual 1.9 miles in another quick 36 minutes and stayed dry all the way round.

My morning was spent catching up on a few odd jobs and having a bit of a clean through before stopping to have a little jigsaw time. Ordinarily I would leave my jigsaw until the afternoon but as it sits in front of some french doors and is in direct sunlight during the mid to late afternoon it can get a tad hot. So today I thought I'd take advantage of the shade and get a few pieces moved around before lunch.

I tried numerous times throughout the day to sit outside and soak up some vitamin D but failed as it decided to rain each time I poked my head out the door, despite my wonderful weather app telling me there was zero percent chance of rain! Mmm something tells me I ought not to pay much attention to this app!

One of the tasks that I have set myself is to go through all the bits and pieces at my mum and dads house and figure out what to do with it all. Myself and my brother have gone through everything and taken anything that meant something to us or could be useful and our kids have done the same. But now we are left with a lot of items that are simply too good to throw away and need to go where they will be appreciated. So this afternoon I made a start...a little start! To be honest I've been putting it off because it feels like such a monumental task and I haven't had the willpower to simply just start but I need to man up and get on with it.

So this afternoon I started with something small; some jewellery. I wanted to go through all the bits that we have and figure out what we actually have and what to do with it. I've decided to keep my mum's engagement and eternity rings although I'm not sure if I'll ever wear them. The engagement ring is quite thin and has some stones missing so would need some restoration work doing to it before it could be worn but I have always loved this ring and am just happy to be able to have it. The other pieces that we have could possibly have belonged to my grandparents as I don't remember seeing them at all but I simply don't know. I think I will be taking them to a local jeweller to get them appraised and see where we go from there.

One item that I'd brought home from my dads house was a christening gown that appeared to be in too good a condition to have been mine but as my brother was christened in hospital not long after he'd been born (he was in an incubator for a few weeks and things were a bit touch and go!) it made sense that it would be mine. So I did a little investigation by looking through some old photo albums, and sure enough found photographs of my christening in early 1968! And I am pretty sure that yes the christening gown we have found is mine! It has a label that is definitely from that time but it's condition is amazing, in fact it looks like new.

The day was rounded out with our third weights workout of the week and today I was focused on arms and shoulders. Really happy with how my workouts are going at the moment as having found some new moves online it seems to have reinvigorated my attitude towards exercise. 

Day 870...Saturday

This morning was a change to our routine as after we'd had a coffee we headed into Derby. It was really nice to actually dress a bit smarter for a change (tend to be a shorts and t-shirt kind of girl) and I was more than a little happy that the denim dress I chose to wear felt like it fitted me much better than it did this time last year so I must be doing something right.

Once in Derby I wanted to pop into Next to see if they had some shorts I've been after; I bought a pair online a few weeks back and decided that a second pair was needed. However they are no longer in stock online and when we visited Nottingham on Monday their store didn't have any and today Derby was no better! Wish I'd ordered a second pair straight away now!

We then went in search of coffee before heading off for a wander around the city centre. It is so sad to see so many shops empty but thankfully the one shop we did want to pop into was still open; Warhammer! Purely for Simon as he needed some model paints for finishing off a couple of prop making endeavours he has on the go at the moment. On our way back to the car we had the obligatory stop by Primark but unfortunately there was nothing that caught my eye.

On the way home we stopped by a DIY store to purchase a piece of furniture panel that we could make into shelves for the cupboards we have built upstairs in our new study/craft room. We had taken measurements before we had left home this morning so knew that the piece of panel whilst big enough to make the shelves that we needed would be too big to fit in the car. So we had come armed with a tape measure, a couple of saws and our calculations of where we needed to cut it! So using a couple of large trolleys as a bench we were able to take a 2.39 metre piece and cut it in half so that it fit perfectly in the car and knowing that each half would make two shelves of differing sizes!

After a spot of lunch we then spent the afternoon spent cutting the wood panel to the correct size for the four shelves that we needed. Although the units we'd bought were Ikea they didn't sell extra shelves hence why we were having to make our own. When we'd looked at the panel online we knew that it wouldn't be quite as deep as the shelves we already had but it was the best sizing that we'd been able to find. But when Simon started to measure up we found out that the piece we'd picked up was actually deeper than the one we'd seen online and in fact deeper than the existing shelves! So although this did involve extra cutting for Simon it did mean that by the time we'd finished we had four new shelves that matched perfectly to the existing ones - win!

