Day 707

Day 707...

As this week is my half term break from pre-school Simon had decided to book today off so that we had an extra long weekend together.

And because we are the cool parents (little in joke as one of Molly's friends has always referred to us as the cool parents!) we offered to take Ethan into work this morning so that he wasn't having to bother with catching the bus.

This meant that we were in Nottingham city centre just before 9am so it would have been rude to not have a wander around the shops with the obligatory stop for coffee along the way.

I wanted to buy some tights; I know not the most exciting thing to be buying but a necessity. We are going out on Friday night and I need some 'nude' coloured tights as my legs are too pale to go without plus it's still too cold! I was shocked to discover that buying 'nude' coloured tights could be so hard. Most shops didn't seem to stock any at all, or if they did the choice was limited to the shades available and in one shop there were only extra large sizes! Thankfully I did find some but it felt like a lot of effort for something that I will wear so infrequently.

Simon on the other hand came away with a new pair of shoes. He's been after a new pair of 'smart' shoes for ages and with us going out on Friday night he just happened to mention that he ought to look for a new pair of shoes to go with his suit. And as luck would have it the shop we were in at the time had a couple of pairs that he liked the look of; fifteen minutes later and we came away with a new pair.

We spent the afternoon at home and took some time for me to make a little more progress with my latest jigsaw and Simon did some more digital drawing. We then headed down the gym a little earlier than we would do normally for a Tuesday weights workout. I even tried some different moves making use of our new resistance bands set-up!

Well I think it's time to stop, put our feet up in front of the TV and watch this weeks RuPauls Drag Race UK versus the World!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 703

Day 703...

A very windy, stormy Friday has been upon us today.

One bonus to being stuck at home is that I haven't had to venture out in the horrible weather. Although I think we have been rather lucky as being in the middle of the country we have escaped some of the worst of Storm Eunice.

So another day sat at my laptop getting lots more admin completed. This week has given me chance to get a couple of non-urgent jobs completed because I've had a bit more time on my hands although this did involve fighting with my printer at numerous points. What's that saying about how great technology is until it stops working!!!

At lunchtime Simon and I did venture out into the garden as the felt on our garden shed had started to lift and as the morning had worn on it was getting progressively worse. So armed with a hammer and some nails and with me holding the ladder Simon managed to get it all tacked down. 

Mid-afternoon I nipped outside once more as one of my team was stopping by the house to drop off some work for me. It was very blustery, a little bit damp and rather chilly and so I was glad I was only outside for a few minutes. This does now mean that I can actually complete the half term accounts at some point over the coming week.

And while the wind howled around the house I used the surprisingly sunny at times daylight to complete my latest jigsaw...

...depiction of the London Underground map! It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be and I actually really enjoyed the methodical approach that I took with it.

Well Friday is done and now it's time to say hello to the weekend and a week off from work!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 587

Day 587...

So Tuesday turned out to be a busy old day.

Simon was back at work today but I had the whole day ahead of me. The good thing is that as Simon works from home it does mean when I'm on holiday we can actually start our day a little later as there is no one to 'get out the house to work'.

Once up and about me and Molly jumped in her car and headed out to run a few errands. A few weeks ago a slight mishap at work resulted in my engagement and half eternity rings getting stuck on my finger and pushed out of shape. I'd managed to get them off my finger but both rings were left in a sorry state and in need of repair.

I'd had to wait a little while for the bruising of my finger to subside before I could think about getting them repaired plus I also wanted to get them re-sized. Having lost weight some seven years ago, and more importantly having kept the weight off, my rings had become slightly too big and I had on a couple of occasions managed to lose my engagement ring (thankfully I always managed to find it!). Today was the first chance I'd had to pop by a local jewellers to see what they could do.

Well my engagement ring should be a pretty straight forward job to put right but my eternity ring may be a little more tricky. When the rings became stuck on my finger I'd been able to remove the engagement ring through putting my hand in cold water and using some washing up liquid but the eternity ring just wouldn't budge so I'd had to use a pair of pliers to squeeze it into a shape that I could then pull off my finger. The tricky part of repairing it will be keeping the diamonds in place and it looks like I may have lost one of the diamonds as well. So it's not going to be a cheap repair job but these are important rings and so need fixing...it is very weird not wearing them everyday at the moment! But it's going to be a few weeks before I get them back as the jewellers are really busy with repairs.

