What to write...

What to write about...where do I begin?

After such a long hiatus from writing this blog I wonder if it's time I reintroduced myself? After all the person I was in 2012 when I started the blog is different from the person sitting here at the keyboard today...if only by the fact that I'm twelve years older, two stone (28 pounds) lighter and I'd like to say wiser, but who knows!

So here goes...

Hi...my name is Jayne. I find myself just entering the second half of my 50's and am very blessed to be retired, married to my best friend of nearly 39 years, we have a couple of amazing grown-up kids and somewhere along the way I developed a love of Disney.

It was that love of Disney that initially gave me the idea to write a blog, I wanted to share that love along with the knowledge and experiences that I'd gathered over the years. I also wanted to share my Disney daydreaming as I looked forward to, and planned for, my Disney vacations. But as the years rolled on and circumstances changed so did the topics that I decided to write about.

Disney will always be apart of who I am and something I will always want to write about but there are now other topics that I am passionate about that I would like to share. The transition from a working mum to a retiree. My personal health and well being journey that started in 2014 and is still ever evolving. A love of Star Wars that has grown and evolved through cosplay adventures and a new family of friends. A sense of discovering who this new retired version of me could be and what interests and adventures are out there that I have not yet even thought of!

I am extremely fortunate that in the last couple of months my partner in crime, my husband Simon, has joined me in this retirement malarkey and we are navigating this change to our lives together. We are beginning to make plans for the year (and years) ahead and are looking to make the most of the time that we have in front of us. It is taking a little getting used to but one that we are thoroughly enjoying.

We have a few travel plans booked, some cosplay events for this year are beginning to get scheduled, I have a weekly podcast that I co-host called the Disney Dream Girls and Simon has numerous art and prop making projects on the go. And within all of that we try to keep ourselves as fit and as active as possible so that we can continue to enjoy the time we have, for as long as we can and in the best shape that we can be so that life can be lived to its fullest.

So let's see where this journey is going to take us!

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 843

Day 843...

Well this will be a short post today because we haven't really done an awful lot.

Our morning was focused on attending a table top sale being run by the pre-school I used to manage. So this meant there was no morning walk as we decided to have some breakfast to set us up for the day. Ordinarily our first meal of the day would be around lunchtime but we knew that we would not be home by then so didn't want to risk feeling hungry later on.

We had had the sense to load the car up last night after we had picked up Ethan from the BBQ he'd been attending so we could get straight out this morning. We arrived at pre-school around 9.15am and by 9.30am we were all set up and ready for the doors to open at 10am. However, the doors opened and over the course of the next couple of hours only a handful of people showed up. No-one bought anything from our table and in fact I gave away a few bits and pieces. So by about 12.30pm we started packing away even though the event was on until 2pm.

We dropped all the unsold stuff back off at my dads and will now have to decide what best to do with it all. Then we nipped back home to collect a roll of artificial grass that we have had living in our shed for at least two and a half years and that a friend had said she would take off our hands. I saw the same friend at the table top sale and offered to drop it round today for her as she'd simply forgot all about collecting it; as we were already moving stuff from one place to another it was no real effort to get the roll to her as well.

By the time we got home it was very warm...ok it was hot...and sunny and so we decided that the best option was to stay inside where it was a little cooler and try and chill out. We had come across a news story yesterday about the latest Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney + and how a fan had edited all six episodes together to create a single movie of about two hours long. Having found this 'new movie' online we decided to give it a watch and we were not disappointed. The fan edit was much better paced, it made the story more coherent and highlighted the acting skills of all involved. It was really enjoyable and a definite recommendation for any Star Wars fan.

We had hoped to go out for a walk this evening as the weather cooled down but as it was still 28 degrees we decided against it...back on it early tomorrow morning!

See you all later.
xx

Day 808

Day 808...

And today was all about the Star Wars, with another day of trooping for charity.

The day started relatively early for a Sunday and after some breakfast and a kit check we loaded up the car and were on our way by about 9am. Thankfully we only had a few miles to travel to support an event called Greasley Gathering.