The last job was to iron on the white trim to cover up the bare wood edges and while the edges were 'setting' we nipped out to Lidl for some salad stuff. Back home and all the edges were set and just needed a quick tidy up by Simon. 

The one thing we hadn't picked up when we bought the wood panel were shelf pegs but that was probably a good thing because when we went to order some online we realised that the holes we have were slightly smaller than the standard. But by the power of Amazon we were able to order enough pegs to be delivered tomorrow.

Day 871...Sunday

Today we had a gentle start to the day and with a coffee inside us we headed out for a not quite so early morning walk. We had a lovely 3.5 mile walk in gorgeous weather in one hour and 7 minutes, although this did involve some blackberry picking along the way! 

Our first job of the day was to swap over some light fittings. We had a couple of wall lights that we had bought when we moved into our first house and that had come with us when we moved here a lot of years ago. Suffice to say these lights were showing their age by rocking an eighties vibe pretty well! After taking them down Simon need to fill a few holes before we could put up the new fixtures, so while the filler harden we had some lunch. It was then a simple job of putting up the new brackets and installing the new much simpler sconces.

By mid-afternoon the shelf pegs had arrived so we were able to see if all our hard work from yesterday paid off and thankfully we were able to install all four shelves with relative ease. We now have three cupboards with extra shelf space which is great as Simon is now able to store all his art materials in a much better way to keep all the paper and card flat and clean.

Simon has also been able to spend a little time cleaning up some model parts as well as airbrushing his latest R2D2 3D printed pieces. He was even able to get a little more paint applied to the interior of R2's doors as he puts those final finishing touches in place.

I've been able to catch up with writing this blog and then at 6pm I was able to hook up via Zoom for one of our  Disney Dream Girls Sunday Disney Quizzes! And I think I won which means that I'm going to have to write the next set of questions although our next quiz won't now be until the end of September!

And with that I think I will stop typing and see you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 863 & 864 - Another Weekend

Day 863...

Simon was up and out early this morning for a 7.30am barbers appointment! After he arrived home we had a coffee before popping on our walking shoes and venturing out for a longer walk than normal. As it had been a bit wet overnight we kept to the pavements and headed in the direction of a local garden centre that has a lovely cafe called Piptree Cafe.

It was a 2.2 mile walk which we managed in 40 minutes and then we had the same journey home again. The day was rather grey and looked like it could rain at any minute so we went out armed with an umbrella and rain coats and needed none of them! Typical!

After a bit of brunch we had a decidedly lazy afternoon. It was raining off and on and Simon had his latest piece of digital art that he was desperate to get completed. I had a few online bits to do but then spent the remainder of my time just chilling and watching some TV and some YouTube.

After a very lovely keto dinner of black pepper chicken stir fry we settled down for the evening to watch a couple of Drag Race shows. We had the final of All Stars Season 7 which has been phenomenal to watch and in our opinion the right queen won. And then we started watching the second series of Drag Race Down Under.

Day 864...

The day started a little later than usual and after a coffee we decided that a walk was very much needed. Not sure what was up with me this morning (and the majority of the weekend if I'm honest) but I was struggling to feel motivated and actually felt quite grumpy. I'd hoped that getting out for a walk might have lifted my mood but I'm not sure it made any significant difference. 

It was another grey day following rain over night and again looked like it could rain at any moment, although it was surprisingly warm. We kept to a flatter route and tried to avoid too many wet fields but we still clocked up 3.5 miles in 1 hour and 6 minutes.

While I had the exciting task of updating our online grocery shopping ahead of collection tomorrow Simon was focused on cleaning up his recent set of 3D prints. This involves sanding the pieces to remove any lumps and bumps that shouldn't be there along with smoothing out the lines that appear with a 3D print, followed by the application of a resin filler to fill in the gaps and help create a smoother surface.

I made a start on my newest jigsaw which by the power of Amazon was ordered yesterday and had arrived by late morning. I have still not found the missing piece of my last jigsaw so have packed it away in the hope that it may show up at some point in the future. But today I was able to get the edge completed of my new Winnie the Pooh themed one...

