Day 892 & Day 893

Day 892...Sunday

We had a lovely evening out at our friends anniversary party yesterday...

We don't scrub up too bad!

...and it was great to be able to catch up with people we hadn't seen for way too long!

So, after a slow start to the day we set off on a shortish early morning walk of just 1.8 miles in 36 minutes and stopping to pick blackberries along the way.

We then decided that today would be all about catching up with a few things on our joint 'to do list'. First it was a trip to Lidl simply because we were running out of too many things and I couldn't put it off any longer.

After lunch we got our tattoo ideas finalised into one document that I could then send over to my tattooist. When we see him in a couple of weeks I have two tattoos that I would like doing and Simon also has one planned, so we just needed to commit to what we both wanted. Over the course of the day we have had the 3D printer working hard printing more sections of the model that we are working on which has meant some more clean up of finished prints along with a little 3D modelling work for Simon.

Mid-afternoon we decided to escape the four walls and go out for coffee; a chance to chat and re-connect without distractions.

Back home and I was able to complete my latest jigsaw...

...and Simon was able to make a start on his next piece of digital art.

That was pretty much it for Sunday; a quiet and chilled out sort of day.

Day 893...Monday

Today was a bank holiday which meant that Ethan had the day off from work along with Simon's usual Monday off.

We decided that we would get up and head into Nottingham for a wander and a poke around the shops. So rather than our morning walk over the fields we instead had an urban stroll which ultimately led us to Caffe Nero for coffee. We did cut our walk a little short as it tried to rain at one point and we had no umbrellas or jackets with us, this just meant we got to have coffee sooner.

Around lunchtime we had our first meal of the day which was burgers from Five Guys; as I've previously talked about Five Guys is a great choice for anyone following a keto or low carb lifestyle as you are able to order the burgers without buns. Double bacon cheeseburger with green peppers and mushrooms for me!

Although we had popped into a few shops we came back empty handed as there was nothing that really caught our eyes. But it was simply just nice to be out and about and taking in the sights and sounds of the city.

The remainder of the day saw Simon add the two pieces of R2D2 that he's been working on over the last few weeks. A couple of arms that were missing from behind a couple of the panel doors. They were a little tricky to put into place so I was needed to assist and hold things! I was also able to clean up some more 3D prints...I think I'm getting quite adept at it now! And our new printer is proving to be very reliable and is generating solid prints each time, a definite worth while investment in replacement of the old printer which was slower, smaller and would often run into hiccups!

And to finish off the day we headed down the gym for our first workout of the week. I'm trying to be mindful of my left shoulder and avoid any moves which seem to aggravate it, not sure what I've done to it but I think it just needs some rest before I try and do too much with it. Time will tell!

See you all tomorrow all being well.

xx

 

Day 885

Day 885...

I think this will be a relatively short post today as I am writing it fairly late on in the day.

This morning our first job was to nip out to Asda to collect our grocery shop order. Once upon a time Asda was my go to supermarket of choice but lately I have become more and more frustrated with its lack of choice, lack of availability, poor substitutions and general price increases. I think going forward I will use them for big bulky items but keep the majority of my shopping to my local Lidl instead.

There was a little more shopping to be done today but that was online as I needed to place an order with the butchers that I use. So much easier to order great quality products, in bulk and for delivery on a day of my choosing.

After our lunch/brunch Simon and I decided to take a trip into Derby for a wander around and to pick up a few things. This involved stops at Paperchase, Damaged Society, Lakeland and of course Primark; quite an eclectic mix of shops today! We then took some time to enjoy a coffee at Caffe Nero before heading home.

Today has also been all about the 3D printer. Simon has been tinkering with it to get the best possible prints out of it and he has managed to get a few more pieces printed. It is now busy printing a larger section of the model Simon is creating and will be busy printing for the next 9 hours!

Simon has also managed to get some painting completed on some extra parts for his R2D2 as well as some digital painting for his latest art creation. My creative juices were a little more simpler and directed at my current jigsaw!

And with that I will see you all tomorrow.
xx 

Day 878

Day 878...

Today has been all about droids!

We took a drive over to Harper Adams University in Shropshire where the Droid Builders UK were holding a weekend of droid building fun. When we arrived we realised that we had been to this university once before when we cosplayed as our Mandalorians at a small comic con aimed at families with children with special educational needs. But today the focus was on droids, and as it was rather warm again today cosplaying in Mandalorian armour would not have been very pleasant.

Now Simon has built a full size R2D2 which lives in our living room, his head spins around, he lights up and makes all the appropriate beeps and boops but he does not move around by remote control. He is also rather large and will not fit in our car so he had to stay at home but we were able to take Simon's MSE (mouse) droid with us instead.

When we arrived and got checked in we were given special event lanyards and welcomed into the fold. Everyone was so lovely and welcoming and happy to chat all things droids.

For Simon he was actually able to meet people in person who up to this point he had only ever spoken with over forums. It was a great atmosphere of sharing stories, tips, build journeys and asking questions...oh and of course there were droids!

