Me on a Monday - 29 March 2021

Phew!!  What a weeks it's been.  I've been so busy, the days have flown by.  It's the end of the financial year and I seem to have been up to my eyes in invoices.  Added to that, the office had to be cleared of all furniture as the floor is being fixed and a new carpet going in.  Thankfully we have slowly been moving things out over the last three weeks so there was only one desk left to move on Friday.

The office I was working from was starting to get a little cramped but it did have a nice view of the garden and it was fun watching the children doing an Easter egg hunt.

Last week also saw the 1st anniversary of Lockdown, and to celebrate the school decorated a tree at the front of the school with rainbows.  I had a go too, and had great fun doing zentangle for the first time.

On Saturday I had a call from the hospital where I'd had my first vaccine.  They wanted to bring my appointment forward by two weeks and who was I to say no?  I'm now going on Monday 29th March.

We also had the seating plan for my father-in-law's funeral.  We can only have 30 people and can only be seated every other pew.  Poor Auntie J (who is in her 80s) is right at the back by herself.  It will be an odd experience for sure.  I'm not even sure when we'll get to see hubby's mum.  The good news is that 6 people can meet outside, in a public area (socially distanced of course) from Monday 29th so that will make it easier to speak to people.

It's was such a busy week I only did two rows of crochet.  This blanket will take forever at this rate.

That's all for now.   Take care & stay safe.

TTFN.

Me on a Monday - Part 2 - 24 March 2021

In between all the sad new last week, life went on.

We all went to work.  

The shopping was done, as was the laundry.  

I spent time listening, whilst hubby's mum talked about his dad. 

I did my COVID tests for work. 

I finished a course of antibiotics, for what the Dr thought was a sinus infection although I still think it was a  tooth problem as I could barely eat for a few days (it's now settled down so I don't really know what it was).

Hubby went for his first COVID vaccine and came back telling me he'd had the "clot one"!!

We wore red on Friday for Comic Relief and the children had a great time.

I completed the 2021 Census.

This week coming is the last week of term.  It will probably be busy as it's also the end of the financial year so lots to do for that.

Then it's two weeks off.  Two weeks when we would normally be in Yorkshire for a week, going out for day trips or meeting friends for coffee.  This time we're still under restrictions and can't go anywhere.  

On a positive note though, we should be able to go and see friends in Scotland in August.  The government have said that restrictions should be lifted by 21 June and we will all have had our second vaccination by then.  I really hope it works out as I'm in real need of their company.  It's been too long.

Stay safe out there.

TTFN.

Me on a Monday - 22 March 2021

Last week was an awful week.  Full of sadness and sorrow.  We had the phone call everyone dreads.  The one that says you have lost a loved one.  Hubby's sister called to say that their dad had passed away very suddenly.  It was awful.  

With everything that's going on we're just waiting to hear if we can go to the funeral.  If we can go, we can't hug anyone or go to their house after the service, there is no wake and no way to comfort those you love.

A few days after that call I heard that a friends sister had collapsed, hadn't regained consciousness and had died the same day as hubby's dad.  She was only in her 50s.

Then on Thursday one of the ladies at work heard that her father had died very suddenly too.   She had only seen him the night before and had been talking about holidays.  Her husband came to work to get her, and it was just so distressing.

All in all a horrible week.

A Quick Question (or two)

Why do some people think it's wrong that your 24 year old is still living at home?    I have plenty of friends whose kids still live with them.  Do they get asked the same questions?                                    

Why do some people think it's OK to comment "Oh!  He's still at home"? "Didn't he go to University"?  Yes he is and No, not everyone wants to go to Uni.

Why in these uncertain times would we "kick him out"?

Here's the lay of the land.

He's saving like mad to buy his own place as he doesn't want to rent.  How is he supposed to do that when house prices are so high and you need a 10% deposit as a first time buyer?  

He has a good job but doesn't want to stay in this area.  He started looking for another position but then we had a global pandemic so was happy to stay put for now.

We hardly see him,  He has a great social life and circle of friends both here, in Scotland and in the USA. (Although we've seen a bit more of him since lockdown started!!)

He's a great housesitter when we go away for the weekend.  Not that we've done much of that recently.

He pays his way.

Why then, is it "Wrong" for him to still be at home?  

How old were your kids when they left home? (not counting those in the USA that go to college straight after High School).

Me on a Monday - 15 March 2021

Well that was a quick week.  You can tell that things are almost "Back to normal" by how quickly the time goes.

The main topic of news this week has been the interview Harry & Megan did with Oprah.  I didn't watch it and the only clips I've seen are those on the news.  There are always two sides to any problem and as we have only heard one side, I can't comment.  I will say, however, that I feel they have gone about it the wrong way by doing an interview that would go out Worldwide.  I thought they wanted a quiet life?  This, it would seem, is not the way to achieve that.  Did any of you watch it?

For the last few days I've had, what I thought was toothache and after a trip to the dentist (which almost felt like a normal thing to do) it turns out that everything is sound and my teeth are OK.  One explanation is that the is pain caused by sinusitis.  This can happen due to seasonal allergies and as it's heading towards hayfever season it might be that.  It could also be an inflammation of the sinus so I'm taking ibuprofen and paracetamol and it seems to be working.  It's still niggling but not as bad as before.

The men folk were busy this weekend, fixing the fence panels between us and our neighbour.  We'd had really bad winds for a few days during the week and the old concrete post finally gave in and toppled over.  Luckily fence panel missed our neighbours window and didn't cause any damage.

Here, in the UK, it was Mother's Day on Sunday and I spent it doing exactly the same things I do every other Sunday.  There are plans in place though, for a nice meal out, once lockdown has finished.

