Day 876

Day 876...

We have had yet another glorious day with clear blue skies, sunshine and high temperatures. Whilst we started our day with a walk it was a little different to normal. We set off later than normal as about half way round Simon and I parted ways...Simon headed off home while I continued on. My destination was a local cafe called 'The Cowshed' so that I could meet up with a friend for coffee.

The walk over was 2.6 miles which I completed in 49 minutes, while the walk back was a little shorter at 2.3 miles in 42 minutes. It was lovely to catch-up over coffee and lovely to be blessed with such a beautiful day although by the time I got home just before lunch I was rather sweaty to say the least!!

A few photos from my walk this morning...

And of course had to get one of the Alpacas....

I arrived home to a couple of parcels...

Not only had the Funko Stitch arrived so that I now have a complete set of the Funko PeopleMover figures...

...but we also received our new Kindle Paperwhite along with a wireless charging dock and case. Consequently this afternoon I took a little time to set everything up which was super easy as I just had to login to the Kindle app on my phone and hey presto everything synced up and it was ready to use.

Mid-afternoon my very good friend, and podcast co-host, Michelle stopped by for a cuppa on her journey down South. She was making her way to her hotel for the evening before she embarks on her journey tomorrow to Orlando, Florida. Yep Michelle is going to Walt Disney World and she also has a Disney cruise booked to round out her vacation. Although things are proving a little stressful as the airline has decided to move her and her friends seats around so they are no longer sitting together despite having paid extra to reserve their seats. Plus she also had to upload proof of her vaccination to the Disney Cruise Line as they will only allow fully vaccinated guests to board providing they have also tested negative 48 hours prior to boarding. This is another level of stress for Michelle as she has to figure out how to get tested and get the test uploaded prior to her cruise while being in a foreign country who follow different rules and protocols to us in the UK.

I really do think it is time that we drop all these silly rules that are still in place for a virus that is now no worse than the flu and is endemic within society. We need to get some common sense and go back to how things were before and adopt a sensible approach...if you are ill stay home - simples! This is how it should have always been and for the majority of people it was. There is no point making yourself do something or go somewhere when you are feeling rough...take the time off, rest and you will be back on your feet ten times quicker than if you soldier on as you will then find yourself in a worse state.

What we need to be doing is educating people about looking after themselves, getting them to be as healthy as they can possibly be so that if a cold or a flu does come along they are in their best shape to deal with it. Unfortunately the cynic in me says that is not a profitable approach. If people eat well and exercise well then how will big food make their profits and if people are fit and healthy then how do big pharma get rich? So in turn why should those of us that do the best we can with our diet and fitness be penalised because the majority choose not to?

And in my attempt to look after myself we finished the day with a gym workout and although it was still very hot there was actually quite a nice breeze and so most of my workout was done outside. Tonight I was concentrating on arms and shoulders.

See you all tomorrow.

xx

Day 856 & Day 857 - The Weekend

Day 856...Saturday

With Molly and Dan visiting for the weekend I have deliberately left writing my blog until they had returned home as I wanted to be able to spend as much time with them as possible.

So our Saturday morning started with a walk, but today we were accompanied by Molly and Dan and also Ethan. It was a proper family outing as we walked the 2.4 miles over the fields to a local cafe called The Cowshed. It took us just 45 minutes to get over there and we had the pleasure of meeting horses, alpacas and very friendly dogs along the way.

But we had good reason for making the walk as we took advantage of a very yummy cooked breakfast in a lovely setting. Although the day had started a little grey the sun decided to make an appearance and it was great to be sat outside enjoying the weather, the food and the great company.

We took a little longer walk back clocking up 3.2 miles in 59 minutes. It was great to be able to have 'the kids' with us and introduce them to the places that we walk and have talked about to them, and whilst Molly had been on some of these walks before Ethan had not. 

The remainder of the day was spent at home chatting and catching up with each other, drinking coffee, eating food and just generally having a very relaxed and chilled time.

