Treerific Tuesday!

Day 258...

Back in work today and another busy day...although the morning was hampered by my laptop deciding to work at the slowest speed possible. It would appear it does not like having a big update and wants to rebel when I need to use it!

But over the course of the day I did manage to get caught up on all the banking, dealt with a few emails that needed responding to, arranged a delivery date for our storage containers, chased parents for responses to various emails and made a start on our Christmas fundraising.

As we cannot host our usual Christmas Fair we are having to do things a little differently this year. We will be having a stall set-up next week selling reindeer food, Santa keys, reindeer bells, jelly lollies and special festive treat cups. But we are also having a raffle which will be managed remotely. All the staff have contributed towards a Christmas hamper which looks amazing, we have a couple of local businesses donating prizes and our local Asda store has donated a trolley full of goodies. Jon, our contact at Asda, is amazing and always looks after us so well, this time we have a large Simba soft toy and a mountain of chocolate and biscuits to raffle.

I will admit that due to the slowness of my laptop this morning my work carried on at home. I really wanted to get on top of things as I have an online course to attend tomorrow afternoon so I will lose a few hours of my day to that.

Simon and Molly headed down the 'gym' this evening but as I was still typing things up I decided not to bother. Although I really need to find the motivation to get back into doing some sort of gym workout. Thankfully we are getting out for our walks as often as we can so at least I am doing something, but it would be good to get back to lifting a few weights again.

Thought I would take this first day of Advent to share some of my Christmas decorations, specifically some of our trees;

This is our main tree, and ALL the decorations are Disney themed.

Our black & silver tree, welcomes you into the house

And a slimmer tree for the dining room with quirky Santa & Snowmen decorations

And we do have a further four much smaller trees throughout the house as well as these two outside...

...suffice to say when we do Christmas, we really do Christmas! I'll share some more photos in another post.

This is our last day in our national lockdown number two and from one minute past midnight we revert back to the tier system with where we live being in the highest tier possible. So shops can re-open along with hairdressers and other personal care but the pubs, cafes and restaurants have to remain closed unless they can offer a take-away service. I still struggle with the logic behind these tiers...never mind not being convinced it's what we should, or need, to be doing. But there is nothing I can do about it all except just carry on as best I can.

Take care
xx

Monday Musings

Day 257...

It was a pretty usual start to our Monday with a trip to our local supermarket of choice to collect our weekly grocery shop. While there we were also able to collect a very generous donation for pre-school; we have been donated a large cuddly toy and lots of festive treats that will hopefully help with our fundraising efforts over the next couple of weeks.

On the way home we popped into another supermarket to pick up some extra bits and pieces as well as do a little shopping for pre-school so that we can have a week of baking activities with the children.

Once we got home it was time to sort out all the shopping, figure out what was for us and what was for pre-school and then get it all packed away. Next job was to nip out to our local post office as I had yet another Ebay sale to post on its way, thankfully I only have a few items left to sell...for now!

After lunch we decided to go out on a walk as we had missed our usual weekend walks due to all the Christmas decorating. Despite the grey and very damp weather we managed just over 4 miles in an hour and twenty minutes which I think was further than either of us were expecting to do today.

Home and in the dry and warm and a couple of coffee's downed I was able to get the last couple of Ebay sale items listed while Simon finished his latest art piece and was able to make a little more progress on the legs of his R2D2 build.

So we have one more day to go in the current lockdown and then we will be in Tier 3, which is not that far off a full lockdown to be honest except that I'll be able to visit the hairdresser but won't be able to go out for a meal. Yet again we go from one system to another and yet again we are all going to be constantly asking ourselves 'so what can I do now?'.

And all the while I am seeing more and more about the inaccuracy of the PCR tests that are currently being used to determine whether someone is positive or not and it is quite worrying to read the high false positive rates that these deliver and how they were never designed to be used on a mass scale like they are being. Never mind the problems with the laboratories that have been set up to deal with these large numbers of tests. And factor in concerns that we are not looking at this virus in the correct seasonal nature of viruses, that we are no longer in an epidemic but rather in the endemic stage and that Ofcom regulations have been put in place limiting the media in what they can actually say. It is all rather concerning, and worrying that those in charge don't seem to be listening to all the voices out there but just a chosen few.

As I've said numerous times, in a few months, or a years time, there will be a fascinating documentary about all of this and we may not like what we find out.

But for now I will carry on doing as I've been told and hope that someone out there can take control and make some progress.

Take care
xx

More Christmas Decorations

Day 256...