Simon has been able to hook up a special camera to his 3D printer which means that he will be able to keep an eye on the printer from wherever he may be, which as the printer is at the opposite end of the house to where Simon normally works is going to be pretty useful. He can even control the printer from the app that runs along with the camera! It's a nice safety feature to have in case a print gets too hot (although it should shut down automatically) or if it starts to misprint. This way Simon will be able to avoid unnecessary errors and the waste of printer filament.

And then for the first time in like forever we had our Disney Dream Girls Sunday meet-up/quiz. We started doing a weekly quiz on a Sunday sometime in 2020 when the world was going mad and we'd been pretty good at making it a regular weekly occurrence but as life became more 'normal' and our lives resumed it had become harder to find time when everyone was free to 'meet up'. Since out last meet-up it would appear Zoom have reduced the amount of free time you have to chat and so our little chit chat was cut short and we didn't even get around to having the quiz element! But we have put next Sunday in our diaries and so hopefully then we will be able to chat and quiz!

OK, I think I will sign off and see you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 856 & Day 857 - The Weekend

Day 856...Saturday

With Molly and Dan visiting for the weekend I have deliberately left writing my blog until they had returned home as I wanted to be able to spend as much time with them as possible.

So our Saturday morning started with a walk, but today we were accompanied by Molly and Dan and also Ethan. It was a proper family outing as we walked the 2.4 miles over the fields to a local cafe called The Cowshed. It took us just 45 minutes to get over there and we had the pleasure of meeting horses, alpacas and very friendly dogs along the way.

But we had good reason for making the walk as we took advantage of a very yummy cooked breakfast in a lovely setting. Although the day had started a little grey the sun decided to make an appearance and it was great to be sat outside enjoying the weather, the food and the great company.

We took a little longer walk back clocking up 3.2 miles in 59 minutes. It was great to be able to have 'the kids' with us and introduce them to the places that we walk and have talked about to them, and whilst Molly had been on some of these walks before Ethan had not. 

The remainder of the day was spent at home chatting and catching up with each other, drinking coffee, eating food and just generally having a very relaxed and chilled time.

Day 857...Sunday

In a change to our normal routine we decided to have breakfast before we did anything else. Simon and I were up and about a little later than normal and enjoying a coffee before we decided what the order of the day should be. Once Molly and Dan appeared we decided to get breakfast under way while they nipped out to get some petrol in their car ready for the journey home later today. With petrol costing so much at the moment and them living 3 hours away we have helped them out by paying for a tank of fuel for them...we simply couldn't expect them to visit when the cost is so high at the moment, without helping out a little.

We did still manage our morning walk but it was after breakfast and we were accompanied by Molly and Dan. We did one of our standard walks of 2.3 miles in 47 minutes, it was a little grey out and a tad windy but still really quite warm.

By early afternoon Molly and Dan were on their way home; it is always lovely to have them visit but always makes me realise just how much I miss Molly. She would normally be my partner in crime; helping me out with odd jobs, someone to chat with when the boys start getting all techy and nerdy and good company for whenever shopping was involved! But as much as I miss her I know that she is happy living with Dan by the seaside and all I ever want for her, and for Ethan, is for them to be happy and content and living their lives the way they want being the best possible version of themselves.

This afternoon Simon did a little tinkering around with the 3D printer as he wanted to re-design and re-print a couple of pieces for additions to his R2D2. With the printer set off printing we popped out to our favourite Starbucks for a coffee and for the car to visit the adjacent jet wash! It was the first time Simon has been able to drive the car since breaking his wrist and as a result the first time the car has been washed since then too!

Back home and it was more 3D printing for Simon along with a little video capture. We have re-discovered our digital video camera and having charged it up Simon decided to take it out with us yesterday and do a little filming as a test. So this afternoon he has been busy taking the video and editing it and so while I type the video is 'rendering out' and we will find out whether or not the camera will be worth using going forward. Whilst mobile phones are great for capturing photos and video the available memory can soon fill up and so having this compact camera might be the way forward, especially for when we are off doing new things and visiting places.

And with that I shall see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 849

Day 849...

Our Saturday started with a walk over the fields of 2.4 miles in 47 minutes; it started off refreshingly cool but by time we arrived home the temperature had already warmed up significantly.

Before it got too warm we headed down to Lidl to buy some salad and bits that we'd run out of. And once back home we were home for the rest of the day.