Day 857...Sunday

In a change to our normal routine we decided to have breakfast before we did anything else. Simon and I were up and about a little later than normal and enjoying a coffee before we decided what the order of the day should be. Once Molly and Dan appeared we decided to get breakfast under way while they nipped out to get some petrol in their car ready for the journey home later today. With petrol costing so much at the moment and them living 3 hours away we have helped them out by paying for a tank of fuel for them...we simply couldn't expect them to visit when the cost is so high at the moment, without helping out a little.

We did still manage our morning walk but it was after breakfast and we were accompanied by Molly and Dan. We did one of our standard walks of 2.3 miles in 47 minutes, it was a little grey out and a tad windy but still really quite warm.

By early afternoon Molly and Dan were on their way home; it is always lovely to have them visit but always makes me realise just how much I miss Molly. She would normally be my partner in crime; helping me out with odd jobs, someone to chat with when the boys start getting all techy and nerdy and good company for whenever shopping was involved! But as much as I miss her I know that she is happy living with Dan by the seaside and all I ever want for her, and for Ethan, is for them to be happy and content and living their lives the way they want being the best possible version of themselves.

This afternoon Simon did a little tinkering around with the 3D printer as he wanted to re-design and re-print a couple of pieces for additions to his R2D2. With the printer set off printing we popped out to our favourite Starbucks for a coffee and for the car to visit the adjacent jet wash! It was the first time Simon has been able to drive the car since breaking his wrist and as a result the first time the car has been washed since then too!

Back home and it was more 3D printing for Simon along with a little video capture. We have re-discovered our digital video camera and having charged it up Simon decided to take it out with us yesterday and do a little filming as a test. So this afternoon he has been busy taking the video and editing it and so while I type the video is 'rendering out' and we will find out whether or not the camera will be worth using going forward. Whilst mobile phones are great for capturing photos and video the available memory can soon fill up and so having this compact camera might be the way forward, especially for when we are off doing new things and visiting places.

And with that I shall see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 836

Day 836...

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 835

Day 835...

The morning after another nights rubbish sleep...I think all the gardening this past week is catching up with me and I couldn't get comfy at all!

So we had a little later than normal start to the day but we still took one of our usual walks managing 2.3 miles in 46 minutes.

The first task of the day was to complete my online grocery shopping that's due to be collected tomorrow. Ethan has decided to take packed lunches to work, as I think making use of the many food options on offer in Nottingham is starting to get a tad expensive, and so he wanted to choose some bits and pieces to add to the shopping this week. I did my best to get him to avoid the carbs, or at least too many of them!

After lunch/brunch Simon was busy getting his laptop up and working again so that he can start back with some 3D printing...he has a few ideas for his next build or builds! He also spent some time working on his latest piece of digital art. I decided that I'd best get sorting all the paperwork that I'd moved from one cupboard into our new study/craft room as the room will be used as our guest bedroom at the end of the week as Molly and Dan are popping up for a visit.

By the end of the afternoon I'd created two bags of paper rubbish (most of which I'd shredded) and cleared out seven lever arch files. And all the stuff that I need to keep is now neatly filed away in my new filing cabinet.

And with that, there was my not very exciting Saturday, roll on tomorrow.
xx

Day 807

Day 807...

And we have reached the weekend and it's a Saturday.

We did not rush to get up, but once we were up and about, and fueled with a coffee, we set out on our morning walk. We completed 2.5 miles in 48 minutes, and we are loving this new way to start the day. A chance to get some fresh air, blow the cobwebs away and chance for us to chat and connect.

The morning saw us catch up on a few boring household tasks and Simon made more headway with the plinth he is constructing to go under our table top mirror in the bedroom. In fact by the end of the day he'd managed to shape the plinth to fit through a combination of chiseling, filling and sanding, and had also applied a first coat of varnish.

This afternoon was yet more housework as we had a bit of a good old clean through in a couple of rooms. We had thought we might get out for a second walk but the day was rather grey and it threatened with rain on and off...this does not bode well for our activities tomorrow. We are joining some fellow East Midlands Garrison Star Wars friends to take part in a local charity event, however the day is forecast to be very wet all day and as far as I know the whole event is held outdoors...this could be interesting!

And I think that is where I will leave it for today.