Well it has been another busy day and so I think this will be another short post today.

Sunday started as most Sundays do now with me adding to my online grocery shop order ready for collection tomorrow morning. I then had a blog piece to write up for the Disney Dream Girls ready for the release of our newest show released later today.

Once those jobs were out of the way then my attention could be focused on the last of the Christmas decorating. So over the course of the day, with the help of Molly, we decorated two more trees, adjusted the timing on some of our outside lights, unpacked numerous ornaments and placed them around the house as well as laying snow blanket in various locations. We even turned some left over baubles into outdoor ones by threading them with some garden wire to hang them off some bushes and plants.

But the 'piece de resistance' has to be my latest Disney ornament created by Simon and Molly that now hangs over my patio door...

Three baubles, some super glue and a bit of garden wire!

Welcome to the Disney house!

...how fabulous is this?!

As the day progressed and all the boxes became empty the only job left to do was to put all the empty boxes up in the loft and out of the way until the new year.

The day was then rounded out with our usual Sunday evening Disney Dream Girls Disney quiz. Thanks to Molly's superior knowledge about the film Tangled we were the winners of this weeks quiz which means we have the job of setting questions for next weeks quiz.

And that's where I will leave it for today...hopefully I can find the time to write a post specifically to share some of my Christmas decorations...as there is rather a lot!

Take care out there.
xx

Christmas!!!!

Day 255...

Well this is going to be a very short post today as today has been all about decorating the house ready for Christmas.

As Molly is at home this weekend, and it is actually on the calendar (about the only thing this year that has actually happened!) it was time to decorate the halls.

As I type we have completed all our outside lights and have three trees all put up inside and in their rightful places, but they have yet to be decorated. We also have numerous ornaments to place around the house as well.

So after a quick stop for an Indian take-away meal we are about to crack on and see how much more we can get done tonight - wish us luck!

I will see you all tomorrow with hopefully photos galore.

Take care out there.
xx

Back Together

Day 254...

Well today has been another busy day and the day in which Molly returned home after the longest she has ever been away from home.

The work day revolved around catching up with my deputy manager, paying wages, ordering storage container units, catching up on banking and liaising with parents over various matters.

This time of year is usually very busy at pre-school with fundraising, Christmas activities, Christmas concerts and parties but this year we are having to take a different approach to all of these. We have scaled back our fundraising so it is much more low key but will still hopefully raise a few pennies for us. We have the next few weeks planned out with various Christmas themed activities, crafts and even some baking. And then we have our Christmas concert which this year will be all virtual; a series of short videos that we will be able to share with our parents. Which leaves us, the staff, with still plenty to do!

Once home and fueled with coffee I had a few more work emails to deal with while at the same time completing a little more online Christmas shopping (taking advantage of a few Black Friday deals). 

Just prior to Molly arriving home I moved all the boxes of Christmas decorations out of her bedroom and downstairs into the hall...I figured that she might want to sleep in her bed tonight and as the boxes were all on her bed I'd better move them. This does mean that we are all set up and ready for our Christmas decorating weekend - whoop!

And this evening Molly arrived home. It is lovely to have her back after what has been the longest time she has been away and more importantly it means we can now decorate the house ready for Christmas. It is on the calendar that this weekend is Christmas decoration weekend and I know that had I have attempted to decorate on my own Molly would not have been happy. One of those traditions that has evolved over the years is that me and Molly take charge and while we are happy to have help they are under our direction!!

Best stop writing and relax ready for a busy weekend ahead.

Take care out there.
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

Snowball Fights but no Snow!

Day 252...

Well I was going to wait until December to change my little image at the top of each post but seeing as Christmas has well and truly landed at pre-school I thought I'd start now!

So the day started by collecting one of my colleagues and a Christmas tree that she was donating to pre-school and therein started the theme for the day.

Once at pre-school the tree was assembled and then throughout the morning it was decorated by our children under the watchful eye of the staff. We also collated together all the items that we have collected for our Christmas Hamper ready for raffling off, staff finished making the 'reindeer food' and started the prep work for selling 'reindeer bells'.

My work saw me emailing parents to remind them off all the various things that are happening over the next few weeks along with issuing funding forms, text reminders, chasing up quotes for storage containers, banking and then don't get me started on messing about with our phone which decided to no longer connect to the mobile network. It took me all day to finally get the phone updated and working properly again...very annoying, very time consuming and very inconvenient!