And the main focus of our day was building and setting up Simon's new 3D printer. We started with a big brown box and an empty space where the old printer had lived...

The printer was beautifully packaged and came in essentially three main parts and a set of tools for assembly...

It was then time to get out the instructions and get assembling.

The printer bed

Printer head and support beams in place

Glass print plate in place, along with touch pad controls

Next we took a break for lunch, we needed refuelling as the next job was getting all the wiring connected and threaded in the right places.

With everything connected we then had to ensure that the filament extruded correctly and that the bed was level...it was then time to do a test print.

Start of the print

In progress...can you tell what it is yet?

And then we have the finished result...

The printer is much quieter than Simon's previous printer and a darn sight quicker. And as I type Simon has just started a print of a small addition for his R2D2!

And while the new printer was busy printing Simon was dismantling the old one and scavenging it for spare parts, useful nuts and bolts and probably some greeblies along the way (the odds and sods that get added to Star Wars props...if you know, you know!).

By the end of the evening the printer was working hard at its second R2D2 part and was performing pretty good. The old printer, being a basic early entry into the world of 3D printing, had worked well for us but had not always been the most reliable being prone to various issues so hopefully this model will prove to be a tad more reliable.

And with that I will see you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 842

Day 842...

It was a pretty early start to our Saturday as Simon had a 7am appointment at the barbers, with me as taxi service!

Once we got back home we put on our walking shoes and headed out over the fields for our early morning walk, completing 2.5 miles in 45 minutes and we were still back home before 9am. Without really stopping we headed straight back out the door to go to my dads house so that we could load the car with items that I am going to try and sell tomorrow at a table top sale. We were limited by the amount of space in the car and so couldn't take everything I would have liked but we will see whether or not we can get anything sold and passed onto new homes.

The remainder of the morning was spent with me finding yet more paperwork to shred as well as a few bits to file away. I also discovered that I have more Disney theme park memorabilia than I realised and I am going to need to figure out a way to store it all effectively as I know I won't be able to part with it. I have stacks of park maps, hotel details, park tickets, room keys, pins, coasters, note paper...the list goes on! 

While I did that Simon made a start on getting his 3D printer up and running again and after initially making some good progress he hit a snag with the 'hot end' which means that he needs a good amount of time to try and re-configure it. He has also started looking at different printers as this one is over 5 years old and was bought as a 'test to see if it was any use'; suffice to say it has been well used and a newer, improved version is probably overdue.

After our lunch/brunch it was time to play taxi service for Ethan as he was off to a friends for a BBQ, which also involved a stop by Lidl so that he could pick up some suitable supplies.

With Ethan dropped off we headed off to a local Next store to pick-up my online order that I'd placed a couple of days ago; some new shorts. And because we were out we took advantage of the air conditioning at the nearby Starbucks and enjoyed a coffee and a cool down. It has been another lovely, hot and sunny day again today.

It has been interesting watching the mileage range on our electric vehicle today as in warmer weather the battery is supposed to perform better but we could see the miles disappearing disproportionately to the miles we knew we'd actually travelled. Then we realised with it being so warm the air conditioning was working at full blast and as a result was eating up our battery charge. We do have an 'eco' mode that we can put the car in which would scale back the heating or air conditioning in order to give a greater range but as we were only staying local it wasn't something we needed to use today but we need to keep it in mind for if and when we are travelling longer distances on hot days!

Back home again and it was time to try on the shorts I'd picked up as well as the gym shorts that had arrived earlier this morning. Thankfully they all fit beautifully. I'm always reassured when buying new clothes that my size (that I'm always critical of) hasn't actually changed, even though I may think it has. I bought UK size 8 shorts for the first time 7 years ago, the summer after I lost around two stone in weight, and today I am still buying size 8 shorts as well as size small gym shorts...so I must be doing something right.

Well that's about it for today...we still have Ethan to play taxi service for...maybe...just waiting to hear whether he needs us or not, but otherwise I will see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 835

Day 835...

The morning after another nights rubbish sleep...I think all the gardening this past week is catching up with me and I couldn't get comfy at all!

So we had a little later than normal start to the day but we still took one of our usual walks managing 2.3 miles in 46 minutes.

