Sunday...again

Day 354...

Well today has been one of those days!

I woke up feeling grumpy, irritated and just wanted to curl up and cry. Hormones are just plain rubbish! Your brain logic is telling you one thing but no matter what you do you just can't shift the mood, which in turn makes things all the more infuriating.

But I got on with the day as best I could. There was the online grocery shopping to complete and laundry to sort while Simon did some paint spraying of R2D2 parts.

We took a walk over the fields as it was such a beautiful and sunny day and clocked up another 3.5 miles in an hour and eighteen minutes. There were so many people out and about today obviously taking advantage of the weather and having literally nothing else to do or anywhere else to go.

My afternoon was pretty quiet as I really wasn't in the mood for doing much. I spent some time simply sat outside with a coffee. I read a little, did some research ahead of this evenings Disney quiz and that was about it.

Having our regular Disney Dream Girls Sunday Disney quiz was a little light relief and my online research saved me from getting a really low score. 

But that was the day; a day of feeling 'out of it' and not really in the mood for doing anything which would be hard enough to contend with in the best of times but with the backdrop of lockdown it feels so worthless. We are going through one of the toughest and longest lockdowns here in the UK and I really cannot fathom why...

Take care.
xx

Finally Banana Bread!

Day 353...

And we have another Saturday in lockdown.

Well the day started with Simon discovering that he'd run out of contact lenses...oops! So a phone call through to the opticians, followed by waiting for a call back resulted in being able to pick up some spares to see him through until his next supply turn up. A little annoying when you pay for a service that is supposed to ensure a delivery before you use up your current supply...but at least he could get hold of some today.

So while Simon nipped into the opticians I went to visit Jon the Community Champion at my local Asda who had yet more goodies for pre-school to support this weeks activities. We are making pizzas with the children by using mini wraps as the base, tomato ketchup and then toppings; a really simple but effective way to create pizzas with our little ones.

So after dropping all the goodies off at pre-school we headed home and then headed straight out again for our now usual Saturday stroll into the next village for coffee. On our walk home we spotted my brother and his wife clearing out their old house; they have just moved into a new place and had the old one to clean before handing it over to the landlord. So we spent twenty minutes or so catching up with them and putting the world to rights.

After a spot of lunch we embarked on a few jobs that needed doing...well I say we...what I actually mean is that Simon completed the work while I 'supervised'! We had a couple of fixes for pre-school to sort and then Simon had an arm for his large digital drawing tablet to fix to his desk so that he can move the tablet into a better position for drawing while also keeping it out of the way when not using it.

While Simon did all the fixing of stuff I decided to make some low carb banana bread...it has taken me until lockdown number three to succumb to making one of these but it had to be a low carb version of course!

We also managed to catch up with one of our neighbours today...it has been so nice today to simply chat with 'other people'! But the sad thing is that their mother is in a care home suffering with dementia that appears to be getting worse...and of course they haven't been able to see her properly over the past year. Although they do have an appointment to visit towards the end of this month that is conditional on them taking a test that comes back negative! But my neighbour is concerned that she could be nearing the end and may no longer recognise family when they do visit. It is so sad that what could be the last year of their life has had to be spent like this especially when it has been recognised that a lack of contact and lack of visitors for dementia patients is causing a detrimental affect to their long term health. 

Then for dinner tonight I made keto pizza with Ethan for the first time. This is something that the boys of the family normally make so I thought with Ethan's help I'd have a go tonight. So easy to make; a base of eggs and Mozarella cheese baked and then topped with tomato paste and tonights toppings of choice - chicken, pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, peppers, oregano, chilli flakes and oodles of cheese on top. 

The proof was in the tasting and it was good! Tastes like pizza but without the carbs, what's not to love about that!

Now it's time to take my wine and watch RuPauls Drag Race and maybe have a little dark chocolate with a slice of banana bread!!

Take care out there.
xx

Full-On Friday

Day 352...

So today was a full day in work and one with an earlier start than of late. The knock-on effect of schools being closed had impacted our morning starts which had resulted in later starts since January but as from next week we are back to 'normal'. So an earlier start today has got us back into the swing of things!

So once in work we had lots to do; a review of this weeks activities, changes to our room layout, changes to how our sessions run and looking at the activities for next week.

For me this meant writing two newsletters, updating banking, chasing fees, prepping for new starters, helping with tweaks to the room as well as the usual day to day stuff.

And even by the time I got home I still had work that I needed to complete. So the latter part of the afternoon saw me juggling pre-school work, making some keto bread ready for this evening's meal, chatting with Molly over WhatsApp as I helped her with some admin tasks for her business (Shutter Studios), making coffee (very important), responding to emails and just generally getting ready to stop when Simon finished his working day so we could watch this weeks WandaVision.

It has become a little ritual over these past few weeks to finish work for the week and watch WandaVision and tonight it was the finale and it did not disappoint. Personally I think they did a brilliant job at rounding out the story and giving answers to most questions. I will admit to shedding a tear or two towards the end and then Marvel did the classic 'end credits sequence'...twice!! Not sure what we are going to do now on a Friday evening!!

And that was the day today, a day where it felt like I didn't stop until about...right now!

Take care.
xx

Today was Thursday

Day 351...

So today was my last Thursday off for a while; we have changed the staffing rota at work which will mean my 'day off' will now be split over two afternoons instead.

