Day 571

Day 571...

And we have a Sunday and a relatively quiet Sunday.

It started with our usual trip to collect our weekly grocery shop which took us a little longer than normal due to a triathlon taking place around the town where we fetch our shopping from! 

Back home and shopping put away we headed back out the house so that Molly could get some more driving practice completed. She has her test first thing tomorrow morning and so we have everything crossed that she passes; she so deserves to pass as her driving is great and she has put in so many hours practicing her driving. She has driven around areas that I know when I was a learner driver I would have never contemplated. Just last night she drove Ethan into Nottingham, a very busy city, while following Sat Nav directions, she drove around areas of the city that even now I would actively avoid driving through!

On our way back home we stopped by my dads to make sure he was okay and to pick up a parcel that we had had delivered there. He's doing really well; after struggling with his skin following his second vaccine he has finally reached a point where his skin is back to how it should be...it's only taken almost five months and two lots of intensive steroids. I asked if he'd been approached to have his vaccine booster which I thought at age 77 (almost 78) that he would have been but he hasn't and he was adamant that he won't be accepting it should it be offered because of all the problems he has experienced so far. But he has had notification that he's eligible for his flu shot but as he hasn't bothered with that for the last 17 years he won't be bothering this year either!

Home once more and we decided to head out for a walk over the fields next to where we live and in an hour and 19 minutes we completed 3.8 miles. It is very noticeable that our walks are no longer as busy with other walkers as they were this time last year or even six months ago, but at least everyone we did see was happy and polite enough to say 'hello'!

We then enjoyed a coffee sat outside in the garden as the day has been dry and sunny and relatively warm for the time of year. We chatted about the possibility of replacing our garden shed with more of a 'garden room' so that we can get 'out' in the garden all year round. It would also mean Simon could sit 'outside' and draw with his digital tablet without having to cope with the glare of the sun on the screen.

The day was rounded out with a new meal for dinner as I made a keto chicken garam masala which was very tasty and will now be added to my repertoire of keto and low carb meals. 

And that is it for today so I will see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 570

Day 570...

Saturday was upon us once more and after a pretty rubbish nights sleep I dragged myself out of bed to get on with the day at hand.

Our first job was to stop by pre-school so that Simon could take a look at the gate to the property as we wanted to extend it to make it more secure. Luckily we had a large piece of plywood already but we needed to figure out a way to attach it securely.

With that done it was time for Molly to drive us over to her guitar lesson, another chance for her to get some driving practice as the big day of her test looms closer. While Molly strummed away we headed over to a DIY store to pick up the necessary bits of hardware for the modifications to pre-school's gate, before grabbing a much needed Starbucks.

Molly drove us home and then we grabbed all the tools that we thought we might need and headed straight back out to pre-school to sort the gate out. We wanted to attach an extra strip of wood to the bottom of the gate but as the ground slopes we needed the extra piece to be either removable or flippable so that the gate could still open fully.

Thanks to Simon's know-how and a little ingenuity plus the ability of me to hold things, pass things, apply a plaster when needed and make coffee we achieved what we set out to do. The extra piece has been attached with hinges so that the piece can be flipped up or down depending on the circumstances. We also attached some hooks to keep the piece in place when in either the up or down position.

Up!

Down!

I think we were both quite pleased, and a little surprised, that in just over a couple of hours the work was done and looking pretty smart if we do say so. Thankfully everything went smoothly except for applying the hinges on the wrong side of the wood but that was easily rectified and all that needs doing now is a coat of blackboard paint so that it fits in with the rest of the gate.

Then Molly had another chance to get a little driving practice in as Ethan needed a lift into Nottingham to join up with some work friends to help celebrate a stag night; we await either a call to have a lift home or to be woken when he stumbles in later! Although I think it will probably be the former; Ethan is a quiet sole and so a 'night out on the town' is probably not really his 'thing' but we will see.

So while Ethan is living it large on a night out in the city we will be making, and enjoying, some keto pizza before we have a night in front of the TV.

