Overdue Blog Post - Part Two!

So we pick up this blog post from the middle of November 2022 and something we had not done since the early Summer.

Every few months we venture into Nottingham to spend an afternoon drawing; life drawing to be precise. Our friend, and burlesque performer, Scarlett Daggers runs an event called Dr Sketchy's that takes place above a pub in Nottingham and is aimed at artists of all levels. And because Scarlett is a burlesque performer the models are always from the world of burlesque and cabaret and we are even treated to a performance from one of the models.

Suffice to say Simon is able to produce some wonderful art work using his digital drawing tablet while I on the other hand stick to paper and pencil!

A couple of my attempts

There are even prizes handed out and Simon was lucky enough to get picked for one of his drawings...

Simon with fellow 'winners' and Scarlett Daggers

I, on the other hand, was just happy to produce something that didn't look too bad!!

The last week in November took on a decidedly Christmas theme as it was time to get prepped for a weekend of decorating. So prior to that happening there was a lot of organising and cleaning through that needed to be done. 

Molly and Dan visited for that last weekend as I was not allowed to decorate without Molly being home! So we started late on Friday afternoon and by the end of Saturday we had everything in place, both inside and out. Which considering we had three trees indoors to assemble and decorate, numerous ornaments to place around the house, swags to hang and then two gardens to illuminate I don't think we did too bad.

One of my three Christmas trees...this one is ALL Disney!!

And even R2D2 got in the act with Simon having 3D printed a special Santa hat for him!!

My forward planning for the outdoor Christmas lights proved to be very helpful and everything seemed to go very smoothly and relatively easy. And I even have a remote control for some of my lights! I had a couple of outdoor light sets that didn't have a self timer which would have meant me going outside each night to switch them on so Simon introduced me to remote switches for plugs. Wow, what a simple and very satisfying product; not only can I switch my outdoor lights on from the comfort of indoors I can also switch on tree lights that are plugged into hard to get to sockets. Best buy ever!

It was then time for another week off work for Simon as he needed to make sure he used all of his holiday allowance before the end of the year. We had a day out shopping at Meadowhall, Sheffield with the aim of getting a little Christmas shopping done. So although no Christmas presents were bought we did come away with some new boots for Ethan (introduced him to the world of Dr Martens!) and some more Christmas lights for my garden and this time they were Mickey shaped ones!

We then enjoyed a couple of nights away and this time we ventured over to Birmingham. Again we thought we would be able to get some Christmas shopping done but alas we came home empty handed...suffice to say all our shopping has been completed online instead!

But Birmingham had a lovely, and extensive, German Christmas Market which was great to walk through. We had a couple of nice meals out, we walked lots and consequently had lots of stops for coffee and chat.

Back home and with our shopping focus being online I took advantage of a price reduction and bought my first ever Disney Spirit Jersey...now these are a big thing with Disney fans and whilst there have been some lovely designs over the years that have tempted me they are not the cheapest purchase. But I couldn't resist this one as it combined my love of Disney and Christmas and at a price I was happy to pay!

And while I was shopping I couldn't resist picking up this decoration just for Simon!!

Because every Christmas tree needs a dancing stormtrooper!!

And now we were into December and the season of chocolate...high cocoa and high quality chocolate of course...

Hotel Chocolat Advent Calendar

And as we moved into December the weather decided to acknowledge the season and turned rather frosty and cold. After a couple of early morning walks in freezing temperatures with very icy pavements we decided that staying home in the warmth with a hot coffee was the better and safer option. Although we still maintained our routine of cold showers, Wim Hof breathing and meditating.

We enjoyed a fabulous night out for my birthday (actually on my birthday) at La DeDa Cabaret in Derby. It was another fun filled night out with burlesque, comedy and cabaret and I even had 'Happy Birthday' sung to me by the audience.

Out, out!

The following morning we were out early with Ethan in tow to head out for a posh breakfast as part of my birthday celebrations. We have discovered a deli in Nottingham (Delilah Fine Foods) that does an amazing breakfast that suits our keto way of eating perfectly...the pancetta is to die for! I even picked up a few Christmas pressies from their array of food goodies on sale too.

Oh and I also did rather well on the present front with even my old team from pre-school surprising me with a rather appropriate Star Wars themed gift...

My birthday weekend also saw us take a trip up north to hook up with our very good friend, and my podcast co-host, Michelle. This was a chance for a catch-up as well as an exchange of Christmas presents. We decided to meet up at Meadowhall Shopping Centre as this is about half way between where we both live. 

