Friday Five!

Late to the party!

1.  Enjoying having Fridays off (only until Feb/March)!

2.  Off to pickup kitten #2 tomorrow.

3.  Not looking forward to the drive (2 hours each way) and anxious about how the two will get on, but I love to have something to worry about.

4.  Builder starts Monday.  I can’t think about it!   

5.  Desperate to book a holiday.  I love something to look forward to.  And for me, that’s doing.  The house is not my thing.  But….  I’m fiscally conservative and I don’t want to spend when there are so many unknowns with the build….  So what’s a girl to do?  Sounds awful, but next year will mostly be about my parents 50th anniversary- as it should be - but selfishly, I want a holiday where we can do US as a family.  And NOT a motorhome or caravan where we have to build our house and empty our toilet.

5.  Desperate to book a holiday.  I love something to look forward to.  And for me, that’s doing.  The house is not my thing.  But….  I’m fiscally conservative and I don’t want to spend when there are so many unknowns with the build….  So what’s a girl to do?  Sounds awful, but next year will mostly be about my parents 50th anniversary- as it should be - but selfishly, I want a holiday where we can do US as a family.  And NOT a motorhome or caravan where we have to build our house and empty our toilet.

Man.  I didn't mind so much before the pandemic that the only trips I've been on since moving to the UK were a couple of long weekend get-aways and two camping holidays around Wales and the Lake District since February 2013.  But since the pandemic, when I realize I might never be able to safely travel again, I feel so grateful for all my solo travel before I met my husband.  He's a homebody (to be fair, I think he just has a fear of change--even temporary change--so doesn't really like to travel), so he's perfectly content, now.  But sometimes I catch myself mentally re-visiting places I visited in the Before Times, and I go on Google Earth trips a lot.  (The nice thing about Google Earth trips is I can virtually visit places I would never go to in real life.  The frustrating thing is I can only look around; so I don't really get a feel for the culture.)

All of that to say: I understand.  When you do get to go, have a little thought for me.  These days, a trip to the bottle recycling bank feels like an adventure.

The frustrating thing is I can only look around; so I don't really get a feel for the culture.)

Not sure if you've ever tried it, but on Youtube you can usually find people walking around different cities. I like to watch people walking around Japan (guy called ramblac as he doesn't give commentary, just walks and takes in the atmosphere on the streets unlike some others). If you just type in 4k Walking + ::city/country name:: I would guess there would be somebody posting a video on it. Can feel a biiiit more culturally immersive (still has its limitations, obvs). I've watched ones recommended for me for Korea as well with street food markets and recently had london and New York recommended (but I'm less interested in either of those lol). If you've not tried that yet, I do recommend! Though it might make wanderlust worse.

As we have the drops, i will try giving it a go again for another day or two. Just SO incredibly frustrating.

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  As you know, I am not a doctor and don't trust my advice!  BUT, I have one of those bulb type ear syringes and use it all the time to blast out some horrendous globs of wax.  You might fear that you'll do some harm to the delicate inner ear, but if you've ever had someone shove  a water pic going full blast in your ear then this is nothing.  I never mess arount with oil or any of that junk, just 30 seconds with this and Bob's your uncle for another 6 months.

Man.  I didn't mind so much before the pandemic that the only trips I've been on since moving to the UK were a couple of long weekend get-aways and two camping holidays around Wales and the Lake District since February 2013.  But since the pandemic, when I realize I might never be able to safely travel again, I feel so grateful for all my solo travel before I met my husband.  He's a homebody (to be fair, I think he just has a fear of change--even temporary change--so doesn't really like to travel), so he's perfectly content, now.  But sometimes I catch myself mentally re-visiting places I visited in the Before Times, and I go on Google Earth trips a lot.  (The nice thing about Google Earth trips is I can virtually visit places I would never go to in real life.  The frustrating thing is I can only look around; so I don't really get a feel for the culture.)

All of that to say: I understand.  When you do get to go, have a little thought for me.  These days, a trip to the bottle recycling bank feels like an adventure.

  You really should look into a an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset.  You can walk or fly in Google Earth and it is amazing!  The specialized 360 movies are free and even better, but nothing beats Google Earth for variety.  Not to mention Beat Saber would be endless fun and fitness for you.    The only bad thing is that it's now some kind of meta crap with evil Mark Z spoliing all the fun with wanting to steal your soul. 

  You really should look into a an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset.  You can walk or fly in Google Earth and it is amazing!  The specialized 360 movies are free and even better, but nothing beats Google Earth for variety.  Not to mention Beat Saber would be endless fun and fitness for you.    The only bad thing is that it's now some kind of meta crap with evil Mark Z spoliing all the fun with wanting to steal your soul.