The organisers of the event had asked if the East Midlands Garrison, the Star Wars costuming group that we are part of, could attend the event in exchange for a donation to the charity we support, PASIC. It is a local community event that has run for a number of years and has been supported by the Garrison in years gone by but because of the pandemic had not taken place since 2019.

Although we'd been invited at short notice we were able to gather together six of us to wander around the event, join in the fun and have lots of photos taken. Although the weather forecast was not great for today and I had feared that the day could have turned into a washout. Thankfully the site where the event took place was a sports centre and a good portion of the stalls and activities had been brought inside out of the cold and the rain.

The attendance seemed to be pretty decent although it was such a shame that the massive outdoor area could not be used as I would imagine with better weather it would have been even busier. But we still managed to entertain with lots of photos and even some dancing...yes dancing! There was a great live band playing 'rock n roll' and it was just too good an opportunity to pass up for our Stormtroopers, but by the end of the afternoon I think we had all stepped up for a bit of a boogie.

But thanks to the kind generosity of the events organising committee, and of those attending we raised just over £120 for our charity PASIC; this is a charity that supports families of children with cancer and at all our troops we raise money for them as well as helping out with any events that they organise.

Stormtrooper & Governor Pryce

After a full day on our feet it was good to get home, have something to eat and to put our feet up...well we will do once this blog is written and our kits have been checked over and stored away ready for another day.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 802

Day 802...

Going to be a quick one today!

It has been a day of catching up on a few odds and sods and an afternoon trip over to Birmingham.

But the main news of today was that we woke up to the announcement that Star Wars Celebration for 2023 will be held in London next April.

It was Celebration in 2016 that got Simon and I into the whole Star Wars cosplay thing. Back in 2015 we heard about something called Celebration and as it coincided with Simon's 50th birthday year I suggested we give it a try. After tickets had been bought Simon the brought up the idea of attending in cosplay...to which I said that providing I didn't have to wear the infamous Princess Leia bikini I'd be happy to join in with the fun.

Then followed a year of building two Mandalorian sets of armour and becoming official members of the Mandalorian Mercs costuming club. We then booked our hotel and attended as members of the Mercs helping out with various activities along the way.

Since then we have added my Governor Pryce and Simon's Stormtrooper to our cosplay wardrobe and joined two more costuming groups - Joker Squad and East Midlands Garrison.

So on learning that Celebration would be happening in London in April 2023 we set about booking a hotel. Suffice to say hotel rooms were scarce as every Star Wars fan out there seemed to have snapped rooms up as soon as the dates had been announced!

Now the announcement came at just after midnight, UK time, and so consequently we did not hear about it until about 8am this morning. In those intervening few hours not only had hotel rooms been snapped up but the prices of remaining rooms had risen considerably, plus add into the equation that the event is happening over the Easter weekend when prices would naturally be higher anyway! But we managed to find a room within a ten minute walk of the Excel arena where Celebration will be taking place...not a cheap room...but it's a room in the location we wanted and so we decided to book it anyway. We were able to book without a deposit and with free cancellation up until the day before...this means that should something cheaper become available we would be able to re-book! But for now we have a room...next is to wait and see what the actual ticket prices are going to be, but we won't know that for a little while yet.

And with that excitement I will 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 795

Day 795...

Monday...our non-working day of the 'working week', and the start of my last week at pre-school.

Around 9am I had a phone call from my deputy manager who called to let me know of a change of plans. Tonight was supposed to be my 'leaving doo'; nothing fancy just a meal out at a local Indian restuarant but due to circumstances outside of my control that was now not happening.

One of my team had been ill over the weekend and so wasn't in work and therefore could not make the meal tonight. Another colleague had pressures in her personal life that simply meant she wasn't in the right frame of mind for having a night out. So with a third of the staff unavailable (we are only a team of seven) it was decided to cancel tonight and to rearrange for a couple of weeks time when hopefully everyone will be fit and well.