This afternoon we discovered more decorations and Christmassy themed things including some fake snowballs...well...at this point I'm not sure who had the most fun playing snowball fights; the children or the staff. But by the end of the afternoon we had a lot of red, sweaty, but very smiley faces.

Once home I decided to carry on with a little more pre-school work as there is lots happening at the moment and I had 'Letters from Santa' to organise as well as order our new storage container! I am also chatting online with our local supermarket community champion who has a trolley full of stuff to donate to us that will help with our Christmas fundraising efforts.

And the Christmas theme to the day didn't stop there as most of the rest of the afternoon into evening has been spent doing some Christmas shopping, online of course. And while I still have more to do it was nice to make a start and feel like a little progress is being made.

Another very busy day so it's time for wine and feet up I think!

Take care.
xx

Back to Work

Day 251...

Back to work today, as pre-school could finally re-open after our period of closure following a positive case. Thankfully we had just the one case and no more.

So we hit the ground running this morning...well okay more of a steady jog! But it was nice to be back in the building and chatting with the team. We have lots to do over the next week or so with our initial focus being our Christmas fundraising efforts; we have a hamper to raffle, numerous bits and pieces to sell and a crafty competition for the children to partake in.

We also have the ongoing project of getting a storage unit sorted and this morning I was able to chat with our landscaper friend who is going to help us get the site ready. I then had the job of trying to figure out which company to use for the said storage unit and determine how quickly all of this can happen. Suffice to say after a busy morning I was sent home to carry on my work in a little more peace and quiet.

We were unsure what Christmas at pre-school was going to look like this year but by early morning it was decided that the low key approach was boring and we wanted 'everything up'...operation Christmas is now in full affect. One of our old colleagues has been very kindly storing all our Christmas resources at their house but within a few hours of contacting them they had brought everything to us. We have a Christmas tree arriving tomorrow so I think I know what we will be doing tomorrow.

In between lots of pre-school work I managed to help a next door neighbour with a delivery and just give her 10 minutes of my time to chat. Her husband has dementia and is now in hospital, it's all very sad and having been through it all with Simon's dad a few years ago it is heartbreaking for her.

In my attempts to support small independent businesses I took delivery of my Shutter Studios Christmas cards today...have to give them a mention as it's Molly's little business...but they are pretty fabulous!

And we end the day with the announcement that up to three households can meet over a five day period at Christmas...but that's an exclusive three households...but you can still meet people outside of these three if it's outside...and we can travel anywhere...and go to church...

So apparently, despite how bad we keep getting told the situation is, we can relax the rules for five days and everything will be alright. Even the tone in which it has been announced feels very much like we're being told 'well you can meet up but still be careful and think carefully about what you're doing' which translates as 'if we have a problem after Christmas then it's the publics fault for not being careful enough'.

I will carry on as I have been doing, risk assess what I am doing and whether I consider it to be safe, and mix only with those that are close to me. We are lucky in that we don't have big family gatherings at Christmas any more so it doesn't affect us too much. It will be a shame not to see friends and go out for a few drinks and maybe a meal but there will be other times and other years to make up for this one. As long as I can stay warm inside, have some yummy food, an odd glass of wine, some festive movies and music and some chilled out, relaxing days I will be fine.

Take care out there.

xx

35 Years Ago

Day 250...

...and 35 years ago I met a certain someone in a local nightclub on a random night out. I had no intention of going out that night and certainly not with, how shall we put this...an acquaintance...who called me up out of the blue. 

My dad persuaded me to go out that night and across a dark dancefloor I was introduced to Simon...just so happened he knew the person I was with and they hadn't seen each other in a while. So rather than leave with whom I arrived I left with Simon instead.

Two years later we got engaged and then married 18 months later. 35 years since we met, two grown-kids, numerous amazing Disney holidays, cosplay adventures and prop making later here we are still growing stronger together.

Simon drew this ten years ago as part of his 365 Mickey's project so it seems apt to share it today.

But as it was Monday and our day off it started like any other Monday with a trip to collect our weekly grocery shop but in a change to our usual routine we came home via another supermarket to do a little bit of Christmas themed shopping. I wanted to pick up some bits and pieces for us for over the festive period but I was also shopping on behalf of pre-school. We are putting together a hamper that we are going to raffle off over the next couple of weeks; fizz, pudding, cake, mince pies and other goodies.

This marked the first time venturing into an actual supermarket in what felt like forever...having stuck to ordering all my shopping online and collecting once a week I haven't really needed to go into a shop. We have been in and out of other places but this was the first time back in a familiar shop and it was just nice to be doing something that felt like normal.