You can do it on the Quest 1 as well I believe (I'm borrowing my friends and I saw it pop up). Not tried it yet myself though!

Or this one  https://powerkiteshop.com/peter-lynn-uniq-play.htm?gclid=CjwKCAiAnO2MBhApEiwA8q0HYfC7Sxv7AIbMPR_pHfoP-VLWxV_j8aAe1l--wiE2htU5ht1Z1LpVbhoCuUUQAvD_BwE

 Happy Friday! Happy Thanksgiving Friday!

1.) Off for a haircut shortly. First time in……five…..years….and I’m still dreading it. It needs it so bad, but I just really don’t like going to hairdressers. Touching my head, drips down my scalp, horrible chit chat.   

2.) Have a blueberry wheat beer fermenting away.  Bottling up the Mexican lager tonight.   

3.) Snow this weekend. And playing my first brass band Xmas gig of the year. Outside.

4.)  Always a need for more coffee. 

5.) Called some family yesterday. That was nice.I miss them all so much! 

Hope everyone who celebrates it had a good Thanksgiving yesterday

My Friday Five:

1. It's been a bit of a week! I ordered a new TV on Sunday, which I had to drive 30 miles to Grantham on Tuesday to collect (it wasn't available for delivery and is out of stock at my local store). All went fine until I got it home and realised it was probably too heavy for me to lift onto my TV stand (which is too small for the TV!). I just about managed it but as I was sorting out the cables at the back it tilted over and almost crashed to the floor... luckily, I was able to rescue it halfway down.

2. Went into work Tuesday night only to discover that my laptop wouldn't turn on... at all. After about an hour on the phone with Service Desk and trying all sorts of things to get it to work, they decided it must be a fault with the battery. For some reason the spare laptop doesn't have Citrix on it (which I need to access in order to do my work) and it wouldn't let me install it, so I had to ask my colleague to leave her laptop so I could log in. I eventually got into my laptop (by leaving it to charge for a while and trying again), so when air traffic closed, I kept it on and went home to finish the shift. But when I got home and plugged it into the monitor, it froze and I had to reboot and then couldn't get it back on again. After 45 min of trying, I had to drive back into work again at 11pm and work the rest of the shift in the office instead of my living room (which meant taking my break in a reclining chair instead of my bed)... it was not a fun shift.

3. I was able to get the laptop turned back on again when I got home Wednesday morning and I left it on all day so that it would be working for my Wednesday night shift. I still had to go back into work that evening though, so asked my colleague to leave her laptop again as I didn't want to risk mine not working if I moved it (which was another stress because she was being weird about her laptop and didn't want to let me use it). Luckily, work sent me a new laptop which was delivered yesterday morning so I'm sorted now.

4. My trip to Disneyland Paris is in 2 weeks, but with the rising cases in Europe, plus the new variant, I'm feeling a bit uneasy about going. I have until 7 days before the trip to either change the booking free of charge or get a full refund (which will be next Sunday), but I can't decide whether to just cancel now anyway or wait it out and see.

5. I got my dates for going back to Ascension next year... I leave early March and will be there for 4 months... bring on the hot weather and sunshine

PB - Blueberry wheat beer sounds amazing! Snow....does not... LOL

Ksand - ah that really sucks about the Disney trip. You have to make the right decision for you though

I don't think mine is that eventful this week....

1. Got most of my Christmas shopping done as of right now. Happy days. Really not a fan of going into shops so doing as much online as humanly possible. Just one brother in law left and then some bits for my husband.

2. The beer I brewed with a brewery is properly out - on untappd and everything (rating is 3.75, which i'll take given it won't be everybody's cup of tea). SUPER cool seeing something I made being promoted by a brewery/taproom and on a physical app!

3. It's my birthday on Monday and my husband has said he's actually making me a cake! I don't really think he's ever made me a cake properly for my birthday...No idea what to expect but I'm excited. Going to have that Sunday probably.

4. I'm making thanksgiving for the two of us tomorrow. I have to go up to the shop today to get the rest of the pie ingredients and some bits and bobs for things like gravy. Going to probably make the pie crust tonight, we'll see.

5. Don't really have a 5th thing to say but....It's payday! yay! (surely that's a happy thing to shout about LOL). Job going well. Everything is overall well (ear still annoyingly clogged and my sore throat is back so imagine it is just congestion...i'm trying ear drops for the next week according to drs advice).

PB, I feel you with the trip to the hairdressers.  Hopefully, it'll be a quick job and they'll listen to your requests.