See you tomorrow,
xx

Day 806

Day 806...

Friday and another bank holiday! And another day that started with an early morning walk of 2.3 miles over the fields, and a few hills, in 44 minutes.

This morning saw Simon busy in the garage making a wood plinth to go underneath a freestanding mirror that we have in the bedroom that is just a bit too low. I was able to get the mountain of ironing completed and then had some time to try out some make-up for my Star Wars cosplay.

Having got back into uniform last weekend I'd decided that the make-up that I use to create the character needed a bit of a revamp. As we have another troop ahead of us this coming Sunday I wanted to have a practice run through of my make-up to see if I could create the look I wanted. I was pretty happy with what I did and feel a lot more confident about the look going forward.

This afternoon I enjoyed a little time sat outside enjoying the sunshine and the warmth, which was a nice surprise as the forecast had been for rain. I was also able to get a little research done ahead of podcast recording this evening.

But before that I decided to get a little gym workout in. I concentrated on getting my daily planks completed along with a few body weight exercises before heading outside to our gym to lift a few weights around. I will admit that today's workout felt a little hard going although I'm not really sure why.

The end of the day was spent chatting with my podcast co-host Michelle as we recorded an episode of the Disney Dream Girls for this Sunday's release along with a special show for our Patreon subscribers.

And that was Friday, see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 805

Day 805...

And we have a Thursday...a Thursday...that's a bank holiday...hence the need to keep reminding myself that today was Thursday!

It's the start of the Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations hence the bank holiday on a Thursday and another one tomorrow. Although the jubilee won't really affect us as we will simply enjoy the days and do whatever we feel like doing.

And this morning that involved starting the day with a walk in the sunshine. We did the same walk as yesterday morning heading out over the fields on a hilly 1.9 mile walk in 38 minutes. Loving this way to start the day and delaying breakfast until lunchtime is suiting both Simon and I.

Our day has been a very chilled out sort of day; we nipped out for a spot of grocery shopping, we took the car 'for a coffee'...well we had the coffee after Simon had made use of the jet wash at the garage adjacent to the Starbucks, we hoovered and cleaned the interior of the car once we were home and the garage also had a clean. As the garage doubles as our gym we do try and keep it as clean as possible so that it makes for a nicer workout environment.

Towards the end of the afternoon Simon jumped on the exercise bike while I completed my set of planks for the day along with a few more floor exercises. I am trying to get back into the routine of completing planks, sit-ups, push-ups etc most days. These are the exercises that I used to do when I first went low carb and I am hoping to get back into making them part of my daily routine as much as possible.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 804

Day 804...

And we have reached the middle of the working week and what is the last working day for Simon and Ethan as we have an extra long bank holiday weekend ahead of us as the country celebrates the Queens jubilee.

But our day started very much like yesterday with an early morning walk. We took a hillier, and slightly shorter route this morning completing 1.9 miles in 38 minutes and according to my fitness tracker that equated to 34 minutes of fat burning!

My morning was spent at my dads house as I continued with the job of categorising all the bits and pieces that we need to find new homes for. I've taken lots of photos so that I have a pretty comprehensive record of what we have. There is everything from glass paperweights, to crockery sets, china collectibles, old board games, books and even some cigarette cards from the 1930's!

I made sure I was home for when Simon broke for lunch which is now our 'breakfast'...and I have to say that neither of us has found it difficult missing the usual breakfast time slot and deferring it till lunchtime. Intermittent fasting so far is pretty okay.

I'd hoped that this afternoon would have been a mixture of indoors and outdoors but the weather had different ideas. After a glorious start to the day (we walked in sunshine in t-shirts) it had turned rather grey and rained off and on for the afternoon. So I spent my time at the laptop googling some of the items that I'd found at my dads to see what they were and what best to do with them.

It was fascinating to discover all the old cigarette cards which must have belonged to my grandad and even more amazing was that they were stored in an old 'Cadburys's Selection Box' which dates back to the 1960's and doubled as a board game! 