Once home and shopping put away I then had a parcel for the US to pack and sort out the postage, which seems to have gone up an awful lot compared to the last time we shipped anything stateside! It was then off to the post office to send the parcel on its way along with another couple.

This afternoon saw us take a walk out in the sunshine; just a short one today of a couple of miles in about 40 minutes. Then fueled with a coffee I set about getting the rest of the cleaning and a little re-organising completed ready for the upcoming weekend and our Christmas decorations.

I do love all my Disney bits and pieces but it does make cleaning round a lengthy job but now it is all done it looks lovely I just need all the dust to keep away. Although at the weekend I will need to move it all again to lay some snow blanket so that everywhere looks suitably festive.

Just a little bit of my collection...

And even my 'Dickens Village' collection by Department 56 has strong Disney connections as I fell in love with it after seeing a large display in a shop (it may have been the 'World of Disney' or whatever the equivalent was back in 1991) in what was then known as the Disney Village Marketplace at Walt Disney World. 

In fact I think I bought a couple of pieces to bring back home and of course since then Department 56 have produced a Disney Village series as well. It's probably a good job that it's tricky to get hold of in the UK as I don't know where I'd put anymore!

And we end the day with announcements from our government that the current 'lockdown 2' will end on the 2nd December but then we will be back into the three tier system which is going to be a bit tougher, but we won't know which areas of the country are in which tiers until later in the week. I do find myself losing the will to take as much interest in this as I perhaps should. I think I will wait until the tier for our area has been announced and then worry about what I can or can't do with whom and where!

Wherever you are, take care.

xx

Busy Sunday

Day 249...

Well it's been another busy day today.

This morning saw Simon and I divide and conquer. I battled with the online grocery shopping (seriously the website was doing my head in) and Simon set to painting the en-suite bathroom to Molly's room.

I then jumped online to record a special Disney Dream Girls podcast for our Patreon supporters while Simon gathered together the next set of R2D2 parts for sanding. He was also taking apart some old electronic devices to re-utilise parts as what is termed 'greeblies'; these are interesting bits and pieces that can then be re-used when making props to give them a more authentic feel. Star Wars is known for lots of it's props being re-purposed household objects or parts of familiar objects. When Simon fabricated our various Star Wars cosplay outfits he used everything from bits of piping to the inside of soap dispensers to tops off ketchup bottles! Nothing git thrown away for months without Simon first assessing whether it could be utilised elsewhere.

We had a short coffee break followed by a little sanding by Simon and a little cleaning around by me before we made the most of a chilly, but sunny, afternoon and took a 5.6 mile walk in just under one hour and 45 minutes. It was a beautiful afternoon and we saw a glorious sunset as we made our way home.

Once home I continued with the clean and tidy through that I started earlier; my aim is to get everywhere clean and tidy ready for the coming weekend so that we can crack on and get all our Christmas decorations up without having to worry about cleaning around first.

Then it was time for our weekly Disney Dream Girls Sunday evening Disney quiz! It was the usual gang and it was lovely to see everyone, have a giggle, have a chat and try and test our Disney knowledge.

And that was Sunday. We have reports starting to emerge about what will happen after the 2nd December when this current lockdown ends and it would appear that we simply go back into a tier system similar to what we had before; but that maybe stricter than before; but one in which the pubs can stay open for an extra hour...so some of us could still be in a lockdown situation depending on where we live? Possibly...maybe? Which doesn't seem to make any sense whatsoever. And then we get a news report that the government are looking into  a system whereby we get 'papers' to prove we have had a negative test and then we would be 'allowed' to move around freely as normal...'papers'? Really? Is that what it's coming to that we have to have permission to go about our lives, that we will be controlled by government, that our civil liberties will be compromised? This all sounds very weird, very 'big brother' and a little bit like persecution.

We are entering strange times I fear, but all we can do is watch and wait and see what happens.

Take care out there.
xx

Saturday Sort Out

Day 248...

Well we weren't really sure what we were going to be doing today - funny we had no plans...can't think why?!

The only thing I really wanted to do was to get the Christmas decorations down out of the loft and put away the Halloween ones that were still sitting on Molly's bed. Brief explanation...access to the loft is via Molly's bedroom but as she is away at her boyfriends at the moment her room has become a bit of a storage stop-gap!

But in order to make way for Christmas decorating next weekend we also needed to make room in our hall as this will be where one of our three trees will be going. So our first job was to throw out some of the items that I'd tried selling via Ebay but had not had any interest whatsoever, along with all the cardboard boxes that I'd been stockpiling for said Ebay sales!