While we were at the jewellers I also had some old pieces of jewellery that I wanted to get rid of. Most of the items had been inherited from Simon's mum but none were items that I would wear and it seemed daft to have them hiding away in a drawer. And while the jewellers could only give me scrap value for them they turned out to be worth more than I was anticipating which was a nice surprise and will off set the cost of my ring repairs.

Next we had to make a stop at the bank as I had some coin to pay in on behalf of pre-school; there was a bit of a queue so it took us longer than we would have liked and so we headed home straight after. 

At lunchtime Simon and I took a walk out and covered 2.4 miles in 44 minutes. After a quick bite to eat me and Molly headed out once more and it was now my turn to drive. We headed to a local supermarket to pick a few things up plus Molly wanted to pick up some items as thank you gifts. With her moving down South in about eleven days time she will have to give up a few things that have been part of her life for probably the last ten years or more and so she wants to mark the occasion with the people that have helped her along the way.

We also made sure whilst we were out and about to stop by my bank as I now had a cheque from the jewellers that needed paying in! Back home again and I walked in to a freshly brewed coffee thanks to Simon followed by the smell of lemongrass as our new essential oil diffuser had arrived and was making the house smelly lovely. Although we do need to figure out how to work it properly as all the instructions are in German!!

Our day was rounded out with a trip to the gym and it's so nice now that the nights are drawing in not to have to drive out in the dark and the cold and instead just pop out to the garage.

Well with a glass of red wine calling I will sign off for the day.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 586

Day 586...

We are now well into the half term break although neither Simon or I usually work a Monday anyways. But we were up and about relatively early as we had plans for the day...shopping plans!

To be fair the shopping was a bonus side effect of the real aim of today which was to meet up with my podcast co-host Michelle. As she lives about 90 miles away we can't meet up as often as we would like but every now and then we find somewhere that's not to far for either of us to get to and more often than not that happens to be Meadowhall shopping centre at Sheffield.

And another side effect of today was that Molly was able to drive us there and back in her new car which meant that she got to experience motorway driving for the first time. As Molly will be moving in with Dan in a few weeks it will mean she will need to get used to motorway and long distance driving as to visit us will mean about a 190 mile journey! But she did amazing and took it all in her stride, we were both super impressed and proud of her. It also gave her chance to have a good drive out in the car and it seemed to drive really well and did everything that was asked of it.

Me and Molly, let the shopping commence!

So we met up with Michelle and first order of the day was to find a Starbucks and grab a coffee and a sit down and simply have chance to catch up. Second job of the day was to head off to Primark because as every Disney fan knows if you want a little bit of Disney retail therapy then Primark is the place to go...especially now that the UK Disney stores are no more.

Me and the lovely Michelle, living our best Disney lives!

And Primark did not disappoint especially as they were able to combine not only my love of Disney but my love of Christmas.

Simple Christmas themed t-shirt

Then we spotted this hoodie...I was in two minds about it but the ears and bow on the hood along with Simon's insistence meant it came home with me.

And these were just too cute (and inexpensive) not to buy...

I did try on a lovely soft and furry coat (non-Disney!) but I put it back...I may regret doing that...oh well I will just have to go shopping again and see if I can find it in another store.

On the way home we got Molly to stop by a local petrol station so we could fill up her tank for her (well she was playing taxi for us so it seemed the fair thing to do!) plus this meant she got to fill the car up with Simon on hand in case she needed any help...which she didn't. Simon was then able to show her how to check the tyre pressure and top them up with air which is one of those useful things to know about and better she do it with someone there to help her for the first time. I on the other hand wouldn't have a clue but as I said to Simon later, that's why I keep him around!!!

Back home and it was time for a coffee before Molly headed back out the door to drive herself, on her own, to her kickboxing class - eek! Our 'little girl' is all grown up which is both exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time. So no more in and out the house playing taxi for her instead we now have time on our hands which I think may take a little getting used to. 

