To ask you to tell me things you've achieved in lockdown?

[bananachocolatepancake]

Hopefully a bit of an uplifting thread where we can focus on the positives among the many negatives.

I've managed to learn how to do a handstand! I've never in my life been able to do one, even as a child but I can now after many many fails.

Anyone else managed to achieve anything? Small or big

I managed to get pregnant after trying for 4 years and was told only hope was IVF!

Two jigsaws, no alcohol since Feb, but would have wanted to achieve a lot more. Working such long hours from home though, am exhausted.

I've started rolling big joints..instead of single spliff's.
Thank you

too exhausted after working 55 hours a week

I mastered long division! I somehow managed to get through school and get a fairly decent result in GCSE maths without ever getting the hang of it. I HAD to learn though as DD is completely lost with it and I had to do it in homeschooling for maths. I went on Mr Khan’s academy and got the hang of it pretty fast and taught DD! I don’t know why I found it so confusing before!!

Apart from that I’ve not really done anything of great merit tbh! Maybe improved my Spanish a bit, oh and struggled and just about managed with the homeschooling in subjects in the local dialect, which I don’t speak (that’s been stressful).

Painted all the woodwork in three bathrooms and 2 bedrooms. Now working my way through the hall, stairs and landing as the carpet was up while the bathroom fitting was happening pre lockdown. New carpet fitting was cancelled on the first day of lockdown so I decided to make the most of the time and decorate.

DH is something of a hoarder so l have spent the last few weeks clearing out his office and the spare bedroom which had also become home to the detritus of two offspring returning from university. We have filled two skips and filled around fifteen bags and boxes for charity shops when they reopen. This also entailed clearing out the shed in order to store said boxes to bags and meant that a number of shed items went in the skip too. We will be having the two rooms redecorated after lockdown. I have also washed and ironed curtains and sorted out the contents of the airing cupboard. I have continued working as a music teacher via Zoom throughout, apart from a few days off in the Easter holidays.

I've done 7 weeks out of 9 weeks of couch to 5k. I've now jogged for 25 mins non stop. 7 weeks ago I couldn't even run for 1 minute!

I'm brushing up my French using the Duolingo app.

I have managed to stop my children killing each other on a daily basis, painted the fence and planted clematis, jasmine and honeysuckle in some planters, decorated my sons bedroom and the downstairs loo.

I’ve also read three books which I’m pretty proud of

I have built a wood store out of pallets and managed to chop a quart of wood to fill it using an axe, sledgehammer and a wood grenade. I had never chop a single piece of wood in my life before lockdown. We had a large tree cut down last year and kept the wood but the rounds really needed chopping into small bits. I chop wood for 1hr each day after working and its been such a great departure from my desk job. I great release.

Like a few here, the garden has never looked so good. I dug up the laurels in the front garden and replaced them with lavender which I hope will be better for lining the path, softer on the whole thing. I have moved the laurels to the gap in our back garden hedge.

I'm waiting for a delivery of other plants to put into pots and planters and I cant wait. Lots of herbs.

I have decluttered one of our sheds. For once we can get the lawn mower out without tripping over shovels and watering cans. Everything has it's own place now.

We will be sorting out the 2nd shed tomorrow and over the weekend. We have wanted to do this for 2yrs!

We have potty trained DD. We were dreading it but she really has embraced it.

The dumping ground that is the box room has been cleared.

I have drank a lot more wine than I have before.

Have packed up all my autumn/winter clothes and got out all my summer stuff. Been cooking loads and have cracked: excellent homemade pizzas, amazing meatballs & spaghetti and Poha (a delish Gujarati breakfast). Enjoying cooking for a change

Ive decorated 2 bedroom, learning how to lay lvt plank flooring by lots of mistakes, chopped all my red Robin bushes down to head height, learned how to use a computer for accessing the mist difficult school hub, learning how to install minecraft play/add friends etc and sewing some masks.Bagged up loads of charity bags, and filled a garden skip. Housework has took a big tumble but fortunately no one allowed in

Congratulations MrsWhite!

Garden is coming on nicely, I’m nearly able to do a crab (A LOT harder than I remember from school) I can now plank for a minute whereas previously 5 seconds was impossible, cooked more, spent more time with kids, generally been a more engaged mother.

I was thinking about this today. Inspite of being at home for weeks and going nowhere worth mentioning, I have managed to make three new friends.

Decluttered and reorganised bedroom and made it look much nicer
Spring cleaned kitchen
Cleared out crap in hall cupboard
Best of all I drew and cut out a silver pendant design. I WILL finish it before lockdown ends!

Mainly cooking ones.
The best chilli
Scones
Carrot cake
Seafood chilli pasta

I’ve grown lettuce, beetroot, onions, cauliflower and flowers. Just waiting for the crops to fully grow, but they’re doing really well.

Aww @Mrswhite777 congratulations 😀

I learnt how to knit and made a hat
I have read 5 books for fun and 5 books for work
A bit of cpd but not as much as I would have liked
I have started Pilates
I can plank for 1 minute

Grown out my eyebrows. Been looking for the opportunity to do that since the 90s!

@Kravarza wow 20lbs! How have you managed that if you don’t mind me asking? Well done!

I laid a new floor perfectly after just googling some instructions.
I re-covered the 9 cushions on our outdoor furniture, by hand, even though I’ve never sewn anything before in my life.
I painted our garden fence.
I transformed DD’s mud kitchen to its former glory.
I repainted all the woodwork in the entire house after DH repainted all the walls.
But the greatest achievement of all in this house is that DD has learned to wipe her own arse! 😃

Practised portraiture!

Lost 20lbs. Learned a lovely Chopin prelude on the piano.

I can tell you what I haven’t achieved - sleep! I gave birth a couple of weeks into lockdown and as beautiful as my ds is he’s a git and will not tolerate being put down. On the plus side, I don’t have to get dressed all day and no visitors so the housework can wait while I snuggle with the gorgeous little pickle.

I've learned to budget properly, which is saving me a small fortune. When I start working again I'm going to put all my profit (sole trader) away and finally get a car.
I've also managed to get my mental health in check. I've not had any time off work in almost 7 years so this has forced me to take time for myself, and my god I didnt realise I needed it so badly. My anxiety was constantly through the roof trying to juggle my 3 kids, my house, my business and exh playing mind games for the last 3 years. I finally feel happy and calm, and realised I dont need to work every hour under the sun to survive (thanks budgeting 😂).