The day started out a bit grey and foggy but as we ventured further north the weather conditions took a bit of a turn. It started with seeing reduced speed limit signs, along with signs warning of 'salt spreading ahead' and then everywhere turned wet which quickly turned into slush on the roads and before we knew it all but two lanes of the motorway were covered in snow! And that was all in the last five minutes of our journey. But we arrived safely and after a few hours spending time with Michelle (and shopping!) the weather improved and the roads were all clear for our return journey home.

But seeing Michelle did mean that we could surprise her with a very special Mickey Mouse figure...

Michelle & Mickey!

...all printed, assembled and painted in Snow White (Michelle's favourite princess) colours. Suffice to say Michelle was blown away with it. I will share more details in a later post to explain how this all came about!

And then the day ended rather strangely and unexpectedly. We arrived home to find a lady wandering along the road to our house...she looked lost and so we stopped to ask if she needed help finding somewhere. It turned out that the lady was homeless and on seeing us asked if we had a phone she could use as she needed to call the emergency services as she wanted to 'kill myself'. At that I quickly phoned through for her and we then spent the next few hours trying to get her the help that she needed.

Both the ambulance and police services were reluctant to help explaining that it wasn't a job for the police but for the ambulance and vice versa! They were both experiencing severe delays and could not give us an estimate of when someone would be able to get out to help the lady. So in the intervening time we found a bench and supplied her with hot cups of tea, biscuits and a blanket to keep her warm as well as talking with her to see if we could figure out what had happened and whether there was anyone that could help her.

It turned out that she was under the care of a local trust who support the homeless so we decided to try and sort the situation ourselves by calling them. As luck would have it the person that Simon spoke to was an old school friend which helped make everything that bit easier. Ultimately we ended up driving the lady to the local trust just a few miles away and cancelling the ambulance. The police did call us back when we were enroute to advise us of the same information that we'd already found out ourselves. We explained what we were doing and they expressed their gratitude. We can only hope that the lady herself has been able to get the help and support that she very evidently needed.

On a lighter note...I did manage to complete two suitably themed jigsaws during the lead up to Christmas...

As we moved towards Christmas we had another busy weekend that saw a night out for me with the pre-school ladies and a busy Sunday for Simon as he was a guest speaker at Nottingham Video Games Expo.

Simon has been asked numerous times over the years to speak at various video game events about his career but has always declined. He is always much more focused on what he is currently working on rather than looking back at what has been. But as this expo was so close to home he decided to give it a go and see whether or not it was something that he would like to do more of in the future.

And Simon being the organised and professional individual that he is had spent the preceding weeks producing a presentation that documented his career making video games that spans over 35 years!! Check out his website for more details of his extensive portfolio! www.simonphipps.com

Simon in full flow delivering his presentation

Signing autographs for fans!!

I think it probably surprised us both at just how interested people were in all aspects of his career and we spent a lovely couple of hours chatting and reminiscing. So will Simon be taking part in more of these type events in the future? Who knows...I think it will all depend on where, when and the time involved. But as least Simon now has this experience to refer back to and will be in a better position to make decisions around any future requests.

And this brings us to the last full week before Christmas. Ethan's last day at work was the 16th, as he'd got left over holiday to use up, while Simon had to wait until the 21st...and it is from there where I think the next post will pick up!

xx

Day 626

Day 626...

And we are at the weekend.

Our Saturday morning had an early start as the men of the house had a trip to the barbers. There were a few odd jobs around the house that needed doing, but nothing major before I tackled the main task of the day Christmas shopping.

At least it was all done from the warmth and comfort of the house but trying to figure out what to get for everyone gets harder each year. The trouble is we all have everything that we need and so we seem to end up buying just for the sake of buying! But by late afternoon I'd managed to get a good amount done although I think there will still be more to sort but I need some inspiration to hit for that!

The saga with our new electric car continues and as of today we are scheduled to give up our current cars on Monday and have a courtesy car from the garage until we can get the charging point sorted. The ground works should have happened last weekend but the snow put paid to that so we are now waiting for decent weather and the company scheduled to do the work being able to fit us in. It's a complete nightmare but at least we can go down to one car, stop paying for them and concentrate on getting the new one as soon as possible. So today we took ten minutes to go through both cars and remove all our bits and pieces so that on Monday we are all ready to hand them over.