We then decided to make the best of the day and take a walk out over the fields to a local cafe called The Cowshed. It's just over two miles which we managed in about 48 minutes and after a lovely coffee we headed back. A slightly different route of 2.5 miles in 52 minutes, so plenty of steps and exercise achieved this morning; almost 50 minutes of fat burning, apparently!!

Once home we were straight back out the door to stop by my dads house in the hope of seeing my brother. Glen and his family have worked hard over the last couple of weeks to clear the house of any obvious 'rubbish' and had managed to fill a skip. Today the skip was being collected and so Glen was working from there while waiting for it to be collected.

Glen was able to take me through what they have managed to do and we discussed what needs doing next. There are quite a lot of things that need new homes and I think one of my jobs over the next couple of weeks will be to catalogue what's there so we can have a better idea of what to do with it all!

Although today we did manage to bring home all my mum and dad's photo albums; there are lots to go through but my aim is to get them all digitised so that we will be able to enjoy them so much more easily. It will also mean that anyone else in the family can also have copies should they so wish.

Back home and we decided to give our Star Wars cosplay a complete try on ahead of trooping this coming weekend. Simon's stormtrooper kit fitted perfectly and it was good to have a run through to remind us of the order that it all has to go on in. I will be going as Governor Pryce from the animated TV series Rebels and thankfully I too was able to get into my imperial officer uniform although I am in desperate need of some new trousers. They have never been the most comfortable of fits (let's just say a high waist without enough length!) so I really ought to figure out a way to get a better pair.

I also took the time to go over my make-up as it is over two years since I last applied it. Thankfully I still have all the relevant colours needed and so was able to gather everything together so that I am prepared for the weekend.

And with that I will see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 794

Day 794...

OK, so let's start with how yesterday ended as I never got to finish that post due to being 'out, out'!

So...my good friend and podcast co-host Michelle, and her husband Tom, arrived at ours late afternoon yesterday. It was lovely to see each other in person and have a catch-up as well as having a little foodie exchange! 

When Michelle had visited Disneyland Paris at Easter she had been good enough to pick up a couple of bread puddings from the Earl of Sandwich...these are amazing and bring back very fond memories of discovering them for the first time while visiting Disney World many, many years ago.

And in exchange I was able to let her have a couple of my favourite American chocolate bars; Milky Way Midnight Edition...

...the kids had got me a box of these for Mothers Day and so I have plenty to keep me going and still be able to share!

And Michelle also brought me this gorgeous glass...

After a bite to eat of homemade keto pizza we headed into Derby to see LaDeDa Cabaret starring and produced by the gorgeous Scarlett Daggers. Hosted by the impeccable Stage Door Johnny and with acts by Storm Hooper, Rod Laver, Coco Deville and Anna Fur Laxis. A mix of variety, cabaret, comedy and of course burlesque and as always was a great night out and I cannot recommend highly enough these nights for a bit of cheeky fun.

It did mean a late return home and hence my lack of a published post yesterday as I simply forgot all about it - oops!

And then we had today - Sunday.

So it was a pretty standard start to the day with the collection of our weekly grocery shop but once that was all put away we set about checking our Star Wars cosplay. Next weekend we should, all things being well, be joining our fellow Star Wars friends at Emcon in Nottingham representing the East Midlands Garrison. This will be our first 'troop' since February 2020...for obvious reasons!

It has taken awhile for troops to be be back up and running and it has been a case of waiting for something accessible to us to become available. We are also members of Joker Squad but as they are mainly based down south it can be difficult to find troops that we can get to easily. And although with East Midlands Garrison there are more local troops they have been few and far between until of late, plus up until recently we would have had to have produced negative tests which we have simply refused to indulge in such pantomime. But all being well this coming Saturday we should be able to don our gear and get trooping again!

As Simon is a Stormtrooper his first task today was to get out all the electronic components of his outfit to charge everything up and make sure all was working correctly. He has fans in his helmet to keep him cool along with a speaker and voice synthesiser to give an authentic Stormtrooper sound.