I hope you all had a good week.

TTFN.

Gnocchi with Spinach, Pancetta and Parmesan Cream

 

Gnocchi with Spinach, Pancetta & Parmesan Cream

Total time 15 mins                                  Serves 4

Ingredients

500g pack gnocchi (we used gnocchi with a cream cheese and pesto stuffing)

1 garlic clove, sliced.

1 tbsp olive oil

100ml double cream

Glug of white wine - Optional (Hubby didn't measure it out so I don't have an amount)

Freshly grated nutmeg

130g pack smoked pancetta cubes.

100g spinach

zest ½ lemon

25g parmesan, grated, plus extra for serving.

25g toasted pine nut

Method

Step 1.  Cook the gnocchi following pack instructions, then drain. Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp of the oil in a small pan and fry the garlic, then add the cream and a good grating of nutmeg. Put to one side.

Step 2.  Heat 2 tsp of the remaining oil in a frying pan and cook the pancetta until crisp. Add the gnocchi and fry until it starts to turn golden, adding a little more oil if it begins to stick. Stir in the spinach, lemon zest and seasoning.

Step 3.  Stir the Parmesan into the cream sauce. Spoon the gnocchi onto plates, drizzle over the sauce and scatter with pine nuts. Serve with extra Parmesan.

Me on a Monday - 8 March 2021

 Another week down.  Three to go until the Easter Holidays (or Spring Break as they've taken to calling it).

Not a bad week all told.  Mrs W was off for a few days with a twisted ankle which left me running the office.  Thankfully we are a great team so I had lots of helpers. I did have a bit of a wobble about certain things going on at work on Thursday, but a hug when I got home, a very large homemade pizza and a glass of wine for dinner and a chat about things, at work the next day and all is well in the world.

Tired of eating what seems to be the same meals week after week, Hubby rustled up a delicious gnocchi recipe.  It was to die for. (Recipe to follow).  Later in the week, I made dinner (I know, me!  the one who doesn't cook), and made chicken chow mein.  Hubby ate it, so it can't have been that bad.

My advanced crochet project it on hold for the foreseeable future as I just can't get it to go right.  After unpicking it another three times I put it to one side and started something else.  There are only so many times you go over the same bit of pattern.  My new project is a rainbow Hugs & Kisses blanket.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with it once it's finished but I liked the look of it so thought I'd give it a go.

With a least another 6 1/2 weeks to go before I can get a haircut I had to colour my hair again.  I am seriously considering going grey but...........................................

1.  I don't want to grow it out naturally (hideous thought) & 

2.  I don't want to get it cut short whilst it changes colour!!  What to do?

The weather at the weekend was gloriously sunny, but very chilly.  A perfect time to tidy up the garden and move the green house.  It meant moving a few plants but it's now in a sunny spot that will be perfect for this years tomatoes and veggies. 

We had good news on Saturday, which made us all happy, so we celebrated with a take away meal from our favourite Indian restaurant and watched "A Call to Spy" on Netflix.  It was a really good film about female spies, in France, in WWII. 

And so we head into another week.  One where all our children are back in school.  I wonder what the week has in store?

TTFN.

Wise Word Wednesday

 

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook.

Wise words indeed.

Me on a Monday - 1 March 2021

I took a few days off from blog watching this week as I seemed to spend far too much time in front of a screen at work I couldn't face it in the evening too.  I'm hoping to catch up with a few blogs next week.

Work, this week saw us all changed around again.  Most of the children will be back in from Monday  1st March with the remainder coming in on the 8th.  This means that all the staff are in.  It also means that where we had three of us in one office, we now have to be split into three different rooms and swap these rooms around depending on who is on the longer day!!  Are you with me?  Basically it means that I'll do Mon - Wed in the front office and then I'll swap with Mrs W and she will cover the front on Thur & Fri. I'm hoping that by the start of the new term, in September, we will be back to the old routine.

On the home front not much has changed.  Hubby is still working from home and will do so until at least April, when they are allowing staff back into work for a few days each week.  I think the thought of travelling to work every day again is already tiring him out.

I have been trying to book my next blood donors appointment since last December, but there never seemed to be any available locally and I didn't fancy a drive through to Chester.  I kept checking every week and have now managed to get my self booked in for the 13th May.  Donation number 22 is booked and I'm ready to go.

We have had two notifications this week from the Office for National Statistics.  One telling us that the Census is happening on 21 March and another asking if our household will do a 20 minute online survey.  We get a £15 voucher for doing it so it's a no brainer.

Crochet!!  Why oh why did I try an advanced pattern?  I have unpicked it four times already this week and even after finding a great tutorial on YouTube I still couldn't get it to do what I wanted it too.  I'm thinking it's because I crochet like I knit (with the wool and hook in my right hand) and not how you're supposed to do it.  I just couldn't get to grips with the wool in my left hand.  I have now adapted the tutorial for my cack handedness and it seems to be looking better.  The bit I've done still looks like a wonky golf club but hopefully as the pattern grows it will look better.

We won the lottery again for the second time in three weeks.  Yay!!  £75.00.  Our biggest win ever.  Here's hoping that the really BIG one is next. :0)

The weather this week has been totally up and down.  We've had icy mornings and chilly winds and then this weekend we had glorious sunshine.  I'm really hoping that this means that Spring is just around the corner.

Wishing you all a warm and springlike week.

TTFN.

ETA:  This weekend I have three messages from family and friends to say that a loved one had cancer or had died.  It has not been the best news and my heart goes out to each of them.  I'm sending them love and hugs and hope that those going through treatment will be on the road to recovery soon xx