After a lazy afternoon yesterday we had an even lazier day today. D and I both slept in and F eventually woke us at 10:20! After a late breakfast D and the kids watched the new Maleficent film (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) while I listened to some music and generally did very little.
In the afternoon I edited together a video for something the chair of our Choir is planning, and managed to fit one of the water butts I had delivered a couple of weeks ago.
For tea I made Yorkshire puddings and onion gravy to go with sausages – bit success all round (F loves onion gravy, and we all love yorkshire puddings).
This evening was the Bare Necessities music showcase to raise money for a Coventry-based charity (you can donate at Feeding Coventry) – which I’d recorded a couple of songs for. The whole showcase is available on Facebook if you are interested.
Nice day today. I got up about 8am to get some bread in the oven and do a bit of tidying around the side entrance to the garden – because C and N came over for a socially distanced visit in the garden this morning. The weather could have been nicer but it was so good to see them and just sit and chat for a bit. We ate pastries and drank tea & coffee while the kids played in the garden.
In the afternoon we played a game that D had ordered which is an escape room card game called Unlock which was mainly fun despite a few frustrations when we couldn’t solve some of the puzzles – but we got there eventually (although just over time and with a few hints).
We chilled out for the rest of the afternoon, I dozed on the sofa, B worked on a quiz for tomorrow, D worked on a jigsaw and F made a board game of her own which was some kind of energy/food chain based game where you worked up from sunshine through algae, plankton & fish up to human. I didn’t completely understand the rules but we played an enjoyable game where we both seemed to win!
We carried on the lazy theme (and bread based diet) by ordering in pizza for tea and then did C’s weekly quiz which was fun as always (fancy dress was historical figures and so B came as Einstein and F as Alexander Hamilton)
Time for bed now, but a nice day and so nice to spend time with C and N. Stay safe, stay strong x
In a bit of an odd mood today, especially this evening – just feeling a bit restless with my thoughts flitting around and not able to settle. It probably not that surprising given the state of the world right now, but after a high yesterday I feel a bit down today.
We had an order in for flour, sugar, oats and various goodies from Haddie and Trilby so the first job of the day was to pick those up.
D had decided to take the day off, so she was able to spend time with the kids today. B had some school work to do, but once F had done a session with Mrs C she was free for the rest of the day.
I was stumbled from one work call to another today, but overall it wasn’t a bad day for work, and in between calls I’ve been working on some focaccia which I hope will be ready for baking first thing tomorrow morning.
We played Maponimoes (thank you C) before tea (slightly mixed success – I won and managed to upset both the kids in the process!) – but the game itself is a really nice mixture of simple rules and strategic play and definitely recommended. Once the kids were in bed this evening D and I watched Gemini Man – a disappointing Ang Lee / Will Smith film – but mindless enough to take my mind off things which was the point.
Tomorrow morning N and C are going to come round for a socially-distanced visit – really looking forward to it (although bit worried about it raining as we don’t really have any shelter in the garden).
Went to see my Mum today for the first time since the start of March, when we buried my Dad’s ashes. It was so good to see her. We spent time sitting and talking (at a responsible distance) in her garden (which is lovely) and then went for a walk in the hills above Cheltenham and went to visit where my Dad is buried.
Got up early (6:45) this morning to do some work – always amazed how much I can get done when I actually manage to get up before 8!
D went for a run again – v impressed she is keeping that going.
Fs teacher rang to check how things were going, and later in the morning after some experimentation with different coloured sheets we re-filmed Fs news report with a new background so we could more easily “green screen” (in this case “maroon screen”) to insert the appropriate backgrounds for each part of the report.
The news anchor look!
B had to take a “still life” photograph for his art by arranging objects of his choice in a pattern on a plain background – so out came the sheet again, and some books and marbles to be arranged and photographed
Having the marbles out inspired F to invent a marble game which she made me and D play – and although she claimed to know the rules, it sometimes felt she was just making them up as she went along 🙂
I had lots of work stuff again today including planning for another course that I’d usually teach face-to-face but instead will be doing online. But after the work day was done I had a lovely virtual choir in the evening (especially lovely to see our pianists new baby boy – just made me smile!), and tomorrow I’m taking the day off to go and visit my Mum – I’m so looking forward to seeing her!
Struggled to wake up today – I’m blaming the heat (and it already seemed to be too hot by the time I got out of bed). F also struggled with today (again I think the heat means she isn’t sleeping well) and shed didn’t want to do her school work, or anything at all really. Eventually we managed to persuade her to do her “news report” homework as a TV news report and filmed it with the hope we can edit it together with some newsroom and location backgrounds. Meanwhile B and D just got on with their work without any fuss!
In the afternoon D took the kids for a walk in their new musical themed t-shirts (Hamilton for F, Wicked for B) – presents from their Grandma. Sadly I had to stay at home for a Zoom call 🙁
I have to admit I’m hoping that the forecast cooler weather will arrive tomorrow and I can get a better night’s sleep!
I’d originally planned to get up to work early this morning – but all my various alarms came and went as I repeatedly hit snooze and I finally got up at 8am (when D got back from her run).
It was back to school for the kids today, and they seemed OK with that. B got to mark a maths exam he did before the holiday and got an impressive 98% (and I really need to work on my tendency to make “and what did you get wrong?” my first question in these situations!). F did some of her school work and some creative writing (a new, slightly disturbing, poem about fire).