The day was rounded out with a gym workout; I decided to complete some planks and floor exercises indoors before joining Simon out in the gym to lift some weights around. Pretty happy that I managed a full plank for 1 minute and side planks for about 35 seconds each.

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 803

Day 803...

We decided on a different approach to our day today...we have decided to try intermittent fasting by simply delaying our breakfast till lunchtime.

And as part of that we decided to get out bright and early for a walk and we completed 2.5 miles in 45 minutes. We were out and walking by just gone 8am and although it was a little damp it didn't deter us and according to my fitness tracker we walked at a faster pace than our normal lunchtime walks and had 41 minutes of fat burning exercise - that'll do nicely.

On our return I decided to get back into doing some of the body-weight exercises that I used to do when I initially went low carb eight years ago. So this morning I reintroduced my body to planks! It was a little tough going and I think it will take me a few days to get back into the swing of things but I still managed a full plank and two side planks. I just want to up my times and re-introduce a few more movements, but I've made a start and that's the most important thing - onwards and upwards.

After a quick shower I headed out the door and paid our local Lidl a visit as we needed a few bits and bobs. The advantage of going on a Tuesday morning was that I was probably the youngest shopper in there!!

With the shopping all put away I did a little online shopping. Having dug out the cosplay at the weekend I realised I was short of a couple of pieces of make-up. I needed an eyebrow pencil and some face powder and I thought the easiest, and probably cheapest way, was to buy online thanks to good old Amazon.

I also spent a little time looking for leggings for my workouts; who knew there could be so many styles...so many in fact that I haven't been able to make my mind up yet!

So as lunch rolled around Simon and I had our usual cooked breakfast and it was lovely and so much more relaxed having it at lunchtime rather than in a rush on a morning. And neither of us had felt hungry so I think going forward this will be our new approach to the day.

The afternoon was spent at my dads house as I wanted to go through and catalogue all of my mums ornaments and collectibles. She had over the years collected quite a few things and they are simply too good to donate and I am sure there are collectors out there who would love some of the pieces we have and it would be great to think they could all go to homes where they will be fully appreciated. But before that can I happen I need to figure out what we actually have; so lots of photos taken and uploaded to my laptop so that I can now start the process of collating and categorising!

And that was my Tuesday, see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 791

Day 791...

Another day working from home, although my first job this morning was to nip out to our local Lidl for a quick top-up shop before the day got too busy.

But once home my working day was all about updating contact information; emailing, completing online forms and just figuring out who exactly I needed to contact. A few emails are now awaiting replies but I was pretty happy with all that I managed to get completed today. 

I was also able to do a little work in my new capacity as committee chairperson. The committee is a vital component of pre-school as it is a registered charity and cannot function without one. I have decided to remain connected with the pre-school via this voluntary position and today I had a couple of emails to issue to my other committee members.

At lunchtime we walked out over the fields and completed a steady two miles in 38 minutes. It was a gorgeous day filled with sunshine and warmth. This afternoon I was able to indulge in a coffee outside while I topped up my vitamin D supplies!

The day was rounded out with a weights workout down 'our gym' although I wasn't feeling the greatest but I did manage most of my workout although it wasn't one of my better sessions.

But onwards and upwards and I will see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 788

Day 788...

A very quick and short post as it is late in the day.

But today was Simon's birthday and it was a very lovely day of presents, coffee, walks, talking, coffee and more  coffee.

I shall see you tomorrow.

xx

Day 775

Day 775...

Well today has been a bank holiday Monday and for some reason it has felt more like a Sunday!

I think because Simon and I don't work Mondays ordinarily we just take a Monday as it comes but because Ethan was around today as he was off work I think it threw us off our routine!

But after a very slow and steady start to the day and despite the grey, and at times rather ominous looking, clouds we decided to set about a walk in the countryside. It was a little chillier than I would have liked and we set off armed with umbrellas just in case the weather turned on us. But off we went and 2.3 miles later in a time of 49 minutes we arrived at our destination of choice a local cafe called The Cowshed. We refreshed ourselves with a coffee before meandering back home in a slightly faster time of 48 minutes!