And while things got charged we headed out for a walk over the fields in the sunshine. We completed 3.4 miles in an hour and 10 minutes and according to my fitness tracker 36 minutes of that was in fat burning mode! Whoop!

The remainder of the afternoon was spent doing more mundane stuff like the laundry! And catching up with writing this blog! I now have the task of house hunting online with Ethan to see if we can find any that are in the right sort of area and are worth a look see.

So I best stop typing and I'll see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 699

Day 699...

Happy Valentines Day!

I thought I'd start this post off on a positive note...as being positive seems to be the order of the day! Yep, you guessed it I've tested positive for the 'you-know-what'...whoop!

How do I feel? Well to be honest I feel fine...it feels like I have a mild cold at best. A slightly runny nose and I sound all 'bunged up' although I don't feel like I am. I think with Simon feeling the way he had over the weekend it was the sensible thing to double check and hey presto here we are.

But onwards and upwards and let's hope I can be all negative by the end of the week so that I can enjoy our half term break properly next week.

So these next few days are going to continue to be rather quiet, although I will be able to get some work stuff done remotely. But we made the most of today by getting a couple of DIY jobs done around the house. First we had some LED lights to put up in our bedroom to give some softer lighting for when we don't need all the lights on but still want to see! Next we had some fixing points to install in the garage; these are to hook resistance bands onto during our gym sessions to further extend our range of exercises.

But the remainder of the day was taken up with jigsaw for me, digital art for Simon and plenty of TV time.

Oh and how cool is this t-shirt that Simon got me for Valentines?

Gotta love some retro Prince!

I love our choice of cards for each other...

...sums us up...Star Wars and keto!!!

OK, well Monday is done so I will see you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 652

Day 652...

One more of those days between Christmas and New Year when you keep having to ask what day is it? Well as far as I have been able to make out today was Wednesday!

One side effect of this time of year is my inability to get out of bed on a morning! I've never been a 'morning' person but now add in disturbed nights sleep due to night sweats and mornings become even more of a struggle!

But my late morning I was able to hook up online with my Disney Dream Girls podcast co-host Michelle to record a couple of shows. One was our main show which will probably get released over the coming weekend and the other was a special show for our Patreon supporters.

By the time we'd finished recording it was early afternoon and I made myself busy by getting up to date with the laundry and getting ready for our few nights away tomorrow. We then decided to take an hour out to watch the first episode of the new Star Wars series 'The Book of Boba Fett'. We were already starting to see comments appearing on social media and so decided to watch the show to avoid any potential spoilers. This is a weekly show and so it's going to be a challenge each week to stay away from any spoilers until we can get it watched. All I will say is that the first episode did not disappoint and we are now eager to see more.

Tomorrow we are driving down to Bournemouth to spend a few days there to catch up with Molly, Dan and his family. Molly has been living down with Dan since the beginning of November but this is the first time we will have visited since taking delivery of our new electric car! We have about 190 miles to travel and whilst in theory our car should manage around that on one charge we know from a little research that we will need to re-charge en-route.

So this afternoon we loaded up 'Zap-Map' and planned our route. This allows us to not only get the directions needed to get there (which we know anyway) but to plan where to stop for re-charging. We have found about four places along the route that would be sensible places to stop; all motorway services with fast-charging units and options for food and coffee. The plan is to stop at at least one of these stops or maybe two depending on how we feel and how the car is performing. We haven't yet completed a long distance drive so this will be new territory for us and so it will be interesting to see how the car actually performs...while at the same time being a little scary!!

As we would normally stop for a coffee at least once on a long car journey we are hoping that stopping to recharge shouldn't be an issue. Most fast chargers are designed to charge a car to an 80% charge in about 30 minutes so fingers crossed it shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience. We shall find out tomorrow!

And then finally late afternoon I was able to put the last few pieces in my current jigsaw...

...this took longer than I had thought it would as it was deceptively tricky! Lots of red and green that were hard to distinguish whereabouts they should live! I have two more jigsaws in the same artistic style that came with this one (one box with three jigsaws) so I think I will try one of those next to see if I can eventually complete all three. Then once all three are done I can 'recycle' them and find someone else who will enjoy them.