We then ventured upstairs to the loft and what was going to be a case of get one lot of items out the loft and replace with another turned into 'let's get this loft tidied'. Well when I say 'we' what I actually mean is that Simon goes up in the loft and I remain at the bottom of the ladder and pass things back and forth. I don't really do ladders and I definitely don't do lofts...cold and full of spiders...at least that's what I think!

So we started by emptying out about half of the loft space so that Simon could then take the vacuum cleaner up there and give everywhere a clean! Now this may sound a bit strange but having had a wasps nest somewhere in the roof over Summer we had a floor full of dead wasps. After much moving of things around and cleaning as he went the aforementioned wasps nest was discovered, nestling in the rafters!

How amazing does this look?!

At least we now know where the wasps nest is and have been able to clear away all the dead wasps. My next job will be to get in touch with our 'pest control' guy and see what we need to do next, if anything!

By the end of the afternoon we had re-organised our loft, moved Halloween decorations back into the loft, moved the Christmas ones out of the loft and streamlined some of what we were storing up there...just random stuff that we could no longer remember why we were holding onto it!

My job for tomorrow is to continue with a general tidy around and clean through so that next weekend, when Molly is home, we can have a full-on Christmas decorating weekend. With outdoor lights to both the front and back of the house and three Christmas trees (four if you count a small one in Molly's room) we need a full weekend to get it all sorted. Oh and I've still not decided whether to order another set of outdoor lights...

So what sounded like a quick job this morning took us way longer than we expected but by the end of the day we had a great sense of accomplishment at getting a job done, and done well. Glasses of red wine tonight were well earned.

Take care out there.

xx

Yay Friday!

Day 247...

And we have reached Friday...ready for the weekend? A...shall we just carry on then as we have been doing.

My day was a full on work day; replying to emails, chatting with members of my management team and committee, organising our approach to our Christmas fundraising activities and ending with a good sort through and a bit of a clear-out.

We took a walk out at lunchtime, despite the rain, and managed our usual couple of miles although we did stick to the pavement rather than risk a squelchy walk over the fields.

Molly has been extremely organised and got all (or almost all) of her Christmas shopping completed which meant that the only other thing I seem to have done today is to answer the door to take in yet another delivery.

Although I will confess that in among all her boxes there was one for me...

New additions to be Christmas lights!

...well I can't resist having a few more lights up outside and to be fair as we won't be able to go anywhere this year I might as well make home look amazing. I have my eye on a tree that would go really well just outside my living room window...but can't decide whether to go for it or not!!

This did mean that I have now given in and my current music has changed to something more seasonal, with a big thanks to Molly who has a Christmas playlist on her Spotify account.

Simon treated himself to a trip to the gym tonight but I have to admit to having lost my gym 'mojo' at the moment. I really need to get back to it...just need to get motivated.

And there we have Friday and the end of a week. Just one more week completed in this strange world we find ourselves in.

Take care,

xx

A Disney Box Day

Day 246...

Well today has been a very work focused day today as I really wanted to get on top of all my work so that heading into next week and December I would have a clear plan of what I need to do and when.

This is always a busy time of year as we move towards Christmas and this year is the same but different. We can't do our usual Christmas fundraising or concerts but we are coming up with other ways to make it special instead. We still need to do some fundraising so I have been gathering my thoughts together and set a few things in motion.

As our pre-school shares a building we need to sort a separate storage area and I nipped out quickly this morning to pay pre-school a visit and take some photos of where we need the storage unit to be located. We want to use a shipping container for our storage space but there are a number of different options we could choose plus we need to make sure where we want to site it is both safe, suitable and accessible. I am in the middle of a number of emails chatting with various companies to see what is...or is not...possible.

As a nice interruption to the day I received a delivery from the Disney Store...some more Christmas decorations! Well, it would have been rude not to when I had a 20% discount code plus I qualified for a free gift...

How could I resist getting this...especially when it was free!

And that was today...a productive day all round, work done, a few household chores done and we even managed our usual 40 minute walk out at lunchtime. Although I do need to get some new boots for walking over the fields as by the time I got home today both feet were rather chilly and just a little bit wet!

Until tomorrow, take care.
xx

Lockdown Birthday

Day 245...

Well today we celebrate two birthdays; firstly that of Mickey Mouse and secondly and most importantly my dad.

But it was still a work day and this morning I set to sorting through my 'to do' list to catch up on a number of tasks for work. And my day revolved around those jobs dipping in and out at times to get other stuff done but my main focus was trying to get on top of 'work' stuff.