By then it was mid-afternoon and we had a few odd jobs to do around the house. There was a little touch-up of paintwork needed where we'd installed two new wall lights a couple of days ago. I then decided that I'd better get the ironing done as my plans for this coming week have gone a little sideways and I realised that the time that I thought I would have had during the week I no longer had - if that makes sense?! Suffice to say I should have been working from home this coming week but due to unfortunate circumstances I will now be in work.

We got a message from Molly to let us know that one of their neighbours had passed away. Dan had been quite close to him as he would often help Dan out around the house and had kind of taken Dan under his wing. Such a shame and so sad to hear that he'd lost his battle with cancer. Not sure what's happening at the moment as we seem to have experienced too many deaths around us in a very short space of time.

The day was rounded out with a little online retail shopping as I have a number of birthdays coming up this month...I have a few very good friends as well as both Simon and Molly's birthdays to sort!

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 773

Day 773...

A sunny Saturday and a very laid back and quiet sort of day.

Once we were up and about there was a little DIY to attend to...well for Simon there was. We had two new wall lights to be fitted in our new study/craft room...aka Molly's old bedroom. Thankfully they were fitted in next to no time and with no real hiccups.

Inadvertently I ended up taking our vacuum cleaner apart to get it clean after Simon had noticed that the brushes were clogged. Fifteen minutes later and the vacuum was in pieces and filters being washed and cleaned. Not the most exciting of jobs but one that was very evidently needed.

This afternoon we made the most of the nice weather and took a walk over the countryside near us. We are very blessed to live next door to open countryside and plenty of walks. We did 3.4 miles in an hour and ten minutes. As we headed for home we came across a local artist who was painting in one of the fields, and so we stopped to have a chat. He'd created a beautiful scene of the field and a rather striking tree in front of him; turns out he was the chairperson of a local art club!

Back home and it was coffee in the sunshine before Simon set about a little digital art work and I completed a little more of my current jigsaw.

All in all a very quiet and relaxed day. See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 763

Day 763...

Middle of the week and this will be a quick post I think!

Today has been spent at home and has comprised of a lot of online research and a lot of tidying and reorganising of cupboards.

We need a couple of chairs for our newly refurbished upstairs room and so I spent some time looking at different options. We would like an office type chair and a stool and we would like them to look at least similar in appearance. But I also don't want the chair to look too 'office like' and we also need to decide on a colour. White initially came to mind and all I could think of was stains and it looking grubby very quickly so then I started to look at greys and discovered just how varied the colour grey could be!

Taking a break from internet research I started on reorganising cupboards. We had a number of crafting supplies living in a cupboard in the dining area and these needed going through and moving up into our 'new room'. All supplies now have a new home and I have a fairly empty cupboard that I'm sure will get filled sooner or later.

As Simon finished for lunch we headed out for a lovely walk in the sunshine, managing 2.5 miles in 45 minutes.

The afternoon saw more sorting of cupboards as I went through a few drawers and cupboard spaces to see exactly what we had and whether we still needed it or not. Suffice to say there was a pile of stuff that went in the rubbish...not sure why I had kept numerous letter writing pads as all my communication is done electronically or typed as no-one needs to have to read my writing!

We had a few deliveries turn up today as well including the new TV for the upstairs room although we have yet to set it up as this evening we decided to take a trip to our local Ikea. We came away with a set of drawers, two drawer tidy trays, a pedal bin, a wok and a set of felt tip pens!

And that was Wednesday and now it's time to sit and watch this weeks episode of Moon Knight and see if we are as confused as we were watching last weeks show!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 761

Day 761...

The last day of the Easter weekend today as we have had a bank holiday Monday, and it has been a very quiet and chilled out sort of day.

We had no plans for the day and so it was nice just to get up when we felt like it and take a very steady approach to the day.

One small job this morning was to take the wall clock that Molly and Ethan had bought me for Mother's Day and change its colour. It's a Mickey Mouse clock and the outside is shaped like Mickey ears but when we looked at it in daylight what we thought were black ears were actually a dark navy colour. But that wasn't a problem for Simon, a little sanding of the surface yesterday meant that they were ready for some new paint today and of course we just happen to have black spray paint to hand! A couple of coats later and they are looking fantastic. We are leaving them over night before applying a coat of matt varnish to them tomorrow.