The remainder of the day was spent with Simon working on his latest digital art piece and me working on my jigsaw. We put 'Christmas with the Kranks' on the TV (such a brilliant film) and lost ourselves in the film and our respective tasks. It was nice to be able to switch off and escape from all the madness going on around us at the moment.

I would like to have a rant about the current circumstances; about the restrictions and mandates being imposed around the world but to be honest I don't think I have the energy or the inclination at the moment. I am just sick of the whole thing and fed up of it taking up our lives. I want the normal of 2019 back again, I want our freedoms restored, I want to be able to see who I want, where I want and when I want without papers or injections or masks being needed. We need to accept this thing is here to stay and treat it like we do the flu. But I appreciate that for some people that is heresy to say that, but then again perhaps that's because I look further than the end of my nose and am prepared to take in all opinions not just the ones being forced upon us. Oops looks like I had a little rant after all!

Well I need to switch off for the evening, red wine and chocolate it is. See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 608

Day 608...

Tuesday has arrived and today was much quieter than the few days before!

My morning was spent in work and was mainly focused around catching up with my deputy manager, issuing and responding to emails and a little banking. We also had a visit from Jon our community champion from our local Asda store who spent time making musical instruments (shakers) with the children.

While I was at work Simon had another electrical contractor visit to give us a quote for installing an EV charging point. And once again they seemed unphased by it all and promised to get back to us with a couple of quotes for different ways of sorting it all out. So let's see what happens over the week and what these companies are able to do for us!

The afternoon was then spent at home and saw me complete a little more pre-school work as I always keep an eye on the email account and respond where I can. But I also did a little online shopping!

I have a subscription with Hotel Chocolat, which I started years and years ago and every so often I used to receive a box of their chocolates which was different every time. In fact it used to be called the Chocolate Tasting Club and part of the subscription meant that each box was different and would often include new recipes that as a member I could vote on. But in the last year the subscription has changed and now I receive a mix of various Hotel Chocolat products which isn't quite the same. I now find myself 'skipping' deliveries or moving delivery dates to take advantage of the free delivery that comes along with the subscription. So today I moved my next delivery to early December and then added on a number of extra items that will ultimately be Christmas presents and will be delivered free of charge along with my high cocoa subscription selection.

I also then spent a stupid amount of time online looking at various websites trying to get a little Christmas shopping started. I'd picked up a couple of bits yesterday but thought today I would look around for some specific people and inadvertently found things that I would like for me! I also got distracted looking at Disney themed Christmas decorations as well as normal Christmas decorations! And suffice to say no presents were bought - oops!

Before I knew it the end of the day had rolled around and Simon was heading off down our gym. I'd had a stuffy, bunged up nose all day and really hadn't intended on joining him but all of a sudden my nose seemed to clear and I thought 'sod it' I need to make myself go. So a quick half hour work out later and it was time to cook dinner and settle down for the evening.

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Christmas Shopping Started

Day 253...

So today was my second non-work day of the week and it has been both busy and as a result productive.

I started this morning by having a quick look online at a few ideas for some Christmas present ideas but decided that this could wait until later this afternoon as I had some jobs to get done first.

So the day consisted of ironing, laundry, hoovering and tidying around interspersed with receiving my butchers and dairy deliveries, as well as a couple of Amazon ones too. I popped out to the post office with a couple of Ebay sales while also chatting with someone who hasn't received a parcel; unfortunately we are at the mercy of the Royal Mail at the moment which seems to be working better in some areas than others.

Simon and I managed to take a walk out at lunchtime; it was a beautiful, if a little chilly, day. We managed our usual couple of miles in around 40 minutes. 

Me in Tier 3 country!

We found out just before we stepped out the door that the area which we live in is going to be in Tier 3 restrictions next week when this current lockdown comes to an end. This is the highest restriction that will be in place although shops will be open and more importantly so will hairdressers! I'm still not sure that I understand the governments approach with all of this but all we can do is carry on as best we can.

Late afternoon I jumped online to join my fellow Disney Dream Girl, Michelle, to record this weeks episode of our podcast. We chatted some Disney history, looked at a few changes that are happening at Walt Disney World and of course we couldn't help but have a chat about some dining options.

The majority of my afternoon and evening though have been taken up with online Christmas shopping and although I am no where near getting everything sorted it does feel better to have at least made a start!

So take care out there, whatever 'tier' you may be in!

xx