Friday Five!

Hi everyone!

• Tricky week around the household - I posted last week that my grandma was taken into hospital and my sister called me late Sunday night to let me know that she passed. It was 100% on her terms and she was VERY clear about what she wanted but still tough to lose her as we were really close & I can't be with my family just now.
• Still, all of the support I got really warmed my heart and made me feel so grateful for my friends, fam & colleagues on both sides of the pond. I've been off work on compassionate leave all week & my manager & colleagues have been so supportive and there's been absolutely no pressure for me to come back. Plus they sent through a card and gorgeous roses, which have really brightened up a decidedly grey couple of days. Really glad I found such a fab place to work.
• Birthday is coming up so I've been putting together a list that my mom and sister described as 'very lame'. Lots of outdoors/hiking gear since I've really been missing the hills and can't wait to get back out and explore them!
• MIL is coming back to Scotland from Germany in a couple of weeks. My husband is desperate to drive down and stay at her place in Glasgow (also so we can visit our niece). I definitely have some anxieties about traveling that far (about 4 hours) but we'll see what the next couple of weeks brings. It would be really nice to see them but we're so safely isolated up here!
• Our fav pub in town has finally started offering deliveries & added some yummy sounding new things to their menu (including all things buffalo chicken!!!) so that'll be our Friday night lockdown takeaway tonight.

It's been an amazing week!

1. My very good friend helped me out with getting a card for our anniversary this weekend and she picked us up some fresh bread and two packets of salami. And she even got us a card!! Love her to bits.

2. I've moved to Flexible Furlough which means I work x3 ( hour days and have two days on Furlough. So today is a furlough day! A three day weekend to celebrate our anniversary this weekend!

3. I bought some new face products from Boots to try, hoping they arrive tomorrow! I've got some fine lines now and I've been wanting some new products to try and help with them.

4. I get to watch Hamilton this weekend!!! I posted how I wanted to watch and an old co-worker and my brother have hooked me up. Hamilton tomorrow and then I can watch all the Disney and National Geographic I want.

5. Oh, my Tax Refund from HMRC showed up in my account on Monday so I can buy some yarn! YAY!!!

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

• Birthday is coming up so I've been putting together a list that my mom and sister described as 'very lame'. Lots of outdoors/hiking gear since I've really been missing the hills and can't wait to get back out and explore them!

Happy early birthday to a fellow July Baby!!! Mine's at the end of the month.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Happy early birthday to a fellow July Baby!!! Mine's at the end of the month.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Woohoo! Happy early birthday to you too 🎉

Also your post reminded me about Hamilton!! Can’t wait to watch it.

I got my HMRC refund this week too. Love free money!!

Woohoo! Happy early birthday to you too

Also your post reminded me about Hamilton!! Can’t wait to watch it.

I got my HMRC refund this week too. Love free money!!

Lots of similar good news! (Free money is awesome, my husband got a huge chunk back, which is helpful in these stressful times).

I'm so excited to see Lin! And my husband will be seeing it for the first time.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

I'm so sorry for your loss elee, I'm glad your family and friends are being supportive! I hope you get lots of items from your birthday list.

I don't have 5, but I'm really looking forward to the Hamilton movie too. My friend's little brother Neil has been sharing memories about how to be a "swing" on Broadway for that show on Instagram, and I think he may be in the movie which is exciting!

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Sorry for your loss, elee .

But Happy July Birthdays to you and lyonaria .

My Friday Five:

1. I'm on Day 9 of my 14-day post-Ascension quarantine. It's been nice having some time off, but I haven't been feeling great... I'm getting neckache and headaches from bad pillows (no idea where the good pillow I bought and left at my parents' house went!) and I'm already fed up of not being able to get out and about, which is making me feel a bit depressed - nothing new to everyone here, I'm sure, but I'm a few months behind you all when it comes to quarantine/lockdown!

2. Of course, now it looks like Ascension will probably be on the government list of low risk countries from which travellers will not have to quarantine... which means that if only they had announced the list a week or so earlier, I likely would not have had to quarantine at all

3. Back to work (from home) next week - hoping I can easily adjust to the new way of working from home, since I will be forecasting for Lincolnshire and briefing pilots from Bristol!

4. I signed up for Disney+ today so I could finally see Hamilton... I think £5.99 for a month's subscription is a small price to pay to see it, given how much it would have cost to actually get tickets for the show. Can't wait to watch later

5. And a random 5th one: Papa Johns have added back one of my favourite limited edition pizzas... so I know what I will be ordering when I get back up to Lincoln after quarantine

Happy Friday!

