Dining Room into Office

The dining room had morphed into a 'stuff it in there, and we'll put it away properly at some point room' as well as being the space where we store items being given to charity shops. It was the place where I sewed and quilted. Now, it's the Beloved's office during the week. At this moment, it's where he is putting together a wooden model.

It has a laminate floor, and his office chair was slipping. This morning I bought a rug to prevent 'wandering chair syndrome'. I had looked online, and checked stock levels regarding a particular run in a dark mottled teal. When I saw it in the shop it was very obvious the pile was far too long for an office chair to roll over it. However, the chosen rug has colours that tone in with the curtains, and the art in the room, as well as having a suitable pile for a chair to run over it.

After 2 months working from home, we've changed the room around to reflect its new purpose. Instead of the table being in the middle of the room, it's up against a wall. It means the clutter is now at his back, and he doesn't have it in his vision all day. It also gives more space. The dog has discovered the space, and the new rug, and has decided she should spend time there.

By creating space, I can more easily get in and perpetrate decluttering. It feels good to be back to decluttering. I like restoring order. If only I could get my head around maintaining order too!

I've just realised the rug is the first non-consumable I have bought in 2 months! (I'm counting wool as consumable though - it is consumed by the knitting/crochet process, and useful items pop out of the other end.)

Picnic Time

We seem to be developing a Saturday morning routine of walking along the closed section of road on Marine Drive. It's an absolutely stunning section of coastline, and hidden for most of the journey from 'civilisation'.

Last week the sea was almost black, with white streaks on top of the rolling waves. Today it was incredibly still, and the sunshine caused the turquoises of the waters to sparkle.

As we were approaching the end of the closed section I had a sudden hankering for a picnic. Every meal we have eaten in the last two months has been in the house, and I desired a bit of al fresco dining. A picnic was just the thing. However, this was going to prove difficult as we had no food, drinks or picnic supplies.

We sat on a small headland and played 'let's pretend'. The Beloved asked for coffee (check) and a cheese and ham sandwich. Unfortunately, I'd packed cheese and pickle for him and a gf chicken wrap for me. Things got a little messy when we got to the potato salad, and coleslaw. I'd forgotten the forks! Picnics are tricky to get just right.

Back To Work On Monday

Many Manx shops will be re-opening on Monday, the shop where I work will be one of them. Lots of safety measures need to be put in place to keep the shop as safe as we can manage, whilst still allowing staff and customers inside the door! I'm a bit worried for myself, and also our customers, but hopefully, the measures put in place will keep the risks to a low level.

A door that is normally blocked off has been re-opened, allowing us to have separate doors in and out. Only two customers will be allowed in the shop at any one time. The doors will be kept locked, except when allowing customers in an out. Everyone must sanitise their hands on entry, and we are encouraging people to use contactless payment where possible.

I've posted on Facebook, and our customers are delighted. Hopefully they will be sensible and not all try to come into the shop at 10am on Monday!

Virtual Travel Blog - Day 2

(Inhales deeply) Last night's sleep was a great deal more restful than the previous night's. I'm up and raring to go. I've made some pancakes for the Beloved for when he wakes, and now I'm off to explore. As the cake, coffee and craft session is near the cathedral I'm going to head in that general direction and pootle around in the cathedral gardens until  Miju Wools opens.

A nice bit of Gothic architecture always makes me happy. Another thing that makes me happy is when people provide gluten-free nom-noms! There's lemon drizzle cake on offer this morning, along with equally glorious, but not quite so tasty yarn from the West Yorkshire Spinners.

Knitters, crocheters and crafters will always have something to chat about. We talked about various different knitting techniques, and a load of other stuff random subjects too.

Back at the apartment, The Beloved was in the middle of making bacon sandwiches. Very soon it was accompanied by a lovely pot of Earl Grey, hot, with lemon. This man knows me so well!