After a lovely few hours it was time to head home. This was the first time in a while that we'd attempted a longer car journey and weren't sure whether we would need to re-charge on the way home. But thankfully, and probably due to the warm weather and using 'eco' mode, we managed both journeys and still had 55 miles left in the 'tank'! We are still getting used to the electric car and these longer journeys but this does bode well for when I get tattooed next month as I will need to travel a similar sort of distance!

And I think that is where I will leave it for today, see you 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 850

Day 850...

A relaxed start to the day was followed by a rather sweaty 3.8 mile walk in 1 hour 16 minutes. A little slower than our normal pace but I think that may have been down to the cozy temperatures we are experiencing at the moment.

Although going by the reaction on main stream media you would think the apocalypse was happening. Yes it is rather warmer than what you would expect here in the UK, and yes we're really not set up for it as we don't have air conditioning like other countries do but the temperatures we are having are not completely unusual. We have had hot spells before, those of us of a certain age remember the summer of 1976 when we had weeks of hot weather with water shortages galore but we survived, and we will survive this blip. If we were on holiday in a foreign country we would be moaning if we didn't get these temperatures but with the scare mongering media as it is at the moment you would think we were heading into the pits of hell!!

Anyway...on with my day. After getting home rather sweaty we took a few minutes to cool down before making our first meal of the day, our brunch if you will.

We then decided to stay home for the rest of the day and keep as cool as we could. This involved several hours sat down with the telly...but for a very specific reason. Simon has been going through all our old home movies and converting them to a digital format that we can access easily. Once he has them edited and in the correct format it is then my job to watch them all to make sure there's no errors or glitches.

Well we haven't had chance to watch anything back for quite a while so this afternoon seemed like an ideal opportunity. I hadn't realised just how much we had to watch, there must have been close to three hours worth! We have vowed going forward to find the time to watch back once the video has been converted rather than let it all build up like today. The footage we were watching today was from 1999 and a big chunk of it was from our first visit to Disneyland Paris when Ethan was only 18 months old.

Having all this video footage is great as it reminds you of things that happened and experiences we have had as well as helping to keep the memories alive of people who are no longer with us. And watching the video today also highlighted just how much Ethan loved to ride It's A Small World back then, although I'm sure his opinion of it now may have changed somewhat! It will, however, always be one of my all time favourites as it encompasses so well what Walt Disney was all about; entertainment for the whole family to enjoy together, great innovation, storytelling and perhaps even a little education along the way.

With that I will see you tomorrow.

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 836

Day 836...

It has been a quiet Sunday and one where my mood has been undecided at best. I have spent the day with a feeling of not knowing what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go coupled with a sense of needing to know those things and being angry with myself because I didn't! Round and round in circles and with no real progress made.

So the day plodded on. A steady start to the day meant after coffee we headed out to collect the grocery shopping. Back home and with everything put away we decided on a walk to blow the cobwebs away and in the hope my mood would be lifted.

We tried an alternate route today to gauge the distance and length of time to see whether it would work as one of our early morning walks. We went for 2.8 miles in 56 minutes which was a little longer than I'd thought it might be. But it will work as a route for a morning when Simon is not working.

But the walk did mean we'd worked up an appetite for our Sunday brunch/lunch and then just as we were debating what to do next I had a phone call from my brother. He needed to borrow my keys to my dads house as he'd forgotten his and he was there today for a spot of cleaning inside.

The afternoon then took a quiet and slow pace. Simon was working on updating his laptop and continuing with his latest artwork and so I continued with my paperwork re-organisation that I'd started over the last couple of days. I also managed to create a little content for the Disney Dream Girls podcast blog.

And that was Sunday...nothing of any importance and a day of feeling 'meh'!

See you 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 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 801

Day 801...

A nice and steady Sunday after yesterday's long day trooping.

As much as we love trooping two days back to back as some of our fellow geeks are doing can take its toll. There is a lot of standing around and holding poses which leaves you with muscle aches in the strangest of places. Simon finds his inner forearm aches from holding his blaster (which is actually quite heavy) as he holds it pretty much in the same position all day. I tend to stand in one position to look like a stern imperial officer, often with arms held behind my back so I find my biceps can ache along with the backs of my legs. My boots still need a bit of wearing in so by the end of the day my feet and ankles had had enough but thankfully today they have felt pretty good.

So we were able to have a much more relaxed start to our day and once we had collected our weekly grocery shop we (okay Simon) had the job of cleaning up and storing away our kit from yesterday.

My kit is straight forward and the only thing I will need to do at some point is to sponge clean the neck of my uniform jacket. Simon on the other hand needed to give his stormtrooper armour a clean and store it back in its storage trunk neatly. We thought a piece of elastic that keeps the shoulder straps in place had been lost but it turned out to have just slipped underneath and out of sight. He then took the opportunity to re-whiten his boots and make a slight repair to his blaster where he'd noticed a section was feeling a little looser than it should. But all in all that was pretty good going for our first troop out in over two years!

This afternoon we were joined by our good friend Michelle as she had driven down to spend a few hours with us before we went out for the evening. We managed to squeeze in a little 2 mile walk before grabbing a bite to eat and heading off into Nottingham.

