Can we start a thread about keeping life interesting...

[Biden20]

...during lockdown and the pandemic generally? I had a baby this year and my days are currently groundhog - even my daily walk is limited in its variety due to the area we live in! I've been keeping Covid safe due to being vulnerable so not been in a shop or seen another person (other than DH and baby) since March.

Please can we share a few little suggestions to liven up our days or keep life interesting?

I'm mortified by my suggestions at what passes for excitement these days, but I'll start...

• we are going to order in Cote at Home for our Saturday dinner
• I painted an old chest of drawers
• I have chopped a fringe for myself!

I was finding WFH for another 6 months quite depressing, so spent some time hanging lovely pictures on the wall in front of my desk, and putting a vase of autumn seed heads that look lovely next to my monitor. Just to pretty the space up and make me smile rather than sigh when I sit in my chair to start another day with no social interaction bar my husband and son.

That sounds great, op! No need to be mortified (seriously).

I was amused about the thread titles immediately under this one (see pic).

I try and get a dose of comedy every day.
Erm. Is that it? Erm. That's about it. Also reading when I remember to.

I went through a phase of listening to pop music in other languages, might start that up again, there are some crackin "choons". If I don't tell anyone in RL its not wanky, right?

oh pic is way too big! I cropped it!

It should just say:
Can we start a thread about keeping life interesting?
Anyone tried Kopparberg Cherry Rum?
Anyone had a nose piercing in their 40s?

I love this idea.

Things I started during lockdown #1 and carried on...

Friday/Saturday night fake away
Saturday posh brunch
Sunday lunch on the table
Online gym classes when I would have been at the gym (Les mills on demand is brilliant)
1 hour a day all screens off
Daily walk with podcast
Try at least one new recipe every week
5 useful jobs every day
Coffee from a local independent shop that might be struggling

None of these things are ground breaking but they’ve given the week a bit of structure and variety.

I'm an enthusiastic (but not terribly good) hobby photographer. I've recently started challenging myself to taking a few interesting photos (just using my phone camera) even on walks I've done a hundred times before. That really forces me to notice details, colours and shapes, and to appreciate how nature changes with the seasons.

I have a spare room that has become a dumping ground! So I plan to clear everything out, decorate it and turn it into a sort of second living room. I have adult DC here who I’ll get to help me clear it but then they’re forbidden from looking till it’s done and I’m going to do a reveal, TV home makeover style! (I may have been binge watching too many of these shows over lockdown!).

On a smaller scale, I am trying out some new recipes. I’m also learning to crochet.

My DH is working from home mostly, and I still go out to work but different shifts/places each day. We've settled into a little routine that's working to keep life interesting for us. Friday night is takeaway, Saturday morning (if I'm home) is cooked breakfast. Sunday evening is roast dinner with a bottle of red wine. Monday night we have an online italian class (used to be in person), Tuesday we bake something to eat during bake off. Every day I'm not at work, I meet my mum for a wander with a flask of coffee each (usually to the sea and back), I also have a treadmill and am completing couch to 5k on that, and I do an hours housework each day off. Life seems pretty good at the moment, but I'm not enjoying the darker evenings and colder weather that are making this lock down much harder than the last

Do you have access to a car? If yes, you are allowed to drive to a different area to walk. Not too far, think 15-30 minutes. Some people from our area were fined for going to the Lake District, but that's about 2 hours away and busy if too many people all go there at once.

Interesting stuff on youtube etc. You can do online tours of museums, parks (Central Park New York has a good one). Podcasts, books, box sets, films, sleep, order in interesting food each week.

We’ve decorated two rooms (only planned to do one, which we bought all the materials for a couple of weeks before the first lockdown but then we found out I was pregnant on the first day of the first lockdown so needed a nursery 🥰)
I do a bit of crafting most days
I read a chapter of a book everyday
I do 1-3 chores every morning
I bake a cake or traybake every week (love baking but never do it usually due to time constraints)
We try a new recipe every week

We're travelling to a different big park/nature reserve every weekend for days out - I've already pencilled in a few different places for the rest of the month. We bring a packed lunch and a ball/scooter and spend the morning and afternoon out. More interesting than doing the same old walks, and it's nice for DD to explore different playgrounds and green spaces.

We've scheduled TV viewing for weekend evenings, including some theatre/opera recordings. Stops us just aimlessly flicking through Netflix.

I'm doing a clear out of our flat as we need to sell at some point so DD can have her own room! It's not actually very interesting but it needs to be done.

Gone back to knitting and crochet
Zoom Zumba, Yoga, Pilates and dance, so there is something every day and it provides a bit of the structure I had when I went out to classes.
Some not very frequent cleaning jobs have been done. Blinds have all be dunked in the bath, knitting stash reorganised.
DH has decorated two bathrooms, outside and is now starting on ceilings inside, as well as baking bread and cakes.
We’ve tried some new walks, rather than trekking round the estate every day. That will become more difficult as winter sets in I guess.

It’s about providing a bit of structure and routine as far as I’m concerned.

Great idea for a thread!

I've seriously got back into cooking and watching cookery shows, trying new recipes mostly every day.
Planting tulip and daffodil bulbs for the spring.
Yoga with Adriene on YouTube

I would recommend the Facebook group Positive Corona virus stories only and fun - I get a proper laugh at least once there every day at some of the memes and there are some really beautiful and moving videos too.

Afternoon drinking anyone?

Drinking....

Also took up yoga
Got back into hiking which I love
Cooking something new every week

Thank you for this nice thread.

I need this thread. I am wfh with very little to do and just spend day in, day out in the house all on my own. I try really hard to keep busy . I am chugging away through Charles Dickens, I play my guitar, I bake, I go for a run, take naps, but there is just so.much.time. I wish the day was about 8 hours shorter.

I've been finishing off crafts and DIY I started eons ago and never completed.

I've discarded things I've never used or barely used or have lost the incentive to do anything with. I've let things go.

It feels like I'm getting rid of crap and freeing my life with space for new possibilities. It feels like a fresh start.