Early afternoon we decided to make the most of the dry, and slightly warm, day to go out for a walk. We took one of our longer strolls managing just over 5 miles in a steady one hour and forty minutes.

Back home and we had a little online birthday shopping to complete as Molly will be turning 21 in a few weeks time and we wanted to make sure we could get what we wanted and get it on time. Simon then spent the remainder of the day completing his latest piece of digital art while I made a start on my next jigsaw.

All in all a very relaxed day to round out the extended weekend.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 733

Day 733...

We have another Sunday and it started off as is the norm with collecting the weeks grocery shopping. But with that out the way we then had the day completely free.

Having used the fire pit yesterday to destroy some old paperwork we had the messy job today of clearing it of all the left over ash. Once clear it revealed just what a poor state our fire pit is in...I knew it had a hole somewhere but hadn't realised just how bad it had gotten...

Hole number one...

Hole number two!

We still have some stuff we need to burn so I am hoping it lasts us long enough to get that cleared before we can finally get rid of it!

Simon had a little updating of his latest art piece to do as he has also just received a request for a private commission and so wants to get his current project cleared so he can make a start on that. 

As the day was bright and sunny, with just a little chill in the air, we decided to take a walk out in search of coffee. Just two and a half miles from our house is a local garden centre that we very rarely visit, if at all. Our idea of gardening is to keep everything simple and as low maintenance as possible! But at this garden centre they have a lovely cafe which I have been meaning to visit for a while and we were so glad we did today. It is a lovely space, beautifully presented and they serve a local coffee called 200 Degrees which is fabulous. They also sell some high protein, low sugar cakes made by a local bakery called Sweet Rebellion, who I'd only recently become aware of so it was chance to give one of their treats a go.

Peanut Caramel creation - yummy!

It was then time for the return walk of another two and a half miles, so hopefully the extra calories taken in will have been off-set by the walking!

Back home and the next phase of our upstairs bedroom re-imagining took place; the 'let's get rid of the mattress' phase! Thankfully Simon was able to roll up the mattress and with some nylon rope, and a little assistance from me by sitting on it he was able to get it tied up into one big roll. It was then squeezed into the back of the car ready to be disposed of tomorrow at our local recycling centre. And with an empty car we will then be heading in the direction of Ikea to buy a sofa bed to replace the aforementioned mattress!

And with that exertion out of the way it was time to settle down with a coffee and chill; I had my jigsaw to continue with and Simon had his digital art. We then have a plan to start re-watching the Star Wars movies in preparation for the new Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series that starts in May. I made the mistake of commenting that it's been a while since I've sat and watched the movies, so I inadvertently gave Simon a good excuse to get them out and re-watch them! May the force be with me!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 677

 Day 677...

A quiet Sunday to round out a quiet weekend.

The day started with the usual collection of our weekly grocery shopping, which was rather uneventful for a change. With the shopping all put away it was time to figure out how the rest of the day was going to unfurl.

We had no plans, and we had no jobs that had to be done, so we decided to simply get outside and enjoy the fresh air. We headed to Elvaston Castle, our closest country park, for a brisk walk. We completed two miles in 39 minutes and then decided it was time for coffee.

We headed to our closest Starbucks. We were chatting about the need for the car to be washed and had resigned ourselves to making that the first job when we got home. But as we were leaving we noticed that the garage across the way had jet-washers; £2 and 5 minutes later and our car was sparkly clean once again. Win!

Back home and Simon spent a further ten minutes giving the car a wipe around the door sills and he even hoovered it as well! Now, Simon is not a car fan and admitted that he has never really been bothered before about keeping any of our previous cars especially clean and tidy. But he is really enjoying this new car, he loves driving it and wants to keep it looking good! Well, who am I to stop him?!

With the afternoon drawing in it was time for more jigsaw for me before the light faded and some digital art time for Simon.

