Happy birthday me! 26/6/20

This is taken from my Facebook page.

Today is my birthday. Thank you all for your good wishes. Looking back on my Facebook memories of this day many of them revolve around either eating out at some nice restaurant or being with family members. Not today.

Today I'm spending a lazy day at home, just with hubby who brought me breakfast in bed and has just cooked my lunch, washed down with some wine. We have cake to eat later.

This will be a lengthy post as I know it will pop up in my feed again next year and will serve as a good reminder that we're still dealing with Covid-19. We've spent months now under restrictions that have driven us all mad at times. Staying at home, keeping safe, protecting the NHS. Not seeing our families, or friends. We've managed to get our shopping delivered and got our daily exercise nearly every day and Nick and I are still talking to each other!

We've watched the horrors of the ICUs when things were at their peak and remain grateful that those we know who were working on the frontline (Sarah & Coralie) have remained safe and well. We clapped especially for them on the Thursday nights.

Now we're moving through the "Staying Alert" phase to what feels like a "Use Your Common Sense" phase. Sadly many people don't seem to have much common sense as recent news reports show crowded beaches, massive gatherings and, in our local area, forest fires due to the stupidity of people holding BBQs on tinder dry open spaces.

We're still a long way off getting a vaccine, or a reliable antibody test and as for track and trace well good luck with tracing anyone from the beach or mass gatherings with no reliable phone app in place. It would be interesting to know how many parents with kids on the beaches would try and justify how being there was safer than sending their kids to school.

Yes I understand that we need to get the economy moving again and restoring some sort of normality to our lives but it feels like we are rushing into this next phase and I wonder how long before we pay the price? How long before the mothballed Nightingale Hospital down in Docklands needs to be reopened or how long before the temporary morgue near us is dismantled and removed because it's no longer needed?

I know that the reality is that, until a vaccine is available or reliable treatments found, we are going to have to live our lives knowing that Covid-19 is still out there and many of us who are either older or more vulnerable need to continue to be cautious and try our best to avoid getting it.

That's why today, I'm glad to be safe and well, have a roof over my head and money to put food on the table and that my nearest & dearest can say the same.

Happy birthday me!

Time for Me! 20/10/16

Well I did eventually put my underwear on today, and top clothes, (I needed to get out and shop for dinner) but I decided that today was going to be a "Me" day.
We've been decorating on and off since Saturday, 2 coats of paint on the ceiling, 2 coats on the walls plus popping out for more supplies and ordering the carpet.  Tiring work when you've not done it for a while so today was designated as a day of rest and just pleasing myself.

Of course it's hard to completely rest when you realise the laundry basket is rather full, and the dishwasher needs emptying and oh there's some rubbish to be cleared up.  But there were breaks in between for blogging, reading etc.

We'll resume painting at the weekend.  I'm aiming to get it finished at the weekend so the paint has plenty of time to dry before the carpet is fitted.

I'm fortunate that I have a hubby who likes shopping.  I don't have to drag him to the shops.  In fact he'll often go off to do shopping on his own.  We even managed to agree on some carpet fairly quickly.  Just curtains and bedding and accessories to go!

The carpet is due to be fitted on 31st October and our first guests arrive on 4th November.  Sounds like I'm opening for business but of course this is just for friends and family but these first guests are actually friends of our son and daughter-in-law so I do want things to be as nice as possible.  We will also be welcoming DIL's Aunt and Uncle from America here in April next year so no pressure!

I spent part of today trying to find an anniversary gift for my daughter and her wife.  It's their first anniversary next week.  Their first year seems to have flown by.  Finding a suitable gift proved difficult.  I found a lovely record book for anniversaries that I thought would be a nice thing to keep but, fortunately, I spotted that on the page for recording things like where they met etc. there was a reference to "her" version of how they met and then "his" version.  Hmm, perhaps not such a good idea.

Thankfully I did find a site that had quite a few gifts suitable for same sex couples and hopefully the gift I've chosen will be delivered in time.  I also got a few ideas for Christmas presents so not totally a me day after all.  Actually, once you're married and have a family I think it's hard, but definitely not impossible, to have a totally "me" day.  It just takes a bit of planning and probably works best when away from home.