1.  took a notion for a pancake this morning, so hit the bakery on my way to work.  Hard to beat a buttered scotch pancake!

2.  tonight is Ian Prowse (of Pele & Amsterdam) final live lockdown show on Facebook.  I'm going to miss him, as his shows have become the highlight of my weekends over the last few months.  Nevermind, we're going to see him in Liverpool in December, all being well.  The hound will stay at Greycations (a greyhound home boarding service) while we're in the 'Pool for that weekend. 

3. Today it becomes compulsory (in Scotland) to wear a face covering in a shop and on public transport.  Hope I don't forget!   

4.  We've got a table booked (2 hour time-slot, with a £25 deposit) in a favourite pub for next Friday.  Pubs are going to be weird for a while.

5.  A bit random, but I was just thinking about a conversation I had with someone yesterday:  I don't like it when people say my dog is a rescue.  He's not a rescue... he's a retired racer, and there is a difference!

Oooh... be safe, but I hope you have a fabulous night to the pub next week!  Do they say what precautions they will be putting in?

My five (for the first time in ages...

1.  We have booked a tree man in for the 18th.  We'll lose a couple of dead trees and possibly have some limbs removed from others.  This is in preparation for...

2.  We're getting a new roof on the stables-cum-workshop!  My husband has 2/3 of our savings, and I have the other 1/3... this roof is going to take half of my savings.  But it will be a forever-roof, unlike the sagging/leaking bitumen roof that was originally put up there.  I'm so looking forward to not having to protect my tools from rain and ultimately rust.

3.  My husband got the call from work that he will need to go back part time (at full wage) when shielding is set to end soon.  He was given the choice of M-F for half-days, or just the weekend for full 9-hour days.  He opted for the weekends.  So if they agree with his choice (it's based on demand from other staff and what they're needs are at the agency), he'll go in on Saturdays and Sundays, then have five days off.  We never stopped isolating from one another so nothing will change at home, except I won't be able to yell across the house at him for two days a week.  And if it's sunny, we won't have happy garden time together.  Still, it's only 2 days a week.

4.  I'm in my fifth decade of life, and I finally encountered a rotten egg.  Like, crack-EXPLODE-aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh*cry*! rotten.  I was told by my home-ec teacher in 7th grade that you should always crack each egg into a separate vessel, then pour it into the rest of the ingredients, just in case... I did this religiously for pretty nearly my whole life, but I got lazy in the last few years because in, all this time, I'd never had a bad egg.  Until now.  Fortunately, I was making scrambled eggs, so "the rest of the ingredients" was just a few other eggs.  But I had to throw out the lot, and that sucked.

5.  I've been worried about my uncle (who has a condition that makes him vulnerable if he gets sick) staying safe from Covid while my aunt was still working full time.  She worked her last day on Wednesday, and is now officially retired.  I've talked with them about their precautions, and I'm feeling very good about his health, now.  One less worry. 

Oh yum,  a scotch pancake Albatross!

JFKimberly, Rotten eggs are the WORST. 

Happy Friday!

1.) Ordered more beer making ingredients. Coffee Porter, Canadian Brown Ale, American Pale Ale, and 60 Minute Session IPA 

2.) Had awesome lunch of falafel, pitta, salad and curried carrot soup. I like working from home lunches! 

3.) My husband found a gorgeous house online for sale that he fell in love with (takes a lot for him  to love a house,being an architectural technologist) and it is so drool worthy.  We could just about swing it, maybe, but would need to cut back all other areas of spending, so would have a gorgeous house, but not much fun in life.  Ahhh well, just need a lottery win and we can buy whatever houses we want. 

4.)  Afternoon slump. More coffee needed. 

5.)  Hoping for some decent weather this weekend.  Looking decent. We'll see!! 

Oooh... be safe, but I hope you have a fabulous night to the pub next week!  Do they say what precautions they will be putting in?

The only thing I'm aware of is that they are limiting the amount of people who can come in, hence the booking of tables.  And you're only allowed to come in for max 2 hours, then they give the place a good cleaning for the next lot of people who are booked for the next 2 hour slot. 
This place has always been contactless... they've never accepted cash, so that won't change.
Not sure if it will be table service rather than queueing at the bar, but that seems to be what most places are doing, so im expecting it.

After our 2 hour slot, we will walk over to our friends' house and sit in their garden with a few cans for another couple of hours, but then I need to get home for Jimmy.