The first task of the day was to complete my online grocery shopping that's due to be collected tomorrow. Ethan has decided to take packed lunches to work, as I think making use of the many food options on offer in Nottingham is starting to get a tad expensive, and so he wanted to choose some bits and pieces to add to the shopping this week. I did my best to get him to avoid the carbs, or at least too many of them!

After lunch/brunch Simon was busy getting his laptop up and working again so that he can start back with some 3D printing...he has a few ideas for his next build or builds! He also spent some time working on his latest piece of digital art. I decided that I'd best get sorting all the paperwork that I'd moved from one cupboard into our new study/craft room as the room will be used as our guest bedroom at the end of the week as Molly and Dan are popping up for a visit.

By the end of the afternoon I'd created two bags of paper rubbish (most of which I'd shredded) and cleared out seven lever arch files. And all the stuff that I need to keep is now neatly filed away in my new filing cabinet.

And with that, there was my not very exciting Saturday, roll on tomorrow.
xx

Day 828 & Day 829 - Another Weekend

Day 828...Saturday

We started the day with another morning walk, a slightly longer route today of 2.5 miles in 46 minutes.

After breakfast we rallied the troops - okay me, Simon and Ethan - and headed off to my dads house to get a little more sorting done. Now we have a date for the estate agent taking photos along with another date for an auctioneer to visit we need to get organised.

We moved all of the items from the attic room downstairs so that the room is now clear and the items we moved are going to be so much easier to go through. As Simon has one wrist out of action I needed Ethan to help out and be my secong good pair of hands!

In about an hour and a half we had gotten everything moved to where I wanted it to be; I will now be able to re-organise, decided what needs to go where and get the house looking all spick and span. As a reward for a job well done we ventured home by way of Starbucks to get much needed coffees all round.

With a pit stop at home Simon and I jumped back in the car and went back to my dads house as we had noticed a curtain rail was hanging off the wall and needed to be put back into place. Despite Simon's wrist he was able to drill a new hole and rehang the rail with relative ease.

The remainder of the day was then taken up with technical stuff. Both mine and Simon's phones were full to bursting with photos and videos and so it was time to get them off and backed-up. Not a very stimulating job but a much needed one, plus this way we have copies that we know are safe and stored in a chronological order.

And to round out our Saturday it was RuPauls Drag Race All Stars!

Day 829...Sunday

A slightly steadier start to the day but once up we headed out for our morning walk of 2.2 miles in 43 minutes.

Next on the agenda was a visit to my dads house to get on with a bit more tidying. I managed to get one room completely clear, store items out of sight, re-organise stuff and bag up yet more towels, sheets and even curtains. I filled the refuse bin and brought stuff home to fill up a refuse bin here (we have a neighbour on holiday so are taking advantage of their empty bin!). Just over two hours later we headed home. It was enough time to make an impact without getting completely burnt out by it all, I think slow and steady will win the race.

So it did mean that the first meal of our day wasn't until about 2pm! So that equates to a fast of around 19 hours!

Because the weather was lovely, if a little windy, we decided to make the most of it and head out for another walk this time managing 3.6 miles in an hour and six minutes.

The remainder of the day was rather chilled out and just saw us catching up on a few odd jobs.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 821 & Day 822 - The Weekend

Day 821...Saturday

It was a relatively early start for a Saturday morning but there was no walk to be had as I was playing taxi driver for the men of the family as they had appointments at the barbers.

Back home and we had a mid-morning breakfast which was slightly earlier than of late for Simon and I. Next on the agenda was to order a new paper shredder as I have a lot of mine and my dads paperwork to go through, sort and re-organise and I know there will be a lot to get rid of. I also had to order some suspension files for the new filing cabinet that I've yet to use. I had ordered some files when we'd bought the cabinet a couple of months ago but unfortunately I'd ordered the wrong size which I didn't discover until this morning - oops!

Simon and I then headed out for a coffee; it was a grey and drizzly day and not overly conducive to going out and about, so we opted to stay dry and hydrated! We stopped by a DIY store on the way home as we wanted to check out some options for putting extra shelves in the new cupboards in our study/craft room.

The day was brought to a close by watching this weeks episode of RuPauls Drag Race All Stars season 7.

Day 822...Sunday...Father's Day

The day started with the giving of gifts from the 'kids' to Simon; Spiderman No Way Home on BluRay, some Deliciously Guilt Free goodies and an on-trend black bracelet.