We took a walk out at lunchtime and headed out over the fields for a 40 minute walk in very blustery, but thankfully dry, conditions.

Before I re-started work this afternoon I decided to make a low carb, dark chocolate cake for my dad's birthday. This is a very dense chocolate cake made with 85% dark chocolate, butter, eggs and vanilla essence; very yummy and goes great with some cream and raspberries.

While I was baking I decided to video chat with Molly as we had been chatting all morning via text about possible changes and improvements to her Shutter Studios website. She was debating about whether to opt for a different website platform and weighing up the various options as ultimately she would like to be able to sell her products via her own website. Lots of things to consider and lots of differing costs options.

She also showed me some Christmas Cards that she has had printed and is thinking of putting onto her Etsy store; must admit I am thinking of ordering some myself from her because they are really very good.

The afternoon rolled along and I was pleased to get everything done today that I had wanted to get done; still more to do but happy that I had achieved what I'd set out to do.

It was then time to fetch my dad and bring him back to our house for dinner. My dad doesn't often venture our way and it was lovely to be able to persuade him to come visit for a couple of hours. We had a little video chat with Molly while dinner was cooking and then after we introduced my dad to the low carb chocolate cake which was pretty well received.

So a day of birthdays, cake and good company.

Take care out there.
xx

Creative Monday

Day 243...

Well today got off to a bit of a wobble; we were supposed to be off out first thing to collect our weekly grocery shop but I'd not had my usual email and text so I decided to check my account.

Turned out that my booked slot was for between 4pm and 5pm and not 9am - 10am, even though I'd changed the slot yesterday and had an email confirming the change of time...we decided to stay home and wait till later to go fetch it.

So with the flow of the day changed Simon took some time this morning to get back to his R2D2 build. It's been a while since he's done some work on this because of completing his other droid project, art commissions and his normal day job simply getting in the way. So today it was sanding more parts ready for priming...apparently!

I on the other hand had the amazing job of ironing...whoop! Although while ironing I was also chatting with Molly via WhatsApp as she was busy uploading some new items to her Etsy store. She'd also sent me another papercraft character that she's created to print out to make sure it will work and can be sold as a downloadable item on her store.

I then managed to secure myself a flu jab after trying to get through to my doctors numerous times this morning, and amazingly I have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. This will be my first visit to a doctors since COVID struck so that will be an interesting experience.

I was aware that the government are trying to get more people my age to get the flu jab this year but that they haven't targeted that age group yet and then I realised that I actually fall into the group of people that qualify because of a health condition that makes me more vulnerable. So this is the thing; I got diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 2019, had a lumpectomy in April of 2019, radiotherapy in June of 2019 and am now one year into having yearly check-ups for 5 years. What I hadn't realised was that this puts me into the 'vulnerable' category.

I had a text a while back about getting a flu jab and had kind of forgotten about it but then I'd had a reminder a couple of weeks ago and had been ruminating on what to do. So today I decided to figure out why I was being offered it. You see, my cancer was relatively minor, it was caught early and yes I had treatment but I have a habit of dismissing it and so it's not till something like this happens that it causes me to take stock of the situation.

My left boob (or as we like to refer to it...the naughty one) isn't the same as it once was. Although I had a lumpectomy and the scar is under my boob there is a definite difference between the two now...at least for me! The boob feels different to how it used to, the scarring has improved and it doesn't feel as numb as it once used to, but I still get weird pains every now and then; nothing major just little spikes and soreness.

And then I find out that being diagnosed and having treatment is enough to put me in the vulnerable group for a flu jab because I may have a weakened immune system due to the treatment I underwent. That's something I don't ever remember being told when going through my treatment so it does make you stop and think. I think I have tried to brush aside what I went through last year, eager to get on with this year and make the most of life (not that that is really happening for obvious reasons!) and just chalk 2019 up to being a pretty weird year, for a lot of reasons and not just the cancer one. But perhaps I need to give it more credence than I have so far, perhaps I need to acknowledge the impact it had on me and will have on me for the next few years. It's easy to try and dismiss things but harder to embrace them, accept them and incorporate them into your life.

On a lighter note the afternoon was filled with collecting the shopping, putting up a couple of shelves and attempting the papercraft people Molly had created...which was fun?! Well, Molly has created some lovely little characters and they were quite fun to cut out and assemble. But while these are very cute they are also very fiddly and were definitely not a family friendly activity in this house this afternoon as all that could be heard was a string of profanities as the frustration got to us...but in the end look what we created!

