20 in 20 Autumn Update

Well I've called this an Autumn update as I realised to my horror that the last update I did was back in July!  We have been a bit busy and times have been strange.  I haven't always had the same desire to blog. Not good.  But here goes:

1. Fill out weekly/daily planner
I am still doing this and it does make me feel like I have some control over what's going on.  ✅
2. Garden projects: Get window boxes for front garden plus big planters. Stepping stones for rear garden.
Well of course we stopped doing new projects at our old house once we knew we were moving and now we have a new house to work on.  The garden here is quite a blank canvas of 2 areas of grass.  Patio areas and a corner with raised beds of mainly lavender.

We did manage to get the grass cut a couple of times - it was very long when we moved in, but it has been very very wet!

We've also taken delivery of a shed which will be installed next week, then I can get the gardening tools, lawn mower etc in their rightful place.  Not sure what I want to do with the garden yet but will definitely be making it low maintenance.

✅

3. Plan a lunch date/date night with Nick once a month (theatre/cinema/meal/outing)
Well we did manage to eat out once back in August when the "Eat out" scheme was still up and running but of course now we're facing total lockdown again so I think I need to think outside the box on this one.
❌
4. Eat at 6 new-to-me restaurants
The restaurant we went to in August was new to me - it was a pub close to our old house that has recently been completely refurbished.  It had a limited menu due to all the covid restrictions but it was fine for pub food.  Brings the total of new restaurants visited to 3.  Don't think I'm going to make this target by the end of the year.
❌
5. Complete the A – Z blogging challenge
Done ✅
6. Plan Family weekend for my birthday
Next year?
❌ 
7. Take up an exercise class
Not happening!
❌
8. Plan a road trip/holiday with hubby.
Hopefully one day!
❌
9. Visit the beach
At some point!
❌
10. Complete my reading challenge (52 books for the year)
I've completed this challenge and am currently at 64 books read.  (Something good to come out of lockdown!) Full details can be found on my Goodreads page here.
✅
11. Keep a gratitude diary
This is a big fail.
❌
12. Blog at least once per week (plus regular memes)
Well August was quite a good month but September and October were not! ❌
13. Take a photo each week and blog about it.
Again the move has scuppered this one.  I haven't posted any weekly photos since the end of August even though I have taken photos.  I will try and continue this again from now and allow myself some slack due to moving house and still give myself a ✅
14. Read 12 books on my TBR pile.  
Completed!  ✅
15. Finish knitting WIP (blanket of squares)

No change during June. (But I am about 2/3 of the way through the 3rd blanket  for the new Grandchildren.)❌

16. Try out a new recipe or do a bake each month 
Nick has taken over the cooking for the time being but the last couple of weeks I have taken more of an active role in planning the meals.❌
17. Visit/see Noah every month
Well we saw them in August and then we managed to meet the new Grandson at the beginning of October.  With covid restrictions I'm not sure when we'll be able to visit again.  ❌
18. Get damp treatment done in house
Well I guess I could give myself a ✅ for this one.  We didn't actually get the work done but as we no longer have the house it's not something we have to worry about any more!

19. Maintain weight 

Still fluctuating but no significant gains (or losses.)
✅
20. Be kind to myself. Whilst I think it's good to set myself challenges sometimes life gets in the way or I just have days where I really can't be bothered. I need to accept this and not be hard on myself when things don't go to plan.
Things are definitely not going to plan this year!  But I am being kind to myself.
✅

9/20 (45%) - better than July but might be as good as it gets!

Well it almost feels futile trying to carry on with this but I don't give up easily and it's a way of remembering just how difficult this year has been.  Taking on board #20 it's also good to remember that a lot of good things have happened too.  We have 2 new Grandsons who are both doing well.  We have been able to meet them and although we can't see them as often as we'd like they are too young to know what's going on.  It's harder with the older ones but we're doing our best.  We've also managed to complete the move to our new house and have another Grandchild to look forward to before we say goodbye to 2020.

Friday's Fave Five - 30/10/20

Thanks to our host Susanne for reminding us to be mindful each week and find five things to be thankful for. You can join in by clicking on the link below:

Living to the the Story  

The picture above is very apt - been sweeping up leaves on and off all week.  None of them from trees we own - there are 2 close to our driveway that, thankfully, seem to have shed all their leaves now but there are also plenty of leaves in the garden from our neighbours' trees.   Winter is definitely coming.

Despite all the leaves and rain every day this week, there are still things to be glad about:

1)  I saw Nathan and his Mummies twice this week.  Technically we should only be meeting people outdoors now but we can provide essential childcare.  Hospital visits of course fall into that category but so do breaks for their mental health in my book.

2)   I finally found a soap dish for our downstairs shower room.  I ordered one from Marks and Spencer first but it was much too big.  On the website the picture is like this - looks pretty standard.

Until you see if with a standard bar of soap in it.  I mean who has soap almost 4 times the normal size to use?  (Yes the dimensions were on the website but not immediately obvious.)  Needless to say I shall be returning it.  I then ordered one with my online food shopping that was perfect in size and a quarter of the price.

