It's a Leap Year, so we've an extra day to wait until Christmas! Countdown to Christmas 2020, thread 3!

[NoWordForFluffy]

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Morning!

New thread for our 'bonus' day today.

It's the anniversary of our gran dying today; she was a brilliant lady. Very young at heart. ❤️❤️ Very knowledgeable too.

It's windy today, isn't it? We have a Spanish-named storm coming across.

I think corona is concerning in the sense that any potential pandemic is concerning generally. And, as I said, I'm not that keen on being quarantined for a fortnight or more!

I also don't trust our government to act in our best interests over the whole thing.

Anyway, kids' party with DS today. Wooooo!

MrsM your mum needs care, it's unavoidable, so the best thing you can do is take care of yourself.

I made Yorkshires. Not quite up to the standards on here, but they'll do. I do usually use that recipe, Fluffy, but wonder if part of the problem was too much batter in each tin. Have also worked out I was using olive oil not sunflower oil, so that may have been an issue too!

I didn't much fancy the lamb after smelling it cook all day (I get aversions, not cravings), so ended up with roast potatoes, Yorkshires and veggies, but I was happy with that. DS decided to eat his with ketchup heathen child, and I didn't have the energy to argue. He did eat all of his veggies, though, so I earn back some parenting points for that, right??

Dd2 had all of her veggies too Firefly, I count that as a win

Fire I think if a bit of ketchup means they eat their veg then it's worth it! I've only recently started buying ketchup but it definitely helps ds eat his dinner he doesn't like gravy either so he has it with a roast.

277

Morning!

I had a good sleep last night, thankfully. I needed it. I did wake at 5-ish for a bit, but managed to nod off again.

DH has to go and work with his brother today (he's his support worker), so I'm WFH and supervising online learning! Eek.

Firefly, I don't think olive oil gets as hot, no. Yours look good! Sorry about the aversions, that's no fun!

Morning -
My DS is a demon for Yorkishire Puddings . If we go to a Toby Carvery his little eyes light up at the pile of them.

I can make brilliants ones when they don't count but if I need them for Christmas Dinner or Easter , they stubbornly refuse .
On a good day they are huge , bit uneven (so they don't look like something out of a bag ) and don't stick.
It is worth making a batch and freezing them, then they need a couple of minutes right a the end .

The Good Food recipe is a good one . Add lots of salt and pepper .

I have washing out today . Blue skies but bally freezing

Morning
Was woken up by the Police Helicopter just after 1, took ages to get back off, so I didn't get up til after half 5.
Beautiful first thing, but it's starting to cloud over a bit. DH planning to wash the cars instead of a walk.

Pussycat my car got covered in grass last week at work. Parked beside a wide grass verge they (local council workers) decided to mow with those high power strimmers

So now my beautiful white motor looks like Fungus the Bogeyman

Could've been worse , there's a lot of dog using that grass as a toilet !

Morning, all a bit mad around me at the moment, we are quite restricted in what we're doing, but I'm still working and changed role over the weekend so a new desk and new (well, return to an old) building this morning. New car parking arrangement (temporary - due to asthma to avoid public transport). New remote access device to set up as well as new desk computer to get right again. And I am not sleeping properly at all - for lots of reasons.

But we are making an effort to get out for fresh air and walks (on the local long pier which allows social distancing to be maintained) and eat properly still. The adults in 3 houses all shared a cup of coffee (we each brought out our own) on the green out the front yesterday - sitting more than 2 metres apart on various stools (also each provided their own), but enjoying the sunshine and chat for 20 minutes.

I need to get my mindset off the bad things and back onto some more positive things - not necessarily planning Christmas but at least doing some crafts and deep cleaning. And maybe some proper baking (I made banana bread yesterday at DD's request, but I want to make a "fancy" cake and have some fun with icing etc, even if it's only our household eating it....)

Got to go to docs tomorrow to get DH prescription. Tempted to put a bag on my head and carry a sign then might call at Tesco - will need to find some bravery before i go in...it's not exactly that clean at the best of times...
The foot/cycle path at the front of the house looks deserted, only seen dog walkers and 1 set of GPs with their GCs not that i'm keeping tabs
Maybe the message is getting through at last? We can only hope!
DH has done the cars and is painting "some" of the shed - he's "pacing" himself and doesn't want to run out of jobs

Loving the allotment pics - I'm still jealous because I have no green fingers.

I feel a bit bad about Mother's Day. My mum cooked a dinner and sent my dad to deliver it to me so she treated me on Mother's Day. She also sent some hand sanitiser, a treacle sponge and some custard up 😋

I'm getting bored at home. I went for a normal walk yesterday morning then a half walk half run yesterday evening. I shouldn't have, Ive hurt my hip so struggling to do much of anything today.

Also, I thought my self isolation started on Tuesday. Very annoyed to realise it was Wednesday so even longer to wait - I'm worried we'll go on lock down before I can get out of isolation and get my hands on a work computer. Having nothing to do except housework and crafts really doesn't suit me!

Good luck to all of you going to work or attempting to WFH & teach today!

Crazy can someone deliver you a computer?

I'm just doing admin which so mind numbingly boring.