In the afternoon they had a virtual art class scheduled, but F opted out and played in the garden before her online tutoring session from Explore Learning. B was a bit stressed because he didn’t finish all the schoolwork he was set today – but on the otherhand he has done some amazing work adding special effects to a short video clip of his cousin using some software called Blender – it’s pretty impressive what he can do on an old computer with some free software!
D and I have been talking about how we feel about the possible return to school for F later this month. We’re both pretty apprehensive about it and I’m struggling between a feeling that schools should be delaying opening until the track and trace and testing processes being put in place actually work, and the knowledge that some degree of risk is inevitable and we have to adjust our mindset to that.
Work was pretty full on for me today (although a deadline I thought was the end of this week, is actually the end of next week – so that’s a relief!)
D made me a grilled cheese sandwich (gruyere + pickles) for tea – it was very nice.
Woke pretty early (around 7:30 I think) and got up as D had suggested we should go for a walk before it got too hot in the morning, and I also had some sourdough bread on the go overnight that I wanted to get on with.
Kids got up around 8 and came on a walk without complaint (which is a minor miracle at any time of day). We walked along the north side of the river Leam through a small bit of woodland, and then back along the other side in Victoria park. It was lovely to be out while it was cool and not too busy (although the park was busy enough and hot enough by the time we were walking back).
When we got back home I tried to make crumpets out of some sourdough starter I didn’t need. It was a mixed success – the results were quite delicious (with maple syrup, blueberries and sour cream) but more like pancakes than crumpets (crumpcakes? pantpets?)
In the afternoon we followed up last week’s viewing of Thor with Avengers Assemble (first time for the kids). I’m not so bothered about the more recent Avengers films – I prefer some of the other Marvel films especially Captain Marvel and Thor: Ragnarok – but the first Avengers is good fun I think.
In celebration of my niece (R) 10th birthday, D made chocolate cake and I had it with an oat milk iced coffee – very nice! We celebrated with R over Zoom at the weekly family quiz, although F got a bit upset because she was last in the quiz 🙁 Hard being the youngest sometimes.
The evening I’ve spent recording myself singing the two songs for the Bare Necessities fundraiser next weekend. Recording yourself singing can be a bit soul-destroying sometimes and I tend to start getting very picky about what I’m doing – but I think I got two reasonable takes of each song in the end so I’ve submitted them.
Over the weekend I completely failed to install the new water butts we had delivered last week, and also didn’t manage to get to play the Maponimoes game that C sent us (something we are looking forward to trying), but its been a good day today and now I’m tired so I’m going to have some toast and tea and then head to bed.
Me being tired and grumpy on a Saturday is turning into a bit of a pattern (unfortunately). I woke early (5am) and then dozed on the sofa, and slept until 10am. D had been up for a while and had been out for a run but the kids were only just getting up when I woke.
My singing teacher is organising an online fundraiser event for a charity called Bare Necessities in Coventry which provides essential (non-food) items to those who need them – including sanitary and baby products. I’ve volunteered to record a couple of songs, and I spent most of the day trying to do a decent recording of “I can go the distance” (from Disney’s Hercules) and “Your Song” (Elton John). Unfortunately singing practice has taken a backseat during lockdown, and no choir means no regular singing – so I’m a bit rusty.
I managed two recordings in the end, but I’m not really happy with them – so it’s good that I’ve got a few more days before I need to send them in.
F created a quiz for us all to do in the afternoon – although computer problems caused her a huge amount of frustration we eventually got them sorted and the quiz was really successful – we all had fun.
B spent time doing calligraphy and working on adding some special effects to a video from his cousin B – he was rightly pleased with the results as the effects looked pretty good!
Meanwhile, D did a bit of gardening and cooking and spent some time reading.
Just before tea I shouted at Bryn which really upset F – she felt I’d been very unfair, and she was probably right (in my defence, B had been a bit thoughtless, but I had probably over-reacted). I cooked tea for the kids – and despite the fact I over-cooked the chicken a bit, they seemed to really enjoy it, and I apologised for being grumpy with them.
After tea we had our usual Saturday quiz (thanks C) which we thought was tough but did very well – so that was a nice boost. After that we went for a short walk – nice to get out into the cool of the evening. I showed the kids something I used to do as a kid – firing (I think clover?) seed heads from a stem.
Meanwhile D took some lovely photos instead of destroying the wildlife!
Finally we watched some TV and ate ice-creams with the kids, and once they’d gone up to bed we opened a bottle of wine and watched a movie. So now at the end of the day I’m feeling much more mellow and not at all grumpy!
I think my frustration with Saturdays is I tend to be exhausted from the week, but yet feeling like I should be doing stuff – so “wasting” the morning by sleeping in leaves me feeling bad from the start of the day. Added to that Saturday is probably the day I feel the restrictions of lockdown the most in a way – as it’s when we’d usually go to the shops, have a nice lunch out, etc. etc. Its almost like I need an extra day every weekend at the moment to re-set.
Been a long week, but its Friday (actually now Saturday) at last. I had a relaxed morning mainly trying (not entirely successfully) to help B with some code he’s writing. Then I went to Warwick to pick up a couple of things. It was so lovely to see Mog and Pauline at Warwick Books and Marie at the Golden Monkey Tea Company – it must be so difficult for small businesses like these at the moment and they are keeping things going – if you are looking for books and/or tea (or coffee or chocolate) I highly recommend them.
Apart from that it was work, and I finally got round to fixing the light switch in our pantry after about 6 weeks of it not working!
Going to keep it short as I should really be asleep. This weekend I’m planning to install some water butts to gather rain (if we ever get rain again) off our roof – so that’s a plan for tomorrow or Sunday.