Perfect Porridge 1/1/16

Well Day 1 of 2016 started well with perfect porridge brought to me in bed by my lovely hubby.  I still struggle with getting the consistency right but I probably just need more practice.  I was sitting in bed feeling guilty about my inactivity- I started a new book on my Kindle and got carried away.  (Not forgetting the Whale by John Ironmonger.)  I managed to pull myself away after finishing part one but reminded myself that I'm going to be kind to me this year and reading is something I enjoy so it shouldn't be a guilty pleasure. 

But reading won't get the dinner cooked, although reading recipes definitely helps.  I'm sure I could think of excuses for reading to do with most things if I set my mind to it.  Even on how to avoid procrastination. 

However, today is a bank holiday.  A day off.  Yes even for those of us who don't work.  Or at least don't have a job with a fancy title that pays money.  Of course I have lots of titles: wife, mother, domestic engineer and toilet cleaner immediately spring to mind but none of them result in financial recompense.  The first two do, of course, have benefits and can be (at times) very rewarding.  (There is also a flip side to that particular coin lol.)

I think my new year will start properly on Monday when all my visitors will have gone home and hubby is back to work and things will feel normal again.  Well that's my plan.  It's good to have a plan.  Especially one that involves breakfasts in bed, reading, entertaining and not a lot else!

A - Z Challenge Q is for Quinquagenarian

My theme for this challenge is family and relations.

Quinquagenarian “a person between 50 and 59 years of age” – That’s me!

(And for the benefit of my cousin, the nearest thing I have to a sister, your term would be quadragenarian.  I’ll make no further comment on that except to all my sister-in-laws who might be offended at not being classed as sisters considering how well we get on, said cousin is a blood relation.  She is also more than a little challenged when it comes to remembering her age.  And no retaliation by a Christmas countdown reminder thank you!)

I digress.  That’s what happens when you’re a quinquagenarian.  Though truth be told I’ve always been good at digressing. I blame my mother.  Well somebody has to be responsible for my using a paragraph when a sentence would do, or recounting every detail of a story and ignoring the fact that I’ve lost the attention of my audience.  Probably to do with having an imaginary friend as a child.  They don’t answer back or at least not with answers you don’t want to hear.

There I go again.  Yes, I’m a quinquagenarian.  Trying say that quickly.  In fact I’m a mid quinquagenarian.  I’m not going to look up what you become when turning sixty although it would be useful to know because hubby reached that milestone this weekend.  I also hope I’ve got the grammar of that correct or I’m sure the grammar police will be after me.

If you’ve been reading my A-Z posts you’ll know a bit about me already.  So here are some things I haven’t shared:

I hate snakes.  I used to be worse in that I wouldn’t even watch them on TV.  I’ve got slightly better as I’ve got older.

I love chocolate.  Anything chocolate, also pretty much anything that’s sweet.  I’d rather forego a starter or even a main course during a meal out to ensure there was still room for dessert.  My favourite chocolate in a mixed box would be the coffee flavoured one but I don’t drink coffee!

I don’t like dancing in public (unless I can hide within a group of friends) but I’m qualified to teach tap dancing.  I danced into my late teens (tap, ballet and modern) and the school I belonged to not only put on shows and entered competitions but also put us through exams.  I can’t remember which levels I got to in modern or ballet but I got as far as the teaching qualification for tap.  I used to teach at the school before I went off to the real world of work, married life and children.

I dreamed of being a ballerina.  I’m sure many young girls taking ballet lessons do but my dreams were scuppered by having bunions on my feet.  These were corrected when I was fourteen and although I recovered well and went back to dancing my toe joints would never have coped with the rigours of pointe work in ballet so that was the end of that.

I’m very good at keeping secrets.

I’m really enjoying the A – Z challenge and hope to keep up the blogging after I get through Z.  The photo above was taken on my son's wedding day last July.