These were fun to create, even if a little testing at times, but it was still a giggle!

Well until tomorrow, take care and stay safe.

xx

Chilly Sunday

Day 242...

And we had another slow and steady start to the day.

Once up and fed the day started with the mundane tasks of completing my online grocery shop ready for collection tomorrow, a little online research for this afternoon's Disney quiz and updating the latest blog post for the Disney Dream Girls.

Simon was busy tidying around after yesterday's DIY efforts as well as jumping online to complete some art commission work.

Once our respective jobs were complete it was time to venture outside and go on a walk. Despite the rain first thing today it had turned sunny but windy and we thought we would make the most of it. So we set off and tried a different route for a change, and were really happy with the new change of scenery and it will definitely be a route we go back to. All in all we managed 5.5 miles in just over an hour and 40 minutes; it was a bit chilly at times and I am glad I had my Mickey hat on to keep my ears warm from the wind!

Armed with a coffee it was time to jump onto the Disney Store website to buy a few more bits and pieces that I'd been after that had come back into stock...and armed with a discount code I managed to secure free shipping and qualify for a free gift too!

It was then time for our usual Sunday afternoon Disney Dream Girls Disney quiz and this week we also recorded a segment for an upcoming show. We'd all been given the task of coming up with some foodie choices for a day in the Magic Kingdom; 2 snack options and 2 meal options. It was interesting to see the similarities in what was chosen while at the same time introducing people to options they'd not thought of, or tried, before.

And I'll think I'll end it there for today, take care and look after yourselves.

xx

More DIY

Day 241...

Well we had the good intention of getting up bright and early and getting on with the day but it didn't quite happen.

So after a slow and steady start to the day we finally made the effort to get moving and set to with painting the bathroom...I say 'we' but I actually mean Simon.

Simon was already to get painting when he discovered that what he thought were full cans of paint in the garage were not quite as full as he needed them to be, so off he went in search of paint. 

So here we are in week two of lockdown two and Simon arrives at our local retail park to purchase the aforementioned paint. Apparently the car park was 70-80% full (so pretty much like a normal Saturday), he said the supermarket was 'heaving', there were queues of cars to both the MacDonald's drive thru' and the Costa drive thru' (Simon counted 33 cars queuing for Costa) and when he went to pay for the paint he joined a queue of 12. We have been in the same store when lockdown restrictions were eased and never had to queue with that many before.

Is this due to non-essential retail not being open that the public are simply getting their shopping fix elsewhere? Or does this just demonstrate that this lockdown is nothing like the first one and that people are pretty much getting on with whatever they can. It certainly appears to be different this time around and whether this is having any affect who only knows.

The afternoon was taken up with Simon painting the bathroom and I had embarked on a quick tidy up of the kitchen dining area...well you know how you start something and it turns out to be a much bigger job than you'd anticipated! Furniture was moved, things were re-organised, some things thrown away and everywhere thoroughly cleaned; the trick will be to keep it that way!

We rounded the day out with a well deserved Indian meal from a local restaurant, at least we can do a little bit to help the smaller, local businesses who are really feeling it at the moment.

Hope you're having a productive weekend, take care and stay safe.
xx

It was bound to happen...

Day 240...

Yay it's Friday...well that was the start to the day but it didn't take long for things to take a sideways turn.

Not long after arriving at pre-school we received a call to let us know that we had a positive case...and then the day got kind of busy!

So after contacting the relevant authorities we were basically told that anyone with close contact with the positive case would need to self-isolate for 14 days; the upshot of this meant we had to close pre-school.

We had parents waiting outside to drop their children off for the day and my deputy had the unenviable task of telling them we had to close while I remained on the phone with the powers that be to ascertain the why's and the wherefore's.

Once we had a handle on the situation everyone headed off home. Due to the fact that we are a small pre-school it does mean that a good proportion of our children and staff are now needing to self-isolate which means that we have no option but to close pre-school. We hope to be re-open in just over a weeks time.

It did mean that once I landed home I was straight on the laptop to fire off a load of emails to all our parents, the relevant authorities and anyone else I could think off. Just daft things like remembering to cancel our milk delivery!

As it was, Simon was off work today and when I got home he was busy doing some DIY in our bathroom; re-grouting tiles followed by a bit of plastering. By late lunchtime he had finished all that he could do which coincided with me having done everything I needed to do so a walk out was very much needed and deserved; just a short one today but lovely none the less.