With just a coffee to fuel us we headed into Nottingham for the day. We needed to exchange a shirt that Simon had bought last weekend as the sleeves were too tight and we also popped into Primark to pick up another pair of jeans for Simon as the ones he'd bought last week were so good he thought he'd get an extra pair. 

We then headed for a coffee before our main reason for visiting Nottingham; to attend Dr Sketchy's. This is a regular life drawing event that makes use of burlesque performers as their models. Hosted by the lovely Scarlett Daggers it is always a great way to pass a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. Although, today we decided that after the first half of the event we'd had enough and decided to head home. Simon was battling with his left hand being a little sore and simply wasn't enjoying the event as much as normal so having enjoyed what we'd done we called it a day and went home.

By the time we arrived home we were feeling a little peckish and so broke our 'fast' with some scrambled egg. This is the longest we have fasted for so far, managing about 21 hours.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Simon doing some of his own personal digital art while I caught up with the online grocery shopping. My brother popped by as we had some paperwork from the solicitors that needed signing so that we can finally get my dad's estate sorted. It is taking them so long and we are beginning to think it would have been quicker if we'd done it all our selves. But we can't change that now we just have to go with the process and hope that the end is in sight.

And that was my weekend...see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 814 & 815 - The Weekend

I decided to write up 'the weekend' as one post as it has been a relatively quiet one.

Day 814 - Saturday...started very slowly and with a coffee to get us going we headed out for a not so early morning walk. We took a slightly different route to normal which turned out to be slightly shorter at just 1.8 miles, in 40 minutes.

After a very late breakfast/early lunch (maybe I should just call it brunch?!) we had an afternoon of catching up with a few bits and pieces. I managed to get all of the cataloguing of items from my dads house complete...finally! One of those jobs that seemed to take way longer than it should because searching the internet to figure out what things are is never as easy as you think it should be. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all the information I've gleaned.

Simon also had the task of replying to a retro game journalist who'd contacted him with some questions for an article all about the good old days of the Amiga, Rick Dangerous and gaming in the late 1980's and early 1990's! Simon managed to find an app that would convert a voice recording into text which meant he didn't have to type all of his responses as typing is a little awkward at the moment with a cast on his left arm!

A very quiet Saturday.

Day 815 - Sunday

We had a very slow start to the day as it was the first time in long while that we had no particular reason to be up and about.

But once we'd had a late breakfast we took off in the direction of Nottingham to have a wander and a mooch about. We had no real focus or intention, simply just thought it would be somewhere different to visit as it's been a few weeks and somewhere that was less likely to trigger Simon's hayfever!

It turned out to be a successful trip as we came away with a couple of t-shirts, a shirt and a pair of jeans for Simon and a t-shirt, dress, jumper and some make-up bits for me. Simon's shirt is unfortunately a little on the tight side over his arms (which he was quite pleased about!) so when we are in Nottingham next weekend (as we have a Dr Sketchy's to attend) we will get it exchanged.

I couldn't resist a walk through Primark and as is the law I came away with a couple of Disney themed purchases...

T-shirt - front

T-shirt - back

Cute dress

The weather was lovely as we wandered about and by the time we headed home we'd walked just over 3.5 miles! So shopping and exercise in one go - win!

It was then back home for coffee and blog writing!

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 807

Day 807...

And we have reached the weekend and it's a Saturday.

We did not rush to get up, but once we were up and about, and fueled with a coffee, we set out on our morning walk. We completed 2.5 miles in 48 minutes, and we are loving this new way to start the day. A chance to get some fresh air, blow the cobwebs away and chance for us to chat and connect.

The morning saw us catch up on a few boring household tasks and Simon made more headway with the plinth he is constructing to go under our table top mirror in the bedroom. In fact by the end of the day he'd managed to shape the plinth to fit through a combination of chiseling, filling and sanding, and had also applied a first coat of varnish.

This afternoon was yet more housework as we had a bit of a good old clean through in a couple of rooms. We had thought we might get out for a second walk but the day was rather grey and it threatened with rain on and off...this does not bode well for our activities tomorrow. We are joining some fellow East Midlands Garrison Star Wars friends to take part in a local charity event, however the day is forecast to be very wet all day and as far as I know the whole event is held outdoors...this could be interesting!

And I think that is where I will leave it for today.

See you tomorrow,
xx

Day 800

Day 800...