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 568

Day 568...

Well it has been another day of two halves. 

The morning was spent in work and was chance for myself and my deputy manager to touch base and re-group as we are now about two thirds of the way through our first half term of pre-school. We spent the whole morning looking at what needs doing, how we are going to do it and then forward planning up to Christmas and beyond!

The afternoon was spent at home and once I'd had a quick bite to eat for lunch it was time to take Molly out for a drive. We took a route around some of the area that her test is likely to be and then made sure we stopped by a supermarket on the way home to pick up a few essentials we were running short on. Yet again Molly did brilliantly and we have everything crossed for her when she takes her test next week!

Back home and with the shopping unpacked and a coffee made I spent the remainder of the afternoon and into early evening going over some of the work generated from this morning's catch-up with my deputy. And while Simon and Molly headed down 'the gym' I carried on with the work I was doing as I wanted to try and get ahead of myself as I know tomorrow at work I won't have the time to do what I need to do!

And that means that today's post is rather a short one. See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 565

Day 565...

Monday once more and no work for me today.

Our first job pf the day was to head off to our local recycling centre with some large items that we needed to dispose of and once that was done we returned home to finish off a little DIY.

Simon has worked hard over the last few days re-plastering walls, filling in holes, re-positioning skirting boards and staining wood and today he was able to paint the last remaining bits. And with all the DIY bits done we were able to return our bathroom back to normal by moving everything into the new cupboards and having a little sort through and a bit of  a re-organise.

With all that done we decided to pop out for coffee and enjoy some quiet time away from home just for Simon and I, a chance to stop and chat without the distractions of home.

Returning home I decided to sort another cupboard; pulling out a couple of shelves worth of stuff, throwing away items we no longer have any use for, cleaning around and putting back only what we need in a much tidier and organised fashion.

With all that done the day had rolled around to getting Molly over to her first kickboxing class of the week and as is the norm she drove us over there. She had a driving instructor lesson this morning which was her penultimate before she has her physical test next week. We are all fingers crossed that she passes as she so deserves to pass with all the practice she has put in and the fact that her skills are now really good.

And as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have been down for a few hours as I type this I'm really not sure how we're all going to cope with life...perhaps we'll have to talk to each other!!

See you tomorrow when hopefully social media will have sorted itself out!
xx

Day 520

Day 520...

Friday rolled around once more and it turned out to be a busy day.

I had an appointment in Derby this morning so I used the opportunity to give Molly a little more driving experience by getting her to drive us in and out of the city centre; and yet again she managed it all really well.

We took the opportunity of being in Derby to do a little shopping which included nipping into the Disney store. All UK Disney stores are either closed or in the process of closing and this store is due to close on Monday so it seemed only right that we had a look round. Sadly this store had not long relocated into the main shopping centre and although the shelves were low on stock it was still one of the most varied selection of offerings I'd seen in a Disney store for a while. I couldn't resist picking this pin up...

...it reminded me of a t-shirt I had bought on one of our first trips to Disneyland Paris many years ago that had the same three symbols, and that I wore to death! The sad thing is with all the UK stores closing, except London, this could very well be my last in-store Disney purchase ever!

Back home and it was time for a coffee and to settle down with the laptop to see just how much pre-school paperwork I could get completed by the end of the day. I had hopes that I could get everything done today so that the next couple of weeks could be pre-school free before we start back at the beginning of September. I did pretty well and although I have a few things left to do I am happy with what I achieved today and am confident that a few hours next week should see it all done.

We also had our front door completed today...finally! There had been some confusion over one of the panels and so we had been waiting for the correct panel to get fitted for a fair few weeks and had even waited in all last Friday for the job to get done but no-one had turned up. Thankfully someone did arrive today and not only did he fit the panel but he also sorted the teething problems that we'd been having with the french doors they'd installed. But all done now, all working great and looking good!

I also had a butchers delivery today and it was a rather large one; 5kg chicken, 5kg steak mince, 4.5kg bacon, 100 sausages, 10 burgers and some steaks. It must have taken about an hour to unpack it all, split it into meal sized portions and then put it all away in the freezer!