A quiet Sunday in January. January is such a strange month, the anti-climax following the hustle and bustle of December, the festivities of Christmas and then New Year so it always ends up feeling a bit 'flat'. Then add in cold weather and dark nights and it feels like a recipe for a bit of a non-event. I think we need to get a few things put in the diary to look forward to, especially as England sees the majority of its restrictions lifted towards the end of the coming week which means life can start to feel more 'normal' again. I checked back on my blog posts from this time last year (not long after we'd gone into another lockdown) to see what we had been up to and we had snow! In fact we had so much snow that we had to close pre-school for two days...no chance of that happening this year as though it's been chilly there is no sign of any snow.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 662

Day 662...

It has been a relatively quiet Saturday today, one that started off very slow after another disturbed nights sleep. Which meant that it was almost midday before we set about doing anything.

Simon has taken our home movies shot using video-8 format and converted them to digital files. Once the video has been captured and edited we have been then watching them back to make sure that we have is of a good and watchable quality. 

Simon had some captured video from July 1998 that he needed my help with, trying to figure out where the original video had taken place. We knew it was from a holiday down to Cornwall so I managed to find the photos from the same holiday hoping that I'd written on the back of the photos when and where they'd been taken so that we could then match them to the video. But unfortunately my past self wasn't much help as all the backs of the photos were blank!

But between us, and with our knowledge and memories of Cornwall, we were able to figure out where all the video had been shot. Although we did have to look for clues in some of the video and then coupled with a little 'google' we were able to pin all the locations down.

As this was the last section of video that Simon had captured we then had to find the remaining home movies. During the summer we'd moved a lot of things around when we had the new flooring laid in the living room and thankfully we remembered that we'd put all the video in the loft space in our garage. So today we brought them all back into the house to organise ready for the next round of video capture.

I reckon we have at least 30 tapes to capture, which at a minimum of an hour a tape is a lot of video! Plus we have about a dozen VHS tapes that have home movies on them but we are not sure whether these are copies of existing video-8 tapes or the only copy of some of the home movies. So once we have captured all the video-8 tapes we will then need to go through the VHS tapes to check and make sure we haven't missed anything. We also found another couple of photo albums to add to our collection that I am working my way through to scan and save!

The day had started off very grey and quite wet but by early afternoon it had cleared up and for a short while the sun tried to make an appearance so we decided to make the most of the break in the weather and pop out for a walk. We took a walk through the village and managed just over 2 miles in 43 minutes.

We got home just in time to brew a pot of coffee before I jumped online with my good friend, and podcast co-host, Michelle to record an episode of our Disney Dream Girls podcast. Today we recorded with Seth Kubersky, the author of 'The Unofficial Guides' series which covers Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and more. Seth is great fun to chat with and has an extensive knowledge of the parks.

I then managed to grab a little time to put some jigsaw pieces into place and I actually managed to get quite a few pieces in! Then it was time to make keto pizza before stopping for the day. We have the final epsiode of RuPaul's Canada's Drag Race to watch so I best pour the wine and grab some chocolate.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 614

Day 614...

Another Monday and another day when lots of things got done.

But as Ethan is on holiday from work this week and both Simon and I don't work Mondays we actually had a very slow and steady start to the day for a change.

After breakfast my focus was on tidying around the dining area of our kitchen as I needed to create space for one of my Christmas trees that will be going up this coming weekend. At the moment I have a very large wicker basket living in the space where the Christmas tree goes and so this needed to find a new home. Inside the basket is our collection of photo albums that I am very slowly going through and creating digital copies of. So the basket was emptied, cleaned and relocated upstairs to Molly's old room and all the albums were dusted and also moved upstairs. I also had a lot of loose photos that needed a new home so I took the chance to go through them and throw out a lot of packaging and old frames that were no longer needed. This in turn meant that I could store them all in a large Disney store bag which means that they are neat and tidy and were easy to move upstairs as well. With the basket and photos out of the way I could then have a good clean around.

That 'quick' job took a little longer than I'd anticipated so as the middle of the day rolled around we decided to nip out for a walk in the beautiful, but chilly, November sunshine. A walk that took us 3.2 miles in 59 minutes.

