Good evening! I’m a day late with the weekly blog this week, I know at least two people noticed… In all honestly, episode 15 nearly didn’t get any airtime because when I sat down yesterday to write it, I just didn’t feel like I had anything interesting to say and so decided not to bother. But a nice text message and a DM on twitter asking where it was this morning made me smile and got me motivated to put fingers to keyboard and keep up my weekly blog series for another week.
The fact is that, like lots of people I know, every day feels a bit samey at the moment. And that same is, well, pretty much nothing. With working full time from home, even squeezing in my daily walk felt stressful last week, which I realise is utterly ridiculous. So, this morning I gave myself a talking to in the shower, and decided that I was going to at least start off motivated. It’s been a pretty decent Monday all things considered; a productive day on the day job, a lovely sunny walk at lunchtime in the fields behind our estate, some delicious chocolate chip and salted caramel hot cross buns courtesy of the reduced shelf at Tesco yesterday (I might go later to see if they’ve got any left…), and a post-work soak in a hot mystery bubble bar bath – it turned the water very yellow indeed. But I guess today should really be in the next episode of the weekly blog, let’s go back to last week…
Blue Skies and Local Views
What absolutely fantastic weather we’ve been having. Blue skies, hardly any cloud, sunshine, warm temperatures… Yes, I know it isn’t going to last after today, but I have certainly enjoyed the fact that it at least looks nice outside even if I can’t be out there all the time. I know some people find therapy in watching the rain, and while I don’t mind the rain, I much prefer the sunshine it has to be said. I mentioned above that squeezing in my daily walk has not always been easy, but you’ll be pleased to know that I have squeezed it in none-the-less.
We had an absolutely glorious walk in a local woodland on Sunday afternoon (after I scheduled episode 14), where the bluebells and wild garlic were out in force. It was possibly one of the best walks I’ve had since lockdown started, and I took a heap of photos I’ve been sharing over on my instagram this week. The route included walking up a hill with views across my village and the surrounding area, and we found the most perfectly shaped and coloured oak tree – which I’ve used as this week’s banner image. In fairness it wasn’t exactly isolated at times; a few other people were walking the same path as us – the bluebells don’t last long so we don’t blame anyone for heading there – but as we got further up the hill we soon found ourselves alone again. Serves us right for choosing to walk just after lunch on a Sunday! I don’t mind admitting I have always preferred walking away from the crowds, and am happy to put in the effort to get away from other folk if needed. I don’t really like crowded places or being in large groups, I favour walking on my own or with just a handful of others, the introvert that owns my being enjoys the solitude and serenity of being outdoors in nature without a whole bunch of other people to spoil the view.
Have you got woodland close to you? Seen bluebells and wild garlic yet this year? I hope you get to see some wild nature this Springtime, it’s so good for the soul.
In My Mail Bag
No blogging post this last week but a few nice deliveries anyway… The compost I ordered for the garden arrived so we have re-seeded some of our rather patchy lawn and got the basil and dill that has been growing on the spare room window ledge planted out with the rosemary, mint and chives from last year. I’ve ordered some lavender and geraniums to help attract the bees, too, and I’m looking forward to those arriving soon.
I also had my order from Feelunique delivered, which was mainly my usual choice of toiletries, but also included some new-to-me conditioner to see if I can stop my ridiculously fine hair from breaking quite so much. I should probably order some decent hairdressing scissors and halve the length, it is probably just too heavy for itself.
And then on Friday we had a surprise deliver from my mum and dad who spotted a game and thought of us… The aim of The Genius Square is to complete the 6×6 square using the tetris style blocks faster than your opponent. Apparently there are over 62,000 possible puzzle combinations and there is always a solution – although I’ve been beaten by the board on more than one occasion this weekend. It’s more than a little bit addictive… you can play it on your own or race someone else, but my other half is too good at it and so I’ve been playing it on my own mainly! Thanks mum, a lovely surprise gift to have received.
Home Improvement (sans Tim Allen)
Who else wrote a list of at-home jobs at the start of lockdown and hasn’t really made a dent in it yet? We spent most of this weekend doing DIY, which at least means we’ve started on that list – there are a good few months’ worth of jobs still to go, but we’ve begun.
The most glamourous of the jobs was painting the woodwork in the downstairs loo. I originally painted the walls white not long after we moved in and ran out of time (okay, “put off”) doing the woodwork at the time and it’s been getting more and more yellow ever since. It didn’t take long, one of those jobs that’s worse to think about than to actually do, so at least I can tick that off now.
On Saturday we fitted our new ceiling fan and light in the bedroom. We’ve always wanted one, it feels very American in some ways, but it means we don’t need a fan standing in the corner, and is much cheaper than an air conditioning unit that we might use just a few times a year. It was not a exactly a breeze to fit (…), as we had to fashion a bracket in the loft to strengthen the ceiling to make sure we didn’t end up being sliced to pieces, and also discovered the wiring on the remote control receiver had been stickered incorrectly so we had to sort that out before it would work. We bought the QAZQA Roar from Lamp and Light, although we had to order it (from the same company) from Amazon as the payment system on their actual website doesn’t work… ah well. Now it’s up and working we are very chuffed with our purchase, and hope it lasts well.
The next things on the DIY list are the woodwork in the kitchen and finishing painting the garden fence now we have another tub of the fence paint. We’d really like to get the bedroom painted but the Dulux website is still closed and the colour we’ve chosen (which has taken an age to choose so I’m not starting that process again) isn’t available anywhere else at the moment. Not an essential, I know, but hopefully the online store will be able to reopen soon and I can get that done before I (quite frankly) don’t want to again because I’m able to go out and about more.
That’s Entertainment
I fear I’ve been using my Disney+ subscription a little too much lately, but such is life in lock down, and it certainly is keeping me entertained. I finished The Imagineering Story this week, which I would highly recommend to anyone who’s remotely interested in the history of the Disney company, and re-watched the original Fantasia, one of my favourites because it is all about the music. I’ve also started Breaking Bad courtesy of the DVD box set we bought, which I’m not sure was a good idea (it’s quite, er, graphic), but I’m three episodes in and I guess this is happening – at least the first season anyway and I’ll reconsider then. Are you working your way through a box set or two at the moment?
Thanks for the book suggestions last week. I finished up Help Me by Marianne Power (here on Audible) and have made a good dent in Christ Packham’s autobiography, Finger’s in the Sparkle Jar (here on Audible). I’ve got a couple more factual type books reserved with my local library, but I do fancy some fiction next. If anyone has any more audio book recommendations, especially those that will make me laugh while I paint, doodle, and generally get chores done, I’m making a list…
This Week’s Question
For someone who didn’t have anything to say in a weekly blog yesterday, I’ve not done too bad after all, so I think I’ll leave episode 15 there. Isn’t life weird when one day you have no desire to say anything and words don’t flow, and the next you could write thousands of words without thinking about it?!
Anyway, in line with tradition, here’s a question for you to answer in the comments below…
What are you reading, watching and/or listening to at the moment?
Thanks for coming over to Splodz Blogz to read my weekly blog. If you enjoyed reading this blog, if you think my weekly blog series is a good idea, and especially if you got to the end of this episode, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Please note that some links on this page are affiliate links (Amazon ones particularly). And I mustn’t forget the vloggers’ catchphrase, seeing as I stole the “weekly” premise of this post from them – please like and subscribe for more posts like this in the future! Come on by next Sunday at 6pm (or maybe Monday…) for the next in the series.