Me on Monday

 I'm not quite sure what happened to Monday, I had a few flexible plans but I'm finding myself at just gone 5pm without having completed them!

The crochet is growing 

This pattern is perfect for me, it is not one row after another of the same stitch, it is blocks of pattern four rows at a time so it's keeping me on my toes, and learning lots of new combinations of stitches.  I had planned to do some this afternoon but Rachel was at a loose end so her and Rosie popped round, the sun was shining so we could eat outside so they stayed for lunch, then sat in the garden until it was time to go and get Leo, then Coco needed her afternoon walk ... you get the picture!

I did get to cook some rock cakes before they arrived- I made a batch a couple of weeks ago but they just disappeared.  They seem to be a little too popular around here, Paul likes to have one in the mornings with coffee, Jon ate two in the time it took to drop Max off the other Wednesday and the builders were more than happy to have them with their coffee when they were here to build the path.   

We paid for our holiday which means it is less than 12 weeks away.  I'm trying not to look forward to it too much because we all know how quickly restrictions can change but at least we have something booked for the not too distant future!  I'm also in the process of investigating the best pub gardens that offer heated outdoor seating, it will be nice to book a table for a meal out sometime soon.

Right!  It's time to start thinking about dinner, has to be an early one tonight as Paul has a Volunteer Committee meeting on Zoom at 6.30 followed by his online Italian class at 8pm.  Looks like my crochet will have to wait until then!

Making friends

I've always known that there are a lot of lovely people out in blogland, people you would never normally have met but people you just bond with.  I know how much I value my blog-friends!  

Since trying my hand at a new craft, crochet, my friend Denise (the one who talked me into scrapbooking, then joining Shimelle classes, then blogging ... ) encouraged me to join some crochet groups on Facebook.  To see people who have started the same projects and learn from seeing what they have done and replies to questions they have asked.  So once again I took her advice (I mean, if it hadn't been for her I wouldn't have started a blog and met you lovely people! basically she's my life coach 😆) and I have been absolutely amazed at how much I have discovered and what a friendly, supportive, helpful bunch crafters are!  

Latest project that I found on the Coastal Crochet blog

I'm loving this - I'm learning so much as every four rows you start a new pattern.  And before you ask, yes I am using this as an excuse for not doing that huge pile of ironing that is growing daily ;-)

So what else has kept me from blogging this week?  Well there have been a couple of days where my lounge has looked like this ...

I love the fact that although we have two boys and a girl for grandchildren, they all love playing with the same things!  Rosie is obsessed with caring for her baby dolls, yet still enjoys getting the toy garage and road layout set up, Max is happy setting up the ice cream truck and more of the cars, and Leo will play with anything so long as his red power ranger can be involved!  No such thing as boys toys and girls toys here, they all love them just the same.

There was a day when we had workmen in to do the hard work making this

And then of course we needed to do a bit of shopping

for the finishing touches.  So we are making the most of the warm dry weather because you never know when it is going to end!  Even though I haven't written a blog post myself, I have made sure I've visited other blogs every day - it's good to keep an eye on what my blog friends are doing!

Have a good weekend everyone x

Me on ...

 ... what day of the week is it?  Can someone give me a clue?  This week has gone by in a blur,  but I'm ending it with a neat haircut

half of a neat garden (I currently have three men in the garden with digging equipment, a skip on the drive and a ton of gravel waiting to be turned into a pathway)

I love this camellia which is blooming in the half of the garden we have completed!

and a neat start to a new crochet project

There's been a bit of impromptu childcare thrown in the mix as in the last six months our daughter has developed an autoimmune disease called vasculitis and has had several hospital appointments and tests this week which have resulted in the need for extra help in school pickups etc.  They have been slowly ruling out all manner of things that may be triggering it and it seems that this week it has been all systems go trying to find a definitive diagnosis.  So a stressful time for all but you cannot fault the amount of testing that is going on at a time when the health service is so stretched.

We're hoping for nice weather tomorrow afternoon as if the sun is shining we have been invited for drinks in our friends' garden.  Wine o'clock might have to happen a bit earlier than usual and finish as the sun starts to go down!  

Have a good weekend - let's hope we all find a bit of sunshine and some time to relax and enjoy it!

Out in the fresh air

Last weekend our son and his wife decided to take Max to the Gruffalo Trail which is not too far from Epping Forest.  Max loves the story of the Gruffalo and so even though it was very cold that day, they wrapped up warm and walked the trail.  Now, once Max is out of his car seat and has been running around exploring, he isn't that keen on getting back in it for the journey home.  Jon packed up the car while Sophie put an unwilling Max back in his seat.  Very similar to what it would be like to get an octopus in a string bag.  One arm in the strap, other one out. It can be a stressful experience. You get the picture.

They came home via the motorway and as they were driving along they heard a noise which seemed to come from the roof of the car.  Then out of the corner of their eyes, they saw something fly off the roof and into the greenery along the side of the motorway.  What could it be?  Sophie's car keys.  She'd put them on the roof while she struggled to get Max back in the car, Jon got in the car and used his car keys to start the engine.  Can you imagine?  Why didn't they fall off earlier in the car park where they could have retrieved them?  You can hardly pull onto the hard shoulder to search in the undergrowth along the motorway so they had to mark it down to experience.  Needless to say, replacing the keys has made that a very expensive morning out.

I had a much cheaper afternoon of exercise yesterday when I suggested to Rachel that we take Rosie and Leo over the park.  Maybe she could supervise Leo on his bike and I'd keep an eye on Rosie on her scooter.  Are you sure?  she asked, looking as if she knew something I didn't.  Which she did.  For I was thinking that Leo had only just learnt to ride his bike without stabilisers and Rosie has only been scootering for a couple of weeks, surely both would be a bit nervous/hesitant?