I have also been 'chatting' with Molly to plan the next couple of days and for tomorrow she has booked Simon and Ethan tickets for ice-skating. I shall be watching from the sidelines as no-one needs to see me attempt to skate...I am not a skater and have no desire to be one! Molly on the other hand is getting rather good at it all. Simon has always been a good skater and unfortunately for him it is my lack of skill that has over the years put paid to his skating time, but thankfully it is a skill that he has retained and I know he will enjoy himself immensely tomorrow. Ethan is willing to have a go and all kudos to him as he is way braver than me! I will report back tomorrow as to how the skating unfolds!

And while Simon grabbed a little 'gym' time this evening I prepped tonights dinner - keto chicken parmesan! Yum!

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 380 - Good Friday

Day 380...

And today is the start of the Easter weekend, it's Good Friday!

Well as there was no need to be up and about this morning we had a steady morning that saw a lazy breakfast followed by the setting up of the 'Crock-Pot' to cook a Beef Bourguigon for tonights dinner. This was at special request of Molly who has returned home this afternoon after three months away at her boyfriends during this current 'lockdown' malarkey.

The rest of the day has been very industrious; I have been out in the garden once again pulling up weeds, brushing up leaves and just generally having a tidy around. I decided to extend my weeding area to include that of one of my elderly neighbours gardens as we have some communal space that we all look after so I helped by ensuring her area was as weed free as possible.

Simon has spent all day outside with his R2D2 making it look more 'Star Wars' as it has been weathering day! Thankfully we had a lovely dry and sunny day, if a little chilly, but this meant Simon could take his droid outside and make all the mess he liked. It was a full days work to take his R2 from all clean and shiny to looking like he'd seen some action. He also had great fun showing off his build to our neighbours who have seen him creating parts over the last couple of years but hadn't, until now, seen the completed version.

Simon busy weathering R2

Looking more authentic

Hop over to Simon's art page on Facebook for video of the progress today.

Later this afternoon Molly arrived safely home and has been busy unpacking and putting all her 'stuff' back where it belongs. It is lovely to have her back home and glad to have a little normality restored to life!

And now we have beef bourguignon and keto garlic bread to eat before watching this weeks The Falcon and The Winter Soldier!

Take care.
xx

Monday - Day 376

Day 376...

We are back at the beginning of yet another week. 

And our Monday started as most of our Mondays do with a trip to our supermarket of choice to collect the weekly grocery shop. After we returned home and packed it all away we decided to go out for a walk in the sunshine. 

It was rather blustery and cool to start with but by the time we headed home the clouds had disappeared and it had turned really rather warm. We bumped into a friend who was sat enjoying the sunshine with a coffee and a friend and it was lovely to stop for five minutes and pass the time of day.

After a spot of lunch Simon set to designing a small part for his R2D2 build as he needed a piece to act as a hinge for one of the door panels. Once designed he was then able to set it printing while we popped out to see my dad.

We had picked a few things up for him with our shopping and needed to drop those round as well as some ironing that I'd done for him.

Once home again I was determined to enjoy the sunshine and spent a few minutes sat outside with a coffee. Although this did mean that I could see all the new weeds that had appeared since I'd weeded last week which meant the next hour or so was spent getting rid of said weeds. Although this did mean I got to have a chat with a neighbour as we attempted to put the world to rights! I also tweaked some of my outdoor lights as a few of the individual lights were no longer working so I was able to double up the string so that it's no longer quite so noticeable.

Well it turned out Simon has been chatting with his barber today and has managed to secure an appointment for a haircut...before me!! How very dare he?! Although to be fair his hair is probably in more need of a cut than mine as he is back to wearing a hat to keep it under control. I will have to wait until three weeks after Simon to get mine cut, although it is my colour that really needs doing as I am in danger of being almost my natural colour...and the grey that goes with it!! 