And there we have Friday, all done and a vodka and tonic is now in hand!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Friday Fun!

Day 450...

And we have reached the end of the working week.

My day was spent in work all day. I had a fair bit of admin to catch up on as well as more prep work for another new starter who starts with us next week. So it was a pretty productive and straight forward sort of day.

Once home and with a coffee inside me it was time to take Molly out for another drive. We stuck to our standard route with a slight deviation to the latter part. We had to contend with 'tea-time' traffic, buses, parked cars, a van stopping to pick up diversion road signs and a paramedic vehicle with sirens going! But Molls did brilliantly and I can tell how much more instinctive her driving is becoming.

Home again and it was time for another coffee and a little time to stop, check my own emails (okay I checked work emails as well!) and then start cooking dinner.

Molly's fella has arrived this evening and they have lots of plans for the weekend before they go to his house for the coming week.

And then social media this evening is rife with the news that our coming out of lockdown on 21st June is looking extremely, highly unlikely and that the date could now be 19th July - what? We have hospitality and other small business all on the brink of collapse. Small and medium sized businesses are just about to start re-paying the loans that they were given to see them through lockdown...how can they do that if they cannot open fully? We have deaths with a positive covid test at less than 10 a day...do they know how many people die each day normally? Do they know that we have hundreds of deaths from cancer and heart conditions each and every day yet we don't stop living our lives because of that! 

We need to start living life as we have always done, we need to ditch the masks and the social distancing and get back to what we used to do...enjoying ourselves!!

Take care and see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 449

Day 449...

Well I forgot to mention at the end of yesterday's post that we were getting ready to watch the latest Marvel series on Disney +; Loki. And I have to say it has started brilliantly, although I may be a bit biased as I think Tom Hiddleston is great!!

But back to today and this morning was spent in work and I felt like I managed to get a lot of things done. Along with the usual admin and banking update I also had some prep work to complete ahead of a new starter next week.

On my way home I popped by a local supermarket to pick up a few things we were short on. A local business has agreed to put up a banner advertising pre-school and I saw it for the first time today and I have to say it looked fabulous (helps when I have someone arty in the family to design this for me!!).

Once home and shopping packed away it was time to take Molly out for another drive and yet again she did really well, although it was slightly annoying having to sit at the railway crossing and wait for three trains to go through before we could be on our way.

Back home again and I took a few minutes to sit outside and enjoy a coffee before tackling the mundane task of the ironing. I also dipped into some work emails as I was chatting with a parent about a child needing a place with us and I like to respond to these emails as quickly as I can.

I then had some emails of mine own to go back and forth with as we are hoping to revamp our bathroom and sort out our never ending problematic shower. Thankfully I have found a local company who, so far, have responded promptly to all my questions, have visited us to assess and measure up and have provided quotes quickly and efficiently. So I have now booked in to go see their showroom next week so we can start the process of getting our bathroom sorted once and for all.

The day ended with a little home gym workout and while Simon and Molly lifted the heavy stuff I stuck to my usual bodyweight exercises and a few kettlebell ones too.

Take care and see you tomorrow.
xx

Check-Up Tuesday

Day 440...

Well first thing this morning I was up and out as I had an appointment for my eye test...it was actually due late last year but with everything cracking off I'd just not gotten around to booking one in.

As it was everything checked out great. I was told I have great 20:20 vision, my eyes are healthy and my prescription for reading has hardly changed and my distance vision has even improved a little. So with a clean bill of health I decided to keep to the glasses I have now and headed home.

I then ended up trying to research some local bathroom fitters as we have a leaky shower that we are desperate to get put right, or replaced. A couple of enquiries that I'd made over the weekend had proved unsuccessful with one company saying they would only handle a complete bathroom re-fit and so declined our business...whatever!