Molly then had the return journey to master, in the dark and with twisty country lanes but she did it and she made it home so that meant a much needed glass of wine for me!! She is taking it all in her stride and just getting on with it all which means we are super proud of her but it won't ever stop us worrying about her.

Right so with Molly home it was time to cook dinner (keto chicken garam masala) before stopping for the evening with the aforementioned glass of wine and a little TV time.

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 583

Day 583...

And we have reached Friday and today is the first day of my half term break from pre-school.

I had the day off in lieu of covering for one of my staff who will be on holiday when we return to pre-school but there was still the chance that I could have been called in should someone have been off ill. But thankfully that didn't happen so I could start my half term break a day early.

But first job this morning was actually work related! I decided to complete the accounts for the academic year so far; a task that had to be done at some point over the next week and I figured I'd try and get it out the way today. And although the accounts didn't balance first time it didn't take me too long to figure out what I'd done wrong and by lunchtime all the accounts were up to date, spreadsheets created and the cash tin balanced. And at the same time I'd been able to put another couple of loads of laundry on and keep the boys in the house refreshed with coffee.

So as Simon broke for lunch we headed out for a brisk lunchtime walk; a little windy and a bit damp as we approached home but we managed 2.4 miles in 44 minutes - not too shabby!

Then the afternoon was mainly spent doing household chores; first there was the ironing and then I decided to tackle our shoe storage! It has been a while since I'd sorted through the shoes so there was a lot of moving, sorting, cleaning and re-organising to do and it seemed to take longer than I'd thought it would but it was a worthwhile exercise.

Simon played taxi for Ethan as he had a meal out with his work team and Molly and Dan arrived home. Then we could reveal Simon's special project that he'd spent the early part of the week doing as it was a special gift for Molly. For a while she had wanted something to display all her kickboxing belts and having looked online she couldn't find anything larger enough for all of her belts and so she'd asked Simon if he could make something for her. So in secret Simon had gotten all the materials together, including buying a new chop saw (just a good excuse I think!) and had used this week while Molly was away to make her, her very own, custom, belt display!

New chop saw!

Materials cut and ready for assembly

In progress, even filling over the screws!

Finished belt display...fancy!

All that was left was for Molly to iron all her belts into the correct shape and attach them to the boards...

Complete with belts

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Time for a Break

Day 436...

We have reached Friday and the last day of this half term at pre-school, we now have a week off to look forward to.

But first we had to get through the day! It was the first warm day we have had for a long while which meant that we were able to spend the majority of our time outdoors. So while the children played outdoors I was able to have some quiet time indoors to chase emails, update banking, prepare registers and add observations onto our online learning journal system. All in all a pretty good work day.

Once home it was time for a coffee before jumping online with my good friend Michelle to record our Disney Dream Girls podcast. We managed to record two shows; one to be released on Sunday and the other was a bonus episode for our Patreon supporters. We chatted Disney history, cruises as well as current happenings including the easing of more restrictions; specifically in Orlando where social distancing markers are now being removed in addition to masks no longer being required outdoors which came into force a couple of weeks ago. Universal Studios is going one step further and making masks optional indoors as from this weekend. 

And while the US seems to be opening up more and more we seem to be still in 'limbo land' with lots of  murmurs that the deadline for lifting all restrictions of the 21st June may not happen...or it may...or it's likely to happen but we can't guarantee it. Bloody politicians can they never give a straight answer? Heaven forbid they actually do their job with a measure of competency! We have cases at a plateau, hospital admissions and deaths are at their lowest levels, and have been for weeks now, and still we are unable to get back to normal. 

I think we have to accept that covid is not going anywhere. It is endemic, variants will appear because that's what a virus does but variants do not mean a worse outcome. A virus wants to survive so it will mutate into new variants that can maybe move about easier but as it does so it will become less problematic. After all, if it kills off it's host bodies then it will have nowhere to go and will kill itself, so it is better for it to get less awful so that it can continue to survive. I am no scientist but even I know this, yet those in charge seem dead set on scaring us all into submission and quite frankly I am fed up of it all now.

Oh well, best stop now...take care and see you tomorrow.
xx