After lunch we had a little wander around the Quays. I don't often buy from these shops, but it's nice to see what I don't want to buy. Then, after dinner we headed to the cinema and watched the new Artemis Fowl film. It was good, but it only bore a passing resemblance to the books. This rather disappointed me.

Virtual Travel Blog

Elly's trip to the Faroe Islands has given me itchy feet. I want so much to travel, and to see Lilo and Stitch. Here's the start of my virtual travel Blog. I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible, or within the realms of what will be possible when travel between the Isle of Man and the UK returns to normal, businesses are open, and people are able to freely associate.

Self-isdolation is over, and we can travel freely again. My deepest desire is to visit Lilo and Stitch. I just want to hold my daughter in my arms, and probably have a little cry.

Last night, my Beloved surprised me with tickets to go to Gloucester. Yes, there were some tears, and then a wave of concern regarding Ava, but the Younger Offspring has decided to stay home and look after the dog. It's just going to be the Beloved and me.

I've no idea how I managed to sleep. I was so excited! The excitement lasted all the way through to getting our cabin on the ferry. We are now underway. The song of Morpheus and the gentle rocking of the boat is lulling me to sleep.

The turbines! We must be close!

Getting off the ferry is an exercise in 'hurry up and wait'. I'm ready to go, my bag is packed, and now I'm twiddling my thumbs. … We're in the car, sitting and waiting. … And off we go! I'm going to see my Stitch!

The bypass road is fantastic. It used to be all the traffic from the ferry would have to travel through Lancaster, and it took for ever! Now, there are just a few slow spots before we get onto the motorway network, and from there a clear roads southwards.

It always feels a bit strange, we're on the boat for four hours, drive for an hour, and it's lunch time. It's easiest stopping at place like Tebay, but we're heading in the wrong direction. Oh, that reminds me, there's 'Tebay of the south' at Gloucester Services. We must go there this time! When Tebay isn't available, Marks and Spencer provides a good gluten-free, chilli-free, low-dairy lunch. But last time we stopped at a Waitrose on the M6, and I bought Wild Rice and Halloumi Salad. I've bought it again today, and have remembered to pick up a fork! Clever me.

The weather has been glorious, blue skies and wispy clouds. I've discovered I can't crochet whilst in a car. The movement is too great. However, as ever in the crafting department, I have come prepared. My interchangeable needle set, and a ball of yarn was in my bag. That's most of a hat knitted.

It's great to be back on the Docks in Gloucester. The apartment in the Barge Arm feels like my holiday home. It's such a calm, relaxing place to be, a comfortable minimalism. The apartarment is in the middle of things. There's a large arts and crafts fayre happening at the weekend, and I'm so looking forward to it. Lilo and Stitch will be round soon for dinner. As it's been such a lovely day it's going to be salads, cheeses and fruit.

Oh the first hug was the very best! It's so hard being apart when bad things happen, but holding my little one in my arms release a load of tension I didn't know I was carrying. There were tears, they simply fell, but then came the laughter, and of course, the board games. Some things never change.

Time for a Holiday

On facebook two of my friends have a friend, Elly. She is the one point of overlap in their lives. I've become friends with her too. She is autistic, and her mind works in wonderfully strange ways at times.

This weekend she decided to take a trip to the Faroe Islands,  virtual tour. She planned her journey, and has blogged about the things she has 'seen and experience' on the way. It's been a fabulous piece of creative writing/travel blogging. 

I'd like to play too. On Friday I'm going to go to the Gloucester area. There will be a little bit of time travel involved as I don't want to enter a Covid-19 closed Gloucester. Instead, I want time there when I can visit Lilo and Stitch, browse around a market on the quayside, go out for dinner (definitely including the Chinese restaurant), visit craft shops, take a craft class., and join a 'coffee and craft' session. There will also be time to visit other places in the area, and maybe even take a trip to London to see the Lion King.

No IronMay This Year

With so many places around the world being in lockdown or quarantine there will be very few people who will be able to take part in the IronMay Triathlon.