The day has been relatively busy though as I caught up with some 'around the house' jobs, did some podcast researching and then had my butchers delivery arrive. 

It must have taken over an hour and a half to simply unpack everything, split it all into meal size portions, re-organise my freezer to pack everything away and then get rid of all the rubbish. But then again when my order consisted of 5kg of chicken, 3kg of minced beef, steaks, burgers, 100 sausages and 4.5kg of bacon it's probably not surprising it took me a little time to sort it all. But I do love being able to get an order like this and know that I am set-up for a few weeks as well as supporting a small business.

As the day moved on Michelle and I decided to delay this weeks podcast recording; both of us are having busy work weeks this week and we are simply running out of free time to not only get the podcast recorded but then edited before we publish it. Better to wait until we are both in the right mindset to produce the type of show that we are proud to put out there.

Simon managed to get 'down the gym' this evening while I did my little workout in the comfort of the living room. I'll always put on some music or something while I'm working out and tonight I decided to hop onto Disney+ and pop on Hamilton; such a fantastic production and I can't wait to be in a position to go and see this in person...some day...whenever that may be!

And we plod on in a world where we seem to have seriously lost the plot. Procedures that were a given over a year ago have been abandoned for lockdowns and mask wearing. Some areas in the world are opening up, some areas are proceeding with caution and places like the UK are having to deal with some of the toughest lockdown measures - why? It's a virus, viruses will do what viruses do, we need to learn to live with it and let it become endemic like we have done throughout our history. I am not denying the existence of the virus I am simply questioning whether the approach to dealing with it has been right. Time will tell and I am sure that over the coming years there will be numerous enquiries, but whether we will ever know definitively what we should have done and whether we will ever get back to 'normal' we will just have to wait and see.

Take care out there.
xx

At Work Wednesday

Day 350...

Well it was Wednesday once more and it was a usual Wednesday in work, and it was quite a busy day.

I have quite a few things happening at the moment to do with forward planning, new starters, fees due, staffing and cash flow forecasting. Then there was the usual daily admin tasks, emails and banking on top of that.

This afternoon I was tasked with generating some text for our Mothers Day gifts that the children are making. I was quite proud of myself as Google Docs wouldn't let me do the text that I wanted so I embarked on a little internet search and found exactly what I was looking for. I was able to create the text I needed, in the colour, style and shape I wanted and then simply download it before printing it out.

I was also able to get on top of printing a few bits and pieces out that will also be used for our Mothers Day gifts as well as a couple of displays that are in progress.

On my way home I ran an errand for my dad and then arrived home just as Simon was making a pot of coffee...perfect timing!

The remainder of my afternoon, up until early evening, was spent doing yet more pre-school work. The knock-on effect of prep work for a child starting next week, enquiries from other parents about changing and increasing the days their children attend along with assessing cost implications long term following 'the budget' announced by the UK government today.

And that's where we are today...all feels a little bit of a whirlwind but I think everything has settled and a clear path forward is at hand...hopefully!

Take care out there.
xx

Tuesday Thinking

Day 349...

Today has been my first working day of the week and after a pretty naff nights sleep I wasn't feeling the most energetic this morning.

But once into work it was simply a case of getting on with the job at hand. The team have got some fantastic activities planned with the children this week and it was great to catch up with my deputy manager and hear how well everything was going.

I had the usual admin and banking to do as well as chasing parents for a few bits and pieces. As we have entered the second half of our 'Spring Term' we are now beginning to put into place the planning for the upcoming 'Summer Term'. This means assessing the spaces we have available, the staffing requirements and the all important costing of what we would like to do!

I had the afternoon off and had a quick stop by my dads on the way home. As he is still without his car he has asked if I can run a few errands for him. Once home I decided to carry on with the work that I had started this morning.

I know it was an afternoon off and I shouldn't have been doing work but the fact that I could sit in the quiet of my kitchen, and uninterrupted, meant that I could spend some much needed time, and focus, on figures, dates and data. And although it took me almost all the afternoon and into early evening it was very worthwhile as I am now armed with facts and figures with which to move forward.

Simon took a visit to the 'gym' tonight but as I was still up to my eyes in figures and had a splitting headache I decided to simply carry on and get the job at hand completed. 

So it has been a later than expected finish to the day so I think it is probably about time I stopped!

Take care.
xx

Monday Again

Day 348...

Monday has rolled around once more and it was a pretty quiet and steady sort of day.

We had the usual grocery shopping to collect and this week we had picked up a few bits for my dad who is without a car at the moment. So on the way back home we stopped by his house to drop off his little bit of shopping.

Once the shopping was home and packed away we took a walk out and ended up in the next village and found a coffee shop that was open...well it would have been rude not to have popped in! But we did manage a 3.5 mile walk in just over an hour so I think the coffee was well deserved.

Simon has spent some of the day sanding and priming the final R2D2 parts. He will hopefully be able to paint and then assemble the final parts very soon so that we will have a full size 'droid' living in our house.

The rest of the afternoon saw many coffee's consumed and much discussion about the current situation we all find ourselves in, the outlook for the future and how we see our own future unfolding. If nothing else being forced to 'stay home' has provided the opportunity for some interesting discussions to take place, and by interesting I do mean positive.

But that is where I will leave it for today as my day has run out of time. 

Take care.
xx