Simon has made great progress with the finishing touches to his R2D2 build and was able to sort the hinge problem he was having with one of the door panels. He has a few magnets to put in place to make sure things are absolutely secure and after touching up the paint in a few places we are now ready to make it look all dirty, which I think will be Friday's job when we are next off work.

Man and his droid!!

Talk has turned to what Simon's next project is going to be...there has been talk of a BB8 build but then DJ R-3X (affectionately called DJ Rex) was mentioned. This droid character appears in the Star Tours ride in Disney parks and also in Oga's Cantina in Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. When Simon mentioned that it could house an MP3 player to play all my favourite music I was sold on the idea!!

Today marked the day when some of England's restrictions began to ease. A day when out of the 1600 plus deaths that we have every day only 23 were 'COVID deaths' and yet we are still in one of the most severe lockdowns and one of the slowest releases from lockdown. We have states in the US like Texas who removed all restrictions and have seen their figures go down. We have countries like Sweden who chose to follow the standard World Health Organisation's pandemic guidelines (as of 2019) and have faired no worse than the UK for deaths but have in fact enjoyed their freedoms and have a strong economy. We need normal back, and freedoms back, but I fear they are still a long way off.

Take care.
xx

Baking and Present Giving

Day 280...

Today was the first day this Christmas break that we didn't have any critical plans that we had to be up and about for so we had our first 'lie-in' of the holidays. Which after a rubbish nights sleep was much appreciated by me.

So after a steady start to the day we formed a plan; we had presents to drop off at friends, my dad to see, baking to be done and more paint spraying for R2D2.

We decided to brave the grey and rainy day and take a walk out to distribute presents and see my dad. It was at this point that Simon decided to surprise me with his latest, and secret, purchase...a Christmas jumper! Now to put this into context I have a number of jumpers and t-shirts all of a festive vibe that I will wear throughout December but this is something that I have never known Simon to take part in. Simon has always tolerated my love of Christmas and puts up with the ever expanding number of ornaments, decorations and lights each year...which also seem to go up earlier and earlier each year. He has always found Christmas to be stressful for lots of reasons but this year is the most relaxed he has ever felt and he decided to surprise me with his jumper as he knew how much it would mean to me to see him joining in the fun. It is, of course, a Star Wars themed jumper which is as it should be for him and was rather appropriate today as I was wearing my Darth Vader Gingerbread Man t-shirt.

Braving the rain we were able to walk to my dads to make sure he is doing okay and arrange for him to be with us on Christmas Day. We then stopped by a friends house to drop off a present and have a chat - how I miss my friends and just being able to pop by, chat, enjoy a drink, give them a hug and just enjoy their company.

Back home and Molly was all organised ready for an afternoon of baking. We (well I say we but Molly did most of the hard work I simply helped and washed the pots!) made a coffee caramel cake ready for Ethan's birthday tomorrow...

...some Christmas cupcakes (like mini Christmas cakes)...

...and most importantly the waffle batter ready for tomorrows breakfast of Mickey waffles. It has become a tradition over the years that on the kids birthdays and at Christmas we have Mickey shaped waffles for breakfast...with maple syrup...bacon...and of course ice-cream!

While Molly and I baked Simon was in the garage air-brushing more paint onto various parts of his R2D2 build. He is hoping to get all the painting done so that he can start some of the final assembling. This has been a long project that has been done in between work and prop and art commissions and has been a proper labour of love for Simon but it is getting closer and closer to completion.

So for a day when we didn't really have any set plans I think we had a pretty productive day. I am trying to avoid the news as much as possible at the moment. I am aware of more areas of the country going into Tier 4 as from Boxing Day and the possibility of more nationwide lockdowns in the new year but to be honest I am just very tired of it all now. I think for my own mental health I just need a few days without it being the only thing that we hear about. While doing jobs today I have felt fine but without the distraction of things to do I was very aware of how anxious and panicky I was feeling and I think I just need to try and avoid too much news and being overloaded with the same thing over and over again.

Please take care and look after yourselves.

xx