And my first official day of 'retirement' and I was looking forward to a slow and steady start to the day but that was not to be.

Today was our first time 'trooping' with our fellow Star Wars geeks since February 2020...for obvious reasons. Although events had started happening a few months back a lot of places had been insisting on tests and masks and we simply refused to go along with anything that wasn't just normal.

We are members of two costuming groups; Joker Squad and East Midlands Garrison and so it is a matter of seeing when either are attending an event and whether that event is something that we are able to get to. Luckily for us today we were trooping with East Midlands Garrison at Em-Con held at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham which is only a few miles away for us.

So we were up and out the door by 7.50am and were outside the arena by 8.20am to meet up with our Star Wars family.

Arriving at the arena with our East Midlands Garrison family

We had about 20 members of the garrison in attendance today and our first task was to find our changing area and get kitted up for the day.

Star Wars cosplay is not a glamorous life and we often find ourselves allocated some rather interesting locations as our changing area. Today was no exception as it appeared to be an empty storage room with a few chairs and not much else. But we got on with getting kitted up which for me involved transforming into Governor Pryce from the animation series Rebels complete with a black, bob styled wig and for Simon it was Stormtrooper time.

Our day was then spent wandering around the convention, meeting the public and having lots of photos taken, some of which were with a few of the celebrities in attendance!

With 'Hunter' from the TV show Gladiators!

With actor Will Mellors

With actor Nick Frost

A long day but an enjoyable one and one in which we were able to make a lot of people smile as well as raise money for a charity called PASIC which supports families of children who have cancer.

So now it is time for a well earned feet-up in front of the telly!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 793

Day 793...

After a steady start to our Saturday morning we gathered ourselves together as Ethan had a house viewing booked.

He is thinking of getting his own place and had seen a newly listed house in the right sort of area at the top end of his budget and had booked in a viewing for today. Unfortunately this was not going to be the house for him! 

The estate agent greeted us with 'there's some work that needs to be done, it's a 'doer-upper''...mmm...and that doesn't even allow for the general cleanliness of the house as it completely stunk to high heaven of cats! It would need a new bathroom, new kitchen, new flooring, completely redecorating through out and a mega deep, deep clean. Oh well at least house that we look at from now on can only get better...right?!

After a quick detour via Lidl we arrived home in much need of a coffee. While Simon did a little digital art work I enjoyed my coffee sat in the sunshine. 

Our plans for the remainder of the day centered around my good friend Michelle visiting ahead of an evening out in Derby to see another La De Da Cabaret show. So while Simon got all energetic and nipped out for a quick run I took things much slower and did my make-up ready for the evening followed by a little online shopping. I was in need of some make-up bits and pieces as well as some new trainers for walking. I'd found a pair online and figured it was easier to order from the comfort of my own home as opposed to visit a store in person and hope that they had my size. So by the end of this week I should have some new walking shoes to try out.

....to be continued....as we were out late I never got to finish this post and publish it so I guess this will be done today (Sunday!).

See you later.
xx

 

Day 786

Day 786...

So yesterday was a tad on the busy side which meant I simply ran out of time for writing and publishing a blog post.

So yesterday...after a full day at work I took a quick diversion home via Lidl to pick up a few bits I'd forgotten the day before. I wanted to pick up a cake for Molly for her birthday but unfortunately there was none to be found for the second day running. Once home I was then busy making keto bread and keto pizza as well as wrapping up some last minute pressies.

Then before I knew it Molly and Dan arrived home. The evening was then spent with lots of catching up to do, the giving of pressies for Mollys birthday the day before and plenty of food and cake to eat. Molly had made herself her own birthday cake, along with some keto chocolate cake, which is something she has always done for her birthday, and she had brought what was left with her!

And then we have today...

A reasonable, but relaxed, start to the day which saw Molly head off to her old kickboxing academy to take part in their Saturday morning class. A chance to catch up with all those she had trained with over the last few years. And while Molly worked out there Simon and Dan decided to grab thirty minutes down 'our gym'!

Then this afternoon we headed into Nottingham. Molly, Dan and Simon went ice skating while Ethan and I hit the shops and had a coffee! We then all came together and went to one of our favourite restaurants, Soulville Steakhouse.

Once home it was time for more birthday cake with a glass of Prosecco!!

