Friday's Fave Five - 6/11/20

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

Here are my faves from this week:

1) A walk in the park with Grandsons Rory and Vinny and their Mummy. This was on Monday. The weather wasn't great, we had to dodge a shower at one point, but it was lovely to see them.

Rory is very good at standing on his buggy board.

 

2) I'm not a great fan of halloween but I did love getting pictures of my Grandsons dressed up for it:

 

3) A new dishwasher! Ours broke down and the outcome of getting it looked at was that it would be quite an expensive repair, it was quite old and therefore it would be better to get a new one. This was ordered, delivered and installed this week.

4) Walks around the lake. It's still very muddy but it was just good to get out in the fresh air especially as we are now totally locked down for the next month. I posted pictures here

5) Social media. Thanks to WhatsApp we get lots of pics of the new little ones, which we really need, especially of Miles as we can't get to see him. We got these two pics this week:

Miles

Vinny

Aren't they gorgeous? We also had a zoom chat with extended family recently on one of their birthdays which was fun.

Enjoy the weekend.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 4/11/20

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.

1. How do you define peace? 

Well a trite answer would be to say no wars going on but I'm not sure that's ever going to happen.  For me I'd define peace as when I can sit somewhere quiet and just enjoy the view or solitude or companionship of my hubby and my brain isn't racing around trying to work out how to do 101 things in less time than possible and just enjoy the moment.

2. November 3rd is Election Day in the US of A, but did you know it's also National Sandwich Day? Let's vote, shall we? egg salad or tuna salad? chicken salad or grilled chicken on a bun? peanut butter and jelly or a bagel with cream cheese? turkey and swiss or ham and cheddar? grilled cheese or pimento cheese? roast beef-corned beef-or make mine veggie? 

• Egg salad
• Chicken salad
• bagel with cream chees
• ham and chedder
• grilled cheese
• roast beef.
  

3. When did you last say (or feel) 'no rest for the weary'? 

Probably a lot of times over the last few months as we packed up and then unpacked our home lol.

4. This time last year, where were you? 

Ha!  Helping my daughter and her family move house and looking after Grandson Rory 2 days a week.  I was probably saying no rest for the weary then too!

5. Share a favorite song, verse, or quote featuring the word 'peace'. 

Well I am rubbish at remembering song so I used google and according to one list the best song about peace is Imagine by John Lennon.  Not a bad choice.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Tomorrow we go back into full lockdown here in England as our covid cases are rising rapidly again.  The confusing thing is, due to our set up, the individual countries forming the UK can do their own thing which means the rules are different in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  The stupid thing is we're an island!  We should have followed New Zealand's example but then they're led by a sensible woman and not a buffoon!

20 in 20 - Weekly Photo #36 - w/c 2/11/20

Well here we go again after a long break so a few photos to look at.  Most of them were taken today, a couple are from Sunday.

Today I ventured out for a walk - I'm getting to know the local area around the lake and park close to our house.

I was very glad of these:


It is very muddy as we have had soooo much rain. Some parts of the path are really only suitable for wellies.

 

We live close to the river Ching which winds through the forest area. This is one of the bridges over it.

 

Not particularly secure looking but it serves its purpose.

 

It's not a particularly big river and it twists and turns.



The forest gives way to the open parkland.



There is a play area for children and also a cafe that's still open for takeaways.



And then back to the forest again.



The lake


 

Another bridge over the river that also seems a bit rickety but at least there are guard rails on this one!



 

Plenty of squirrels about today.

These fallen trees are an important landmark when heading home - get to these trees and then turn left (or right depending on which direction you've come from) to find the path that leads out onto the road for home.

The circuit from our house through the forest and around the lake is probably about a mile and a half - I keep forgetting to set my Fitbit to track it when we head out. Next time!

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.