This was our second weekend of burlesque and cabaret and today we were at The Gilded Merkin held at The Glee Club in Nottingham and produced by, and starring once more, the delightful Scarlett Daggers. Another great show and I cannot recommend highly enough trying one of these nights. Tonight we had traditional burlesque, juggling, fire eating, sword swallowing, comedy burlesque, more comedy and singing!

But it is late and so I will sign off for today and 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 787

Day 787...

Sunday has been a more restful and calm day compared to the last couple of days.

After a relaxed breakfast we headed off to collect the weekly grocery shopping as is the norm for a Sunday morning. Molly and Dan also headed out to fill their car with diesel as well as buy a birthday pressie for a friend...a rather large gnome that resembles the queen!!

We then paid a visit to my dads house where my brother and his wife were busy clearing through. A skip had arrived on Friday and they had spent most of yesterday filling it; carpets that needed to be removed, an old bed that had to be disassembled, old bits of furniture and all manner of odds and sods. The house is beginning to get clear but there is still a long way to go and we have the difficult task of deciding what can be thrown away, what might be useful to keep, any sentimental items, what may be worthy of a charity shop donation along with those items that will probably need to go to auction as they are too good to just 'throw out'.

Molly wanted to have another look around and see if there was anything else that she wanted to take away with her and she was able to grab a few items that her and Dan can make use of. We still have some missing pieces of jewellery to locate and I am fearful that these will never be found; a complete mystery as to where they have gone as they are pieces that we are all convinced my dad wore pretty much all the time. Molly was desperate to have one of his bracelets that we have not yet found but we have said that we could perhaps have a necklace of his converted into a bracelet for her instead. She was so close to her Grandad and I know she just wants something that was 'part of him' to have with her to remember him by.

Before we knew it it was early afternoon and it was time for Molly and Dan to make their three hour journey home. We took a much shorter journey to our favourite Starbucks for an afternoon coffee and to make use of the adjacent jet wash and give the car a clean!

And with a quiet afternoon I decided to take a little time to write todays blog post and to go through a few more photos that I'd scanned a while ago but hadn't had the chance to update on the laptop. With all that has happened the last few weeks my little project of scanning and storing old photos has had to take a bit of a back seat.

So yes, a productive, but much more relaxed day. See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 781

Day 781...

So I think I am not going to post anything today.

It has been a bit of an 'off day' for me and I don't particularly feel like posting anything and this will be the first time in 780 days!

There's a lot happening in my life, and around me, at the moment and I think today it all caught up with me. So I will recompose myself and hopefully be back tomorrow with my usual ramblings.

See you then.
xx
 

Day 774

Day 774...

The first day of May and I think the weather had forgotten it's still spring...after a lovely day yesterday we were back to grey and a little chilly.

And after a completely rubbish nights sleep (every time I woke up it was the next hour along!) we were up and about as normal to fetch the weeks grocery shopping. 

Whilst out and about I received some very sad news from a good friend; this has not been a good few weeks for losing those we care the most about. It truly makes you realise that you have to enjoy and appreciate those around you whilst you can, that you need to tell them how you feel about them and that life needs to be lived to the fullest at all times.

We have had a quiet sort of day. We popped to my dads house to collect some mail and just make sure everything was alright. We then nipped out for a coffee before heading home. We had a few odd jobs to complete but then had a lazy afternoon of Simon drawing and me making progress with my latest jigsaw which is not far off completion.

And that was Sunday, and I will see you tomorrow.
xx

 

Day 767

Day 767...

Another short post today I think as we have had a fairly quiet Sunday.

The usual start to the day with the collection of the weekly grocery shop from Asda. And while we were collecting our shopping Molls and Dan drove by to fill their car up with diesel and were happy to take advantage of the fact that fuel prices were around 8p cheaper per litre than at home on the south coast!

With the shopping all put away and a coffee poured Simon had the task of ensuring that all the photos of my dad that we'd collated yesterday were of the correct dimensions to display on a digital photo frame. We have a couple of frames that we'd like to use tomorrow to share his life with those that come to remember him.

Other techy jobs this morning saw me update some details on previously scanned in old photos of ours, going back to 1995! And then Simon had some music files to convert into mp3 format to then load onto my usb stick for the car. As a member of the White Lies fan club I'd just been given access to a special link of a concert recording from 2019 and it just so happened to be a concert that we had attended at Brixton Academy in December of that year.

Molls and Dan spent most of the afternoon at my dad's house as Molly wanted to go through and see if there were any bits and pieces that meant something to her that used to be belong to either my dad or my mum. After a bit of rummaging around she has come away with a few bits and bobs and uncovered lots of old photos, birthday cards, telegrams, airgrams and more! We have items going back to 1917 and 1918 as well as postcards and messages sent during the second world war - all absolutely fascinating stuff!

Simon and I took a walk out this afternoon and managed just a couple of miles but it was good to be out in the fresh air and blow away some cobwebs. It had felt a little peculiar today as we approach tomorrow and I have been very aware that emotions have been close to the surface.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 760

Day 760...

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

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

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

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

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

Today was a bit of a Disney, punk vibe!

See you tomorrow.
xx