3)  No quibble refund policy from Lakeland.  Again I ordered some things online but one of them wasn't quite what I needed.  I contacted them and explained I didn't feel comfortable visiting the store nearest to me to return it as it is in a very busy shopping mall but I was happy to post it back.  The nice woman I spoke to told me not to worry - she would arrange a refund (which I've had) and when things were better and I could visit the store I could just return it then.

Well of course I will return it at some point but I bet there will be a lot of things that never get returned.  Another issue for retailers thanks to Covid.

4)

We finished unpacking boxes!  Well some things are now in different boxes or just in the empty bedroom but all the boxes supplied by the removal company were empty and piled up in our garage.  We contacted the company yesterday and today they came and collected them.  The man was very impressed at how organised we were.  We were just able to open the front of the garage and transfer them to his van.  Job done!

5)  We managed to get the IKEA furniture assembled:

This unit is in Hubby's office/den.  He's been having fun (?) this week filling it up with his things.

 

This bookcase fits perfectly just inside the dining room without taking up too much space and it has all our cookery books in it.

So not much out and about this week - it has rained everyday.  I did get a quick walk around the lake earlier in the week but it is very muddy.  But I do feel we've made progress in the house.  We've also had delivery of a shed and they will be coming to install it in just over a week's time so that will also enable more progress.

I think I'll be having a rest this weekend!  I hope you enjoy the weekend too whatever you're doing.
 

Wednesday's Hodgepodge on Thursday! 29/10/20

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is hosted by Joyce over at "From this side of the Pond".  Pop over there to see who is playing and how to join in.  If you do join in, remember to visit your neighbour on the Linky List.  Have fun.

Well I'm a day late but here goes: 

1. Boo, boo-hoo, make a boo-boo, boo(ze)...pick one and tell us how it relates to life lately. 

Boo-hoo probably.  Restrictions are getting tighter and tighter here in the UK as Covid numbers rise.  Makes it harder to see the kids.  Can't see the ones in Nottingham at all and should only be seeing the others outdoors.  Tricky with all the wet weather we've had and little ones.  We also heard yesterday that one of our eldest son's dogs had died during the night.  Quite unexpected, probably a heart attack or stroke the vet thought but a shock for them.  Joe was only 8 years old.  RIP Joe.

 

Also boo(ze).  Our consumption of wine, red in particularly, has definitely increased!

2. Do you like the color orange? Would we find this color in your home? Your wardrobe? Peach-pumpkin-tangeringe...your favorite shade of the three listed?

It's a colour I can take or leave.  I think I have 1 "orange" top in my wardrobe and I do have orange cushions on my brown sofas but of the 3 shades I'm definitely more in favour of peach.

3. October 28th is National Chocolate Day. What's the last chocolate something you tasted? On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being out of this world delicious, how would you rate it? 

One of these and they are definitely a 10 on the scale.  I try and limit myself to one at a time - but I don't always succeed lol.

4. Life is like a box of chocolates or so says Forrest Gump's mama. Would you agree? Aside from the pandemic fallout tell us one way this saying has played out in your life. 

 

Well we had no idea whether our youngest son and his wife were having a boy or a girl in either of their pregnancies, each one was a surprise.  (Come to that all my children were surprises - no gender reveals from scans in those days!)

5. As October winds down tell us three things you loved about the month we're bidding adieu. 

• We got to meet Grandson #5, Miles, before restrictions made it impossible.  Those precious early cuddles may have to sustain us for a while.
• Getting more settled into our new home.
• Exploring our local surroundings.
  

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

Well despite the sadness mentioned above, and the current restrictions, we are actually doing ok.  We have much to be thankful for.

 

Friday's Fave Five - 23/10/20

Thanks to our host Susanne for reminding us to be mindful each week and find five things to be thankful for. You can join in by clicking on the link below:

Living to the the Story  

1)  Refund from the gas supplier - we had overpaid on our old house and a cheque arrived in the post this week.  Hopefully this house will be cheaper to heat but time will tell.

2) A visit with Grandsons Rory & Vinny - we had them and their Mummy and Daddy here for Sunday lunch last week - they hadn't seen the house.  Rory loved running around the circuit of living room to dining room to kitchen to hall and....repeat!  We had to close some doors lol.

3) People who work with the homeless and those in need - there is a couple from our old area that collect unwanted clothing etc for a homeless project and help out with a food bank.  We had some stuff to get rid of and we thought it might be too far for him to come but he was collecting other stuff nearby so he came to us on Monday and took some clothes and some food.  The amount of people relying on charity and food banks is increasing all the time.

4) A visit with Grandson Nathan - his Mummies had a hospital appointment so we looked after him on Tuesday.  We played a lot of hide and seek and we also joined in with Cosmic Yoga for kids.  Well we tried.  I didn't think I was being particularly energetic, mainly using my arms and upper body and not jumping up and down but my Fitbit recorded it as a 15 minute aerobic session lol.  I'll take that!

He's getting so grown up looking!

5) A good use for social media - our dishwasher has developed a fault that requires expert intervention so I searched within our local Facebook groups and found several recommendations for the same repair guy.  He's coming on Monday. 

Today I'm also thankful that we managed to get the things from IKEA we've been waiting for which means tomorrow we can (hopefully) get the units etc assembled and make some progress on tackling the last boxes we have to unpack.

It's the little things.....

Speaking of which can't leave out Grandson Miles:

 

Or big brother Noah:

Have a good weekend all.