Night all and I will see you tomorrow.

xx

 

Day 780

Day 780...

The weekend has arrived and we started with a prompt getting up as Simon had a barbers appointment just after 9am.

Once Simon had returned home we gathered ourselves together and headed off into Derby for a little shopping trip. I wanted to see if I could pick up a few birthday pressies (May is a busy month!) and it was also chance to get Ethan out for some clothes shopping.

Primark proved successful for me as I came away with two new Disney t-shirts, a Mickey Mouse themed cushion and some earrings. 

We stopped for a coffee mid-shop to keep us going although Ethan ended the trip empty handed. He's not too excited by shopping for clothes and is quite tricky to buy for. I'd hoped to be able to point him in the right direction but it was not to be today.

I did get asked twice today while we were out and about if I was a Disney fan; I think the themed trainers, jacket, t-shirt, earrings and handbag may have been a bit of a give-away. I was even able to hand out a business card for the Disney Dream Girls podcast!

Back home and it was an afternoon of sorting stuff out along with sitting in the sunshine with a coffee. I'd got solicitors paperwork to go through and needed to get together some more bits and pieces to take into their office next week. Not very exciting but necessary.

And so there ends this Saturday, see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 773

Day 773...

A sunny Saturday and a very laid back and quiet sort of day.

Once we were up and about there was a little DIY to attend to...well for Simon there was. We had two new wall lights to be fitted in our new study/craft room...aka Molly's old bedroom. Thankfully they were fitted in next to no time and with no real hiccups.

Inadvertently I ended up taking our vacuum cleaner apart to get it clean after Simon had noticed that the brushes were clogged. Fifteen minutes later and the vacuum was in pieces and filters being washed and cleaned. Not the most exciting of jobs but one that was very evidently needed.

This afternoon we made the most of the nice weather and took a walk over the countryside near us. We are very blessed to live next door to open countryside and plenty of walks. We did 3.4 miles in an hour and ten minutes. As we headed for home we came across a local artist who was painting in one of the fields, and so we stopped to have a chat. He'd created a beautiful scene of the field and a rather striking tree in front of him; turns out he was the chairperson of a local art club!

Back home and it was coffee in the sunshine before Simon set about a little digital art work and I completed a little more of my current jigsaw.

All in all a very quiet and relaxed day. See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 766

Day 766...

This will be a quick post as it is rather late in the day.

We had a quiet morning followed by an afternoon spent in Nottingham. We did a little shopping and stopped for a coffee.

Me and Molly had a successful trip around Primark coming away with tshirts, cushions, shoes, socks and a throw.

We stopped by my dads house for Molly to have s look around and see if there was anything that she would like to remember her grandad, and grandma, by. 

It was quite late by the time we got home and so it was takeaway kebabs for dinner!

And then this evening we have been scrolling through lots and lots of photos and video to find photos of my dad that we will be using for his celebration of life on Monday. Which has resulted in much laughter as we have watched home videos from about 2008 onwards!!

See you all tomorrow.

xx

Day 759

Day 759..

A quick post today I think...

We were up relatively early as Simon and Ethan were booked in at the barbers for 8am!

But this did mean that we made the most of the day and most of the day was spent upstairs in our new arts/crafts room trying to work out where to store everything. 

While we had been building the units and worktop all of the 'stuff' that we had stored in the room had been squeezed into the small ensuite. By the end of the day everything had been taken out of the ensuite and had found a new place to live. We moved our printer from downstairs to upstairs and cleared out most of the cabinet where the printer lived and relocated its contents upstairs as well.

Along the way we found old sets of keys that we haven't used in years and had no idea what they belonged to. I also discovered that I own five pairs of sunglasses that were hidden away in a drawer! Suffice to say they have now been relocated to somewhere more obvious and will now be used...I hope!

We took a break from proceedings mid-afternoon and took the car out 'for a coffee'; as in we took advantage of the jet wash located adjacent to the Starbucks and then partook of a coffee! Back home we had a little venture out into the garden as despite having gravel as the majority of our garden the weeds had suddenly decided to appear. Out with the weedkiller!!

And that was our Saturday; a day of doing and making progress with our new room. We have also ordered some cable management baskets to attach to the underside of the worktops along with a new smart TV which will mean that by this time next week the room will be almost fully functional!

See you tomorrow.
xx