Around lunchtime I took Molly out for another drive and again she is doing really well. It is so hard to remember what is was like to learn to drive and I now have a new found respect for driving instructors and I will attempt to be a little more patient with learner drivers in the future. As I said to Molly later there is a fine line between me 'telling her what to do' and 'telling her how to do something'.

My afternoon was then spent catching-up with the pre-school accounts for the last half term. Thankfully the accounts balanced straight away but when I came to input everything into my spreadsheet it just wouldn't agree...so frustrating!

But I had to stop halfway through as we, as a family, had a dentist appointment for our usual check-up. We should have had this check-up last August but as the country was just starting to re-open we were asked if we could delay it by six months which we did. Six months later and our appointment was moved by the dentist due to 'unforeseen circumstances' but the date which they had given us didn't work for all of us so it had been moved until today. But we all checked out okay, although it was interesting to note that while normally we would have been offered the option to have our teeth cleaned this did not happen today, which I can only presume is because of the current covid secure requirements!

Back home again and it was back at the accounts which thankfully I was able to reconcile with just a little investigation which means the biggest chunk of my pre-school work for this week has been completed - whoop!

It was then time to head down the 'gym' to finish our day and while Simon and Molly lifted the heavy weights I kept to my body-weight exercises and a few kettle bell ones.

Take care out there.
xx

Bank Holiday Shenanigans

Day 439...

Today was bank holiday Monday here in the UK but for Simon and I it was like any other Monday as neither of us work a Monday ordinarily.

So the day started as usual with the collection of our weekly grocery shop. Once everything was put away Simon had a helmet order to finish off and I decided to venture out into the garden to tidy up a few of our plants that were getting a little 'wild'!

With a refuse bin full of branches and Simon's helmet build all completed it was time for a spot of lunch before taking Molly out for another drive around. She is doing so well; getting more used to the car, understanding how to approach junctions and obstacles and hopefully she is gaining in her own confidence. Our little drive about ended up with a quick visit to my dad which meant that Molly had to reverse the car for the first time when we came to go home; which she did brilliantly.

Back home we had some more re-organising to do. There were some items in the loft that needed to be brought down and then other items that needed storing in our garage. So we keep moving things about in the hope that eventually we will reach a point where everything is tidy and organised.

Simon also gave me a quick tutorial of using an app called Photomyne. Simon used this a few months ago to scan all the photographs that we had inherited from his parents so that we now have digital photographs rather than the physical ones that take up so much space in albums. We have now decided to do the same with ours and I'm hoping to have the time this week to make a big dent in the albums that we have collated over the 35 years that we have been together!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Saturday Driving

Day 437...

And we have a Saturday and the first day of my week off from work.

Well it started with a trip to our local recycling centre, before we'd even had breakfast! We had a car load of wood as a result of disassembling an Ikea sideboard that we no longer needed and decided that getting over there early would be the best approach before it got too busy. It turned out that was the right approach as within five minutes of us arriving it had gone from a couple of cars to a full site with a queue!

It was then back home for breakfast before heading out again to take Molly to her guitar lesson and a drive thru' coffee for us. I am still amazed at the number of people who wear a mask when out in the fresh air and even more so at the number wearing masks to drive, never mind those who are driving on their own! Who are they protecting and from what?!

Home once more and it was time to sort out some car insurance so that Molly can drive my car while she is learning to drive. Having passed her theory driving test earlier last week, and having a date for her practical test later this year, we thought it would be a good idea for her to be able to drive my car and get some extra experience. The great thing is we have found an insurance where we can pay for the just the time we need so we were able to set it up for just a couple of weeks while Molly is at home before she heads off to her fella's house again for a short while.

This did mean that this afternoon the 'L plates' went on my car...

...and Molly took us out for a short drive. We found a route that was around 15 miles and gave Molly about 40 minutes worth of driving. She did really well especially as this was her first time driving this car and she was not used to all the controls. Hopefully, we can find her time to get out driving each day to build up her confidence. It's not until you have to explain how you drive that you realise just how much of what you do is instinctual!