The dc have done the body coach pe workout (I'll join in tomorrow I think), 45 mins of school work, played outside on the trampoline and flown the kite. They're now watching a film. After lunch it's craft for an hour then reading or more school work/spellings. But I'm flexible if they don't want to do it.

DH has had lunch and is now Zzzzz in the conservatory. The cats may have snaffled some chicken
My hands are so dry, I've got a pump dispenser of body lotion with every soap but it's obvs not enough.
It's quite odd outside. We're near a primary so can hear the kids playing at lunchtime. It's almost silent. There are no planes criss-crossing the sky. Just the odd, solitary dog-walker.
And snoring, there's some snoring...

Mrs no probs re the vouchers. If anyone else would like the Matalan codes let me know. I'll not use them before the go out of date.

I wish I was green fingered too. But alas it's not to be.

Our health minister was on the radio there saying that they're trying to get emergency legislation through to close all shops except pharmacies and supermarkets. They need to bring this in. I saw on Fb the queue outside our local garden Center. Must have been at least 100 people.

I also had a roast chicken yesterday. With the left overs I'll make a chicken curry today.

I'm not green fingered either. I hate dirt and worms

Wreck Work are currently sourcing as many computers as possible and adding our systems to them but they're literally giving them out as soon as they're ready so none spare for me right now otherwise I'm sure my manager would be happy to deliver one.

puss our street is noisier than usual. Apart from the couple next door and the wife in one other house, our street is full of working couples so it's usually empty during weekdays (there are only 10 houses).
Today you can hear gates clicking, dogs barking, kids playing, all sorts. Very odd, feels like a weekend.

Neros that would be lock down rules wouldn't it? I'm assuming they're going to have to put that in place here soon because people aren't listening at all.

I have a little story to brighten the day though (for my family anyway). DNephew isn't able to have his physio at the mo as niece has a temp so they all have to self isolate.
His lovely physio has made a load of videos showing her doing the physio with what we presume is her own child and sent them to Dsis so she can continue even if the service is switched off. So sweet of her, I'm sure she didn't have to do that, and she's given Dsis her email so she can ask questions if needed.

We have also just done a virtual house viewing - the current owner of the house walked around on a FaceTime call showing us the house and close ups of anything we wanted to see. Very helpful chap 😊

I am resting my hip after doing some gentle yoga so more cross stitch for me. It's coming on loads now!

That's so lovely of the therapist, Crazy.

It's interesting to see how many people have moved online. We've done a history/craft class this morning making Roman brooches, and a superhero party this afternoon. The latter asked for donations via PayPal, so he can keep paying his bills, but not compulsory. I think it's a great way to try and keep small businesses going.

I also think non-food shops need to do online orders for collection (where you don't need to get out of your car), or delivery only. That way they'll retain some income but reduce exposure. I totally called everyone going to B&Q last week!

Someone posted a photo of the big Tesco in our city yesterday morning, when people were waiting for the 'vulnerable' hour. There must have been at least a hundred people there, all packed ridiculously close together, and it's inside a big shopping centre. Absolutely insane!

DH is classed as "vulnerable" but refuses to go in the special hours as he thinks it will be busier then . We'll find out tomorrow morning, I suppose.
I've also got to collect his prescription from the Docs. It's a huge poly-clinic with a dentist, pharmacy and cafe (?) as well as all the usual phlebotomy, chiropody, physio etc although last time I went to the physio she was more psycho

Boots the quiet this morning meant I could hear (and then see) 4 red kites circling overhead. Beautiful cloudless blue skies today - only interrupted by the road gang that arrived this afternoon to connect up the lighting column across the road that they installed last autumn. They discovered today the electricity was on this side of the road 🤦🏻‍♀️ and dug up the end of my drive. Excellent for the members of the family that are working from home.

Woolly how lovely of them to dig so industriously I take it they did it as quietly as possible?
We don't get anything as exotic as red kites. Just garden birds, crows, magpies and the odd heron although I've seen some enormous tits on the cycle path who believe social distancing doesn't apply to them. Arses.
I sat outside and dried the remnant of my hair in the sun earlier. By the time I'm happy with the length it'll be too cold to do that.

We get lots of red kites, buzzards, sparrow hawks and barn owls.

I've decided home schooling isn't for me. Nor is working from home. I've eaten loads and the dc have driven me mad.

We are a red kite hot spot Boots. The most I've seen is 14 pairs circling over trees in the local country park. The cynic in me suspected that this morning's birds were on the lookout for someone's pet bunny left undefended in the back garden

DS has had a productive day working through his remote learning - the best bit for him was his music homework which was to do with his favourite group (Queen).

DD1 was busy setting work for her classes and DD2 is just biding time until she can go to her PT supermarket job. She was washing cars today. I suggested she spent her free time learning either BSL or Makaton as an extra skill for when she qualifies as a primary school teacher.

Hegarty maths hasn't been working due to the huge volume of people trying to use it, we have about 4 kites this way Woolly, lovely birds

I'm hoping my Mum gets a letter to say she needs to isolate, I would hope having a Pulmonary embolism about 4/5 years ago puts her in the high risk section.

Blimey.
Even Boris gulped half way through his address...

That was properly scary. Like a scene from a disaster film.