Ksand, I have been having similar power issues with my Dell laptop.  It started refusing to power on occasionally about two years ago, then went through a long period of working, but it now needs to be kept on and plugged in all the time (except for the brief minute or so each time I move it from one room to the next, when it's running on the battery) because it's at the end of its life.  But I bought it in 2015, so it's not done too badly.

KoD, congrats on the beer!  We're doing Thanksgiving for two tomorrow, too... and I've got my pie crust chilling in the 'fridge for tomorrow.

My five:

1.  For a girl who proudly boasts that she doesn't do mornings, I've been rather productive in the mornings lately.  I don't know who I am, anymore.

2.  Bread this week is going to be a white bloomer, half poppy-seeded, half plain top.  It's in its final prove now.

3.  I've found a guitar practice slot in my days (love those productive mornings, man...!), and now my fretting fingers hurt.  I'm building them back up, and my progress is noticeable,  so worth it.

4.  I was putting dishes away after doing the washing up a few days ago, trudging up and down the hall carrying each big cast iron thing, when I once again noticed that I could do this again, and it made me so happy.  No more 24/7 oxygen, no more feeling like I'm moving through quicksand... I'm back!

5.  When I was in preschool, my class went on a field trip to a cider mill.  My mother (who chaperoned most of my early field trips because my school/teachers wouldn't take the risk if I had problems) bought a slice of pumpkin pie, and I ended up eating most of it.  Every time I would try pumpkin pie after that, I didn't like it.  I didn't like anything pumpkin flavoured (pumpkin bread, etc).  But I was pretty sure my husband would like pumpkin pie, and I wanted to see if I was right.  So two years ago, I made a pumpkin pie... and I liked it.  I mean, we both liked it... I was right about him.  But I liked it!  It reminded me of the one I devoured when I was in preschool.  So tomorrow I'm making a pumpkin pie again.  And I'm really hopeful.


Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope your things to be thankful for outnumber your troubles.

KoD, congrats on the beer!  We're doing Thanksgiving for two tomorrow, too... and I've got my pie crust chilling in the 'fridge for tomorrow.

Thank you!

Making the crust is super stressful as well as I don't have any of those bead/marble things you're meant to put in when you make a pie crust LOL

So pleased you're not on 24/7 oxygen and you're back to feeling like yourself I'm sure you probably said this in other posts but been away from the forum for so long, are you and your husband still having to stay apart or are you able to actually resume being close to each other as of yet? (fingers crossed)

Really glad you're feeling better JFKimberly. Congrats in the beer KoD! And stay warm PB, looks like a big storm up north this weekend

1. I have been busy trying to make knit/crochet patterns that I can finish quickly enough to make the finished objects worth selling. That is definitely the hardest part of crafting with a chronic illness. But I've made 2 so far, and husband gave me a loan so I can get more yarn and finish opening a shop on Folksy.  Here's hoping people like what I have to sell.

2. Husbands birthday was Wednesday, so we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving and just did his birthday meal. I miss having the energy to cook more than one day in a week. But it was tasty!

3. He is off to see his family this weekend so it will be very quiet here. I still think he should have waited until next weekend, or gone the previous week based on #4 but his choice.

4. We went to see the Horne Section in Reading on Monday and I am still hoping it wasn't a too dangerous choice. We laughed so hard and it was very much needed, and most of the crowd wore masks thankfully. It was our first time out in almost 2 years.

5. Health has been frustrating because something is wrong, but they haven't even done any blood tests since March. Neurologist doesn't think its the cancer GP suspected which is good, but also means all tests he ordered are low priority so another few months of waiting. Being stuck in a holding pattern indefinitely when you feel quite awful is just not fun. Hoping the craft shop does well enough for me to be able to afford some private care next year.

Horne section as in Alex Horne?? nice!

Fingers crossed on the medical stuff!

Friyay!

1.  House demo has moved on well, bar one bit of paperwork with the council (sorted today) but did mean concrete wasn’t able to be poured today.  And brickes were booked for next week but now bumped.

2.  Kittens are settling really well and loads of fun.  They were caught cuddling today!

3.  I’ve been learning to crochet and really love the groups of ladies.  Different each time but everyone is lovely just the same.

4.  Friendsgiving tomorrow.  Looking forward to it!  Always a bummer to not be with family but I don’t think my family were necessarily lovey dovey in the USA.  We are supposed to do a family holiday together for my parents 50th next year and I don’t know if I can do it.    

5.  Tempted to book a NICE holiday for June half term.  Suspect I will before the weekend is out!   

5.