After a coffee in the sunshine we decided to do a little measuring up of available space in our garage for possible storage solutions. Having emptied the living room and Simon's workspace for the laying of our new wood floor a few weeks back we had decided to re-look at some of the 'stuff' we have and undertake some re-organisation. I think over the course of the next couple of days we will be having a sort through of the garage, de-cluttering and figuring out just what space we need and how best to store everything. We have a lot of 'stuff' we need to get sorted and it's just figuring out where best to start!

Suffice to say this all ended with a trip to Ikea to buy more storage boxes...although we also came away with a table lamp, a drawer tidy tray and a new saucepan!! But we also have plenty of boxes now to better store all our 'stuff', so that it will be organised, contained and will be kept clean and tidy.

My task for the week ahead will be to go through all of our photo albums and digitise all the photos, remove said photos from the album and then dispose of the actual albums. They take up so much space at the moment and we very rarely go through them so to have them all as a digital copy will be much better and I think (hope) we will be more inclined to look at them.

By the time we returned from Ikea (we had purposefully visited early evening to avoid the heavy crowds) it was time to cook dinner which meant a quick chicken curry with low carb naan bread. And now it is time for red wine, feet up and maybe some very dark chocolate.

Take care.
xx

Waiting Around

Day 432...

Monday started with the usual grocery shop collection from our local Asda. While there I was also able to pick up some donations for pre-school, and there was so much stuff that we drove straight to pre-school to drop it all off.

After we had got home and put all the shopping away I had my dad to take to the doctors and Simon had a helmet to cast as he had received an order over the last few days.

So I picked up my dad and took him to his doctors. I parked up outside to wait for him as I was not allowed to go in with him because of the covid restrictions still in place. Unfortunately, I had left my phone at home and so I had absolutely nothing to occupy my time and unfortunately I had rather a long wait. But to be fair it would appear that my dad was seen on time, or thereabouts, but spent the majority of the time waiting for his prescription to be made up.

My dad has developed a rather bad case of eczema and has been given pills and potions galore and an appointment for a couple of weeks time to see how he is getting on. My dad did mention to his doctor that he wondered if it could be a reaction to his second covid vaccine...apparently the doctor neither denied or confirmed whether that could be the case...makes you wonder though!

But by the time I got my dad dropped off at his house and me back home two hours had gone by, of which an hour and a half was spent just sat waiting in my car. With nothing to do all I could do was watch the world around me. It was really quite sad to watch people queuing for the pharmacy; only one person is allowed in at a time which meant a lot of people (quite elderly people) were stood outside in the cold and the rain waiting their turn. What a state of affairs we find ourselves in!

With a quick lunch eaten we were back out the door to take Molly into Derby for her driving theory test. So we dropped her off and went in search of a coffee while we waited for the call to pick her up. About an hour after dropping her off we got the message 'Done'...to which I responded 'and?' and the response came back 'Passed!'. Woohoo! She did really well with 49 out of 50 for the questions and 60 out of 75 for the hazard perception section so she was very pleased with those scores. She messaged her driving instructor who told her to get online and get a practical test date booked.

So once home we powered up the laptop and attempted to get a practical test booked. The system feels a little backward as it asks for the date you would like before letting you choose the test centre, so suffice to say there was lots of time spent going backwards and forwards trying to find a date at the right place. Her instructor had told her that the next available test dates weren't until November but when we logged on the only date we could find free was tomorrow with nothing for the rest of the year! But as we went back and forth we could see dates randomly becoming available, which we could only assume was due to dates getting cancelled. A date in August popped up but no sooner than I had clicked on it it was gone. But scrolling through we saw a date in October so we jumped on it and thankfully this time we were able to secure the date and time...four months and counting.

This then resulted in a large chunk of time web searching looking for the best, and cheapest, car insurance out there for Molly, so that we can take her out in my car while she's learning to drive. We may have a solution but there is still some more researching to do!

Molly then had her kickboxing lesson followed by a strength and conditioning class which meant relying on Mum & Dad's taxi service...roll on her passing her driving test!! 

Take care.
xx