After a spot of lunch it was time for Simon to head off for his opticians appointment; just a check-up which proved to be successful with no change to his prescription. While Ethan and I ventured outside into the chilly afternoon in the search of Christmas lights...otherwise known as entering the shed!

Last year we had stored all our Christmas decorations away in our garden shed rather than in the loft space in our garage which meant getting to them this year was a lot easier. But we did have to empty a lot of the contents of the shed in order to get to everything! The aim of this afternoon was to see exactly what outdoor decorations we had, check to see if they still worked, bring inside the Christmas trees ready for next weekend and then work out which lights we could use and how.

Now in previous years all of my various Christmas lights have had cables fed through windows and doors to be plugged into sockets indoors but because we now have new windows and doors that are sealed units this is no longer possible. So I needed a plan to get as many lights working as I possibly could. 

We have two outdoor electric sockets which means that I can plug in two extension leads, these leads will then sit inside weather proof boxes to which all the lights will then plug into. This is a system that I've used in the past for just the three blow mould decorations that I have which have relatively short power leads and need to be run off an extension. But this year I will need to run two extension leads, each with four sockets, so that I can power the majority of my lights. 

This meant I needed to order an additional weather proof box and an extra extension lead, but first I needed to figure out what size box I would need. This meant measuring all the various plugs as they are all peculiar shapes and sizes to ensure that the box I ordered would be big enough for some of the more unusual shaped plugs! I also had a couple of 'taller' plugs which I had resigned to being too big for any box I could find until Simon reminded me that the extension lead and plug could lay on their side and therefore fit the box - doh!

But I will still have to scale back a little this year as I only have outdoor sockets in the patio area, which is where the majority of the lights will be, but I won't be able to have any along the front of the house as there are no outdoor sockets there. Although I do have a call to put into my electrician so who knows!! I have also thrown away one set of string lights as the transformer was cracked and unfortunately the function control switch was so close to the start of the lighting that it wouldn't have reached the weatherproof box and wouldn't have been safe. This does of course mean that once I have extra outdoor sockets installed (maybe this year but definitely by next Christmas) I will be able to treat myself to some new lights!

Back inside for a well deserved coffee and the next job was the ironing! Whoop!

But by the end of the day I had achieved all that I had wanted to; another productive day. Although writing this blog this evening was interrupted with a little candle emergency...well the candle wasn't so little...and emergency might be over stating it...although the description by the boys in the house was 'the candle has exploded'!!!

Maybe not quite an explosion but a crack had somehow appeared and had caused all the liquefied wax to ooze out...not only onto it's stand but onto the unit it was stood on and then onto the floor. In fact it had splattered onto the floor! The large sections that had begun to solidify were easy enough to pick up but it was the sections that had harden a bit more that were a little trickier to budge. But with a little elbow grease, a pallet knife and some isopropyl alcohol it was all cleaned up and thrown away! Such a shame as it was a cranberry scented one and made everywhere smell very Christmassy!

And with that excitement out of the way I need a cup of tea!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 581

Day 581...

And we have the middle of the week and I decided to have a day working from home.

I had lots of admin tasks that needed completing before the end of the week and I knew I would be able to get through them quicker sat at home. But my first job of the day was to speak with my contact at my local council to discuss the needs of a child and the best way to support them. We were able to chat over a video call which made things so much easier to explain and chat over.

An hour later it was back to the admin tasks; invoices issued, wage slips generated and payment scheduled, emails sent, banking updated and text messages scheduled. It was a very productive morning!

I then popped out to the post office as Molly had made a sale on her Etsy store and as she is not at home this week the responsibility of packing and posting has fell to me. When I got home Simon and I headed straight back out to take advantage of a dry spell of weather and have one of our lunchtime walks that we haven't done for what seems like forever. We managed 2.45 miles in 47 minutes and we arrived home just in time for my online 'leaders and managers' meeting.

I then had an hour and a half meeting to find out what's happening in 'early years' at the moment; most of which I already knew and so by the end of it I was very much in need of a coffee!

The day was then rounded out with a little Disney Dream Girls podcast recording.

See you all tomorrow.
xx