Two solutions have been advanced. The first is that the triathlon can become a biathlon (running and cycling). The second is based around 17 hours, the time allowed for competitive ultra triathlons. The suggestion is to complete 17 hours of exercise in the month of May. This would workout at 32.9 minutes each day. It can be any form of exercise, walking, running, cycling, yoga, weight training.

Given the restrictions we are currently experiencing, and the lack of general energy I am suffering with, the later option sounds like the best one for me just now.

I'm going to increase my daily cycling to 10 minutes, and look into yoga on youtube.

Spring UFO Challenge

I'm taking part in a UFO quarterly quilting challenge.  To join you need to have a minimum of five UFOs. My Ducky Duck Duck Duck quilt was the one I finished last quarter, and I have a couple of quilts I wish to attack. 

Some absolute idiot decided to hand quilt the Christmas tree one!  This person needs their head examining! No more hand quilting projects until this one has been done. I can't see how the quilt will be finished in this quarter, but it can be progressed.

Whilst talking with the Beloved, I said it would be great to have it done by Christmas. "Christmas 2024!" said he.

The chevrons are the start of my Self-Isolaton Quilt.

Spring Cleaning

My sole goal for April is to spring clean the house. I'll be using the plan laid out at stain-removal-101.com This a website run by the same person who has the 365 Declutter group on facebook. 

Mondays and Tuesdays are normally my busiest days. I had planned to tailor the tasks to fit around tgis, but what with self-isolation, I now find myself unexpectedly free. 

Day 1 - clean kitchen cabinets, inside and out.

April Goals

My goals for April are:

1. Don't drive my family up the wall!

2. Extend the 'no buy Sundays' to two days a week.

3. Finish the red and purple chevron quilt top.

4. Spring clean

5. Cycle for 5 minutes each day

Last month's goals were almost all met. There was one Sunday when I bought a £1.25 treat for the dog, and she utterly loved it. To compensate for this, I managed to have a few other 'no buy' days instead. Two hats were completed, the pink 'pussy' hat, and a beautiful grey alpaca hat for the Beloved. The Ducky Duck Duck Duck quilt was also finished, and I've created a 30 day wish list. This is for non-essential items. So far, there's some new bed linens, new telephones for the house, and new shoes for me. At the end of the month I shall review it, and see if I actually need anything on the list.

Shut Up and Write Tuesday

I was really looking forward to Shut Up and Write on Saturday. It was the only social event on my calendar. We had a little think, and decided to move to three times a week instead of just the normal one.

On Monday, I watched Ocean's Eleven. Whilst I enjoyed it, there were rather a lot of plot holes regarding forensic evidence and what to do with all of that money.

In the film they stole $160 million. Just how much space does that amount of money take up? Would it be new notes or old, and if new, would they be sequential? Is a hundred and sixty million stolen dollars really worth $160M? Would you have to sell the 'dirty' notes and buy back 'clean' cash and funds?

This led me down a rabbit hole, and when I dive down rabbit holes I start learning stuff, and stories begin to come to mind.

What I have learned today is:

o £1,000,000 in £20 notes will fit into a large suitcase, and £100,000 will fit into a briefcase. 

o There is a legal requirement to declare if €10,000 is being brought onto, or off, the Island. This applies to cash, cheques and pre-loaded store cards, or tokens with monetary value. 

o Money laundering attracts a 14 year custodial sentence.

o It is illegal to hold money gained through criminal activities.

o If you suspect money of being gained through criminal activities it must be reported, and if you don't you can be imprisoned for 2 years.
o Scotland issues £100 notes, but the highest in England and Wales is £50, and it is far more usual for people to pay using £20 notes than £50. 

Cough, Cough

My asthma has been playing up over the last little couple of weeks. The number of spray disinfectants being used made it a quite a bit worse. If it had been any other time I would have been in work and would have been using my inhaler when needed. Instead, I've been at home this week on a dose of steroids. 

Today is the last day! Huzzah! I'm fine in the mornings, but by 2pm I'm like the walking dead and need to sleep for 3 hours. When I get up my brain takes a few hours to waken up. I'm so looking forward to getting a functioning afternoon brain again!

Gardening and Laundry

A friend dropped off some strawberry plants yesterday. The Ava loves them, and thinks the addition of a salad bar to the garden is awesome. Today’s task is to find a place where I can put the strawberries away from the canine snacker! 

Decluttering proper is happening in the laundry room. I’m now up to four half-used cans of paint to go out, along with various random bits and pieces. The plan had been to declutter, clean and then to tidy, but I’m now seriously considering adding painting onto the to-do list. Most of the room is tiled, so it will be a little bit of wall, a the ceiling. The room is small, and the ceiling low. It is something I could manage by myself. 

After Covid-19, I’m going to have to Belfast sink, dishwasher and washing machine removed. The washing machine is 16 years old, and is starting to make weird noises. We’ll put down some new flooring. A new washing machine will be bought, to match the dryer. The dryer isn’t current in that room as there’s no space. I’ll have a bench top put in above the washer and dryer (both front loaders), and this will provide a lovely surface for sorting and folding laundry. 

The laundry opens off the mud room, and it’s in the mudroom where the dryer is just now. It’s also where my husband stores his Civil Defence/mountain rescue kit, in boxes on top of the dryer. When the boxes have been newly tidied it looks great, but the rest of the time it gets rather messy. When the dryer has moved, I’ll get a clothes rail, and his kit will have a dedicated space. There will be a hanging rack, a place for boots and shoes, and also a couple of boxes (hard hard hat, ruck sack etc).

First Completed Project of Self-Isolation

I have made a cleaning pad for my steam mop, and it is working really well. The original pad was a bit of towelling that was meant to attach to the base of the mop. It wasn't fantastic at staying on. My crocheted version covers the base (as can be seen from the photograph), but also comes up over the sides and is secured by a drawstring. It stays in place extremely well. 

When I've finished my self-isolation time I'm going to buy some more cotton to make a few more pads. The cotton in the picture is King Cole Cottonsoft in the colour Aquas. I must admit to having thoughts regarding buying more of this colour and making a top for myself. It's so pretty.

The cleaning pad has been used in the kitchen this morning. Perhaps I need to make many more cleaning accessories, just to help me want to clean. :o)

Timetable, What Timetable?

My plan yesterday was to create a daily timetable for my time of self-isolation. This I duly did, and it was mighty fine timetable. It included useful things, as well as fun things too, and within 30 minutes the plan had gone out of the window!

Instead, I am falling back on a system I know I can do, the good old To-Do/Ta-Da lists. There will be a number of items that will be daily to-dos, like laundry, cook, spring clean/tidy, craft and study Italian.

Yesterday and today, I have been giving the front garden a tidy up. It's looking quite a bit better already. I've also been sitting by the front door, studying Italian. Ava is happy to be outside, watching the world go by, but wants company whilst she does this. Whilst Ava is engaged in her enrichment activities I am engaged in mine.

I have a little prediction - by the time we have finished our 14 days of self-isolation the country will be in lockdown. The Isle of Man is currently a few weeks behind the UK in terms of illness, but we are responding by implementing responses quicker than the UK. 

14 Days at Home

This is the modern log cabin where my Ewok/battlebear is choosing to self-isolate. 

Yup, my asthma has been playing up, and there's quite a bit of coughing in the morning. All of the spray disinfectants have not been helping. I called the Covid-19  helpline this morning, and explained my symptoms, saying I thought it was just asthma. They said it sounded very likely, but to have a chat with my GP as I might require treatment for asthma. We are also required to self-isolate for 14 days, just to be on the safe side.

This means my plan to declutter and spring clean has been brought forward. Might as well use the time wisely and put it to good use. I'm also planning on a Lego competition this evening after dinner.