I couldn't have been more wrong - Rosie is clearly a bit of a daredevil on that scooter, I could barely jog fast enough to keep up with her and once Leo gets started he is off into the distance.  I'd been deluding myself by thinking that a bit of dog walking and one Zumba class a week was keeping myself fit, by the time we'd done a circuit of the park and walked home I was exhausted!

So after this weekend we take a few more tentative steps to reopen after lockdown.  Non essential shops, gyms and swimming pools reopening and most importantly there can now be haircuts again.  Can you guess which one I'm most excited about?  Sharpen those scissors, I'm booked in for Thursday!

A sentence a day in March

 I always look forward to March; we officially move from winter to spring, we move the clocks forward to British Summertime and I have a birthday.

We start the month still in lockdown with all restrictions still in place.  Goodness it seems like it's been like this for so long.  How will life change by the end of the month?  Grab yourself a coffee and a biscuit and let's see how the month progresses!

Day 1 Booked our Covid vaccinations for next Monday!

Day 2 Finished watching 'Behind her eyes' and had to rewind the ending to make sure I understood what had happened! #shockending

Day 3 Took Max for a walk - after a kick around with a football in the park we managed to take him home exhausted and muddy!

Day 4 Zumba on Zoom again today, followed by some household chores and a bit of crochet

Day 5 Jon's birthday - how can my youngest possibly be 31?  He's making me seem very old!

Day 6 Managed, over the course of 24 hours, to see all three grandchildren which is definitely something to make me smile

Day 7 Lazy Sunday, roast lamb for lunch and crocheting in the afternoon, nothing much else to report

Day 8 Vaccination Day! 

Day 9 Woke at 4am with a headache, took tablets then felt ok for rest of day, hopefully that is the extent of the side effects from the vaccine #onedownandonetogo

Day 10 Had Max round to play - just love spending time with him

Day 11 Did not do Zumba, then felt guilty - will have to work twice as hard next week.

Day 12 Broke all the rules, had a picnic lunch for five people who are not in my family indoors in the lounge.  Oh wait ...

Four were dollies, one was a teddy, one a meerkat and the other a reindeer, I think that's allowed. #Rosiecametoo

Day 13 Quite an eventful day for Coco, she fell in a ditch while trying to chase moorhens (when will she learn that she cannot fly?) so came home from the park filthy dirty and smelling of ditch water.  Needless to say she was swiftly taken up for a shower, which always gets her overexcited and in running up and down the landing and doing zoomies round our bedroom she hurt her front leg and is now limping badly.

Day 14 My birthday and Mother's Day - had a very lazy day, ate much chocolate, drank a couple of glasses of prosecco and enjoyed having Paul cook lunch for me.  Proper family celebrations will have to wait a while. Coco's leg seems to be a little better.

Day 15 Visited a local garden centre to pick up some bits that we needed before the guy comes to help us finish off the garden in a couple of weeks - such a short trip but it felt so nice to be doing something different.

Day 16 Had Rosie here for a couple of hours, we will start having her here for a full day again once schools go back after Easter.

Day 17 Our day for having Max, he's settled back here so well despite having so many weeks when he couldn't visit.

Day 18 Zumba on Zoom this morning, don't seem to be able to find the impetus to do much today, it's a damp, dreary day and lockdown seems to be going on forever ...

Day 19 We ventured out to a very small local nursery to buy some more plants - it's nice to get out of the house and go somewhere a little different, even if it is only 7 miles away!

Day 20 Went to view the house that our son and family are hoping to buy, then went back to his current home, dropped off some packing boxes and then walked into town where the food market was, not the normal amount of stalls and everyone was keeping their distance - bought some freshly baked croissants and Portuguese custard tarts #essentialsupplies

Day 21 Long dog walk in the morning, lazy afternoon crocheting and then baking a coffee and walnut cake - Census day in the UK today.

Day 22 The year anniversary of going into lockdown - in some ways it doesn't seem a year, in others I can't remember what 'normal' life was like

Day 23 J & S have a date for moving so I popped into town to collect some more moving boxes for them - they have a lot to pack in a short space of time!

Day 24 Put up some new solar lights around the trellis on the new decking area

Day 25 Took packing boxes over to Jon's and played with Max - he's such a sweetie

Day 26 Zumba on Zoom in the morning, then looked after Rosie in the afternoon while R&J had a zoom parent's consultation meeting with Leo - despite lockdown home schooling he is still at the level that he should be so good news all round.

Day 27 What a wet, miserable day - it rained, a lot!

Day 28 Went to our nearby farm shop to buy some of our favourite locally made ice-cream - constructed the table of our new patio furniture, now all we need is a bit of sunshine.

You can just about see our works supervisor relaxing on the sofa in the conservatory! Booked a UK holiday for July!

Day 29 Clocks went forward an hour so we are officially in British Summertime.

Day 30 Had a very sociable, almost felt normal day - my friend came round for a coffee in the garden in the morning, it was a beautifully sunny day, then had Leo here for an hour in the sunshine while the health visitor went to do Rosie's two year check.

Day 31 Saw Max today, he's growing up so fast!

Have you got 31 seconds to see my 1 Second Everyday video?  Excellent!

I know I'm early and shouldn't really be posting this until the first Tuesday of the month but I'm a bit of a rebel by posting it before I should, but if you pop back next week, you should see links to the others joining in the Sentence a Day project 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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