The afternoon saw us take another batch of parcels to the post office; I think we must have had almost 20 to take today. Getting home it was time for a coffee, getting up to date on emails and re-listing some of my online sales. Simon was able to sand down the plastering he had done which means that we are all ready for a spot of painting tomorrow.

And that means that as it's Friday it must be time for a glass of wine and to sit and watch the 'Baby Yoda' show as we like to call it!

So with all the crazy going on please take care and look after yourselves.
xx

Thursday...still busy!

Day 239...

Well, today has been another busy day.

Although not in work today I had an online meeting to attend mid-morning so before that started I quickly sorted out a couple more parcels ready for going to the post office later on.

Thankfully the meeting was fairly short although didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know! It was a meeting set up the council that looks after education in our area and was supposed to be going over the implications of the second lockdown that we are now over a week into!

Once that was over I had another parcel to wrap and get a postage figure for. This was some rather delicate china so I was being rather particular about how I was packing it to then get the correct price for posting in relation to the weight and insurance just in case anything gets damaged in transit. Once all sorted I was able to contact the person buying the china to arrange payment.

Lunchtime rolled around and Simon and I headed off to the post office armed with boxes upon boxes! I had at that point sold 23 jigsaws plus a few other pieces; there were a lot of boxes!

After lunch I did some work as we need to organise an outside storage unit for pre-school and it's a case of looking into what sort of unit would work best for us, where it's going to live and how to get it installed. We are looking into getting some sort of shipping container and it is a more complex task than you would first think.

Later on this afternoon I hooked up online with my good friend and fellow Disney Dream Girl, Michelle to record this weeks podcast. We had a lovely time chatting all things Disney as well as just being able to catch up with one another as we both seem to be having a rather busy week.

Simon has been busy with work this past week as well, so much so that he had to work over the weekend as well as Monday, his non-working day of the week. But this afternoon his whole team got told to take the rest of the day and tomorrow off in recognition of all the hard work put in in order to meet a deadline - how great is that?!

And by the time I had recorded the podcast my inbox had filled up with more Ebay sales so Simon and I then spent about an hour wrapping up another 12 jigsaws all paid for as well as the delicate box of china. So we will be paying our local post office another visit tomorrow!!

And that has been today - really don't feel like I've stopped all week this week so thank goodness it's Friday tomorrow.

Take care,
xx

Whirlwind Wednesday

Day 238...

Well today has been another whirlwind of a day!

At work we had what we call here in the UK, an Inset Day, or otherwise known as a teacher training day. And today we, as a team, undertook some training, some first aid training.

As early years practitioners we must hold an accredited paediatric first aid qualification, which has to be renewed every 3 years. This normally involves a face-to-face course held over 2 days but due to COVID it had been split into two halves. The first was an online segment done at a time convenient to each person and then today we had the second half held via Zoom.

So our team were all in work together and I had the job of being tech support and setting up each of the laptops to join in via Zoom. It worked pretty well, we had one laptop lose it's audio ability and we suffered with a bit of feedback whenever we tried to communicate but otherwise we got through the day relatively okay.

We still have one part of the course yet to complete as we were missing one piece of important kit. As part of the course teaches us how and when to use CPR we all need to be able to demonstrate what we would do and that involves using a resuscitation doll. Unfortunately our dolls hadn't arrived so once they do we will all need to video each other giving CPR to the dolls to then send off and complete the course.

But today we had a few giggles putting each other into the recovery position, giving CPR to a cushion, using my plush Mickey Mouse as a substitute baby for CPR and choking purposes as well as putting a dressing on myself!

Once home I had a couple of letters to organise and then it was off to the post office to post them along with a few of my Ebay sales. I still have more to get to the post office but simply didn't have enough hands to manage them all by myself so I will hopefully get the rest taken tomorrow.

Home again it was time to catch-up on work emails, my own personal emails, a few more Ebay sales and helping Molly with some artwork she has produced and needed printing out (as she's not at home at the moment she doesn't have access to a printer so I have taken on the role of her PA!). Before I knew it, it was time to cook dinner and attempt to stop for the day!

We seem to be a very busy house this week! I suppose the good thing about that is it distracts from the whole lockdown thing happening. Although when I do stop and pause I am reminded that I have a friend who is self-isolating because of a positive case in her bubble at work, another friend unable to work because of looking after a child who is self-isolating because of a positive case in their school bubble, a friend who has a relative in hospital because they tested positive and so on. It can really feel never ending at times and I do wonder what the full and long term implications of all this will be.

Whatever you are up to please stay safe,
xx