Aww, I hope it's a great night out socializing (safely, obviously)!  It's going to be rather wonderful when this is all over with and we've got immunity and can just exist again.

PB, I'm looking for that lottery win, too.  We already have the house, but we need to make all the improvements, and then, ideally, not have any mortgage or other debt, so we can just enjoy life a bit.  I've paid my dues, haven't I?  (No... I really haven't...   )

This has been... A week.

1. Last weekend we had a virtual family reunion which was nice on zoom. I was bullied by the family members who didn't want to click a link or dial into a call and input a meeting number, but for the people who did join it made me smile. They all live across the US  so there were 4 time zones represented, it's not like we saw each other frequently, so hopefully we can do a few more and the anti technology folks will change their minds.

2. I think I encountered a Russian bot in our local town group. They kept posting outdated conspiracy type things for Covid-19, and then getting really weird when you stopped replying to them. I have heard they are around on public pages, but it was surprising to see in a private group for our town.

3. I saw the foot specialist this week. They aren't actually sure I broke my foot, I may have torn a tendon. By doing literally nothing, I was sitting down. And because they were treating me for a possible broken foot I wasn't in the appropriate brace until I went to A&E 3 weeks ago and basically demanded a boot because of the amount of pain I was in. So they ordered an MRI because the xrays were all inconclusive and can't show soft tissue.

4. I had the MRI today. The staff were all great, but the other person in the waiting room wasn't wearing a mask! That's 2 medical places this week where people weren't actually wearing masks. I had an asthma attack because they wouldn't let me wear my charcoal filter mask in the MRI room, so that was fun. But made it through and hopefully will have some answers and a treatment plan soon. I couldn't believe how fast it was, and she said their contract with the NHS says they have to schedule it within 7 days! In the US the fastest I ever had a non emergency MRI was about 3 weeks.

5. There is community transmission of covid going on in our town, and the employees of the place where its happening felt they had to anonymously report it because the management was doing nothing, and its still optional everywhere to wear face masks indoors. The news is saying the R is over 1 again already. And they're planning to reopen gyms and other fitness facilities. All while stopping shielding. Why???

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Friyay!

I have tried to Friday 5 the last few weeks but something has happened and my posts never were finished before posting.  So a new try.

1.  New job is going well.  All a bit daunting trying to figure out where I fit in a big corporate structure again.  I'm basically a deputy FD now (two of us, we are both brand new).  It seems like I'm just a go between for everyone.  I'm sure I'll find my footing in time.  Spoke to my counterpart today and I think I have a lot more figured out than him, but who knows!

2.  My daughter's last day of school is Thursday.  I'm sooooo glad we chose to have her return.  It's been soooooo good for her.  They follow social distancing at school and the kids "get" it and it's been just such a great experience for her to be back around her friends and teachers.  I know the teachers are BROKEN at this point though (had a governors call yesterday).  What teachers have endured during this lockdown is astounding.  And they've done it all for the love of our children.  I just don't even know what I can do to express my gratitude.

3.  The allotment is almost cleared of all the weeds.  Just another few hours of work and it'll all be weed free!  We will mix in manuer and then immediately covering the entire plot with a weed control tarp.  We will cut out beds as we move along.

4.  Trip to the garden centre tomorrow to pick out seeds to start seedlings going at home.  We are all so excited.  The kids are LOVING the allotment more than we could have imagined.

5.  Our planning application closed for comments yesterday and there was only one from the local parishioner saying they are happy with the design and it's fitting for the area.  We will hopefully receive an approval within the next 4 weeks!  I'm hoping we can break ground early 2021 and have it ready to enjoy for the summer next year! 

My Friday Five:

1. I’m finally out of quarantine after returning from Ascension... I’m free!

2. I made my first trip to Tesco yesterday, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be (they’ve relaxed things a little and it was quiet at the time).

3. I’ve been working from home for the first time this week... it’s been interesting . I’ve been doubled up with the trainee who is learning the job from home... it’s all a bit odd, especially briefing the pilots via Skype from my parents house!

4. My parents and I drove up to my house this evening... the garden is an overgrown mess after having not been tended to in 6 months! Looks like we’ll be spending the weekend weeding and mowing and trimming

5. I watched the new Babysitter’s Club series on Netflix the other day... it brought back so many memories from my childhood - a feel-good show which does a really good job of modernising for today’s social climate while still keeping the 80s nostalgia


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk