One Daily Positive - Week 24 I've finished the house

I'm not a big fan of online shopping, I can do it, but I like to see what I'm buying, see the quality and not rely on staged photos. I haven't had much choice recently. I've been visiting Wilko which is next to Waitrose when I've gone out for a weekly shop and have made the odd trip to the retail park to pound stretcher and pound land when I've needed milk, otherwise it's just the post office, but I only go out once a week, I just plan my trips carefully.

I have purchased a lawn mower, a bed and a car online. I'd already looked at lawn mowers and a car so I knew what I wanted, but the bed with it's memory foam mattress wasn't good quality and it had to go back. I contemplated a trip to IKEA, as they couldn't deliver until mid July, but decided to try Amazon and everything arrives next week. 

To do list carried over:
Learn to crochet (been carrying this forward since pre lockdown).
Family Tree.
Investigate returning to the OU to finish my degree.
Read.
Add backing to pom pom rug.
Weed round back of the shed and mow lawns.
Schedule #PoCoLo blog posts.
Post parcels.
Contact mattress company to arrange exchange.
Paperwork.
Pay utility bills UK and Dubai.
Write gardening post for May.
Redecorate dining room and paint window sills in conservatory.
Set up plant netting.


159 Sunday Another day of rest just pottering around, walked Bob, gardening, watched tv, letter writing. I also got the roller brush out and repainted the lower walls in the hall as I could see brush strokes in a certain light.

The dog has been eating the beans, so I made each a pot a mini green house.

160 Monday My friend called by around midday to collect the logs from the tree I had cut down and we had tea, chocolate and lunch in the garden. Did the ironing in the evening whilst watching TV.

I kept one of the logs to use as a table.

161 Tuesday Up the Malvern Hills with Bob, then sat in the car park to read and have a drink and snack. Pottered around the rest of the day, some painting prep, sorted through attic stuff, to sell, to keep, to donate. Did some gardening, letter writing, watched TV.

162 Wednesday Up early to Sainsbury's to return the bed, on arrival I was informed returns only at Argos stores, nearest one is Kidderminster, 45 mins away. I did a food shop while I was there and pretty impressed. I'd been avoiding Worcester as I just, wrongly, assumed it would be chaotic. Paid the carpet people and a guy came back to seal the lino in the ensuite. walked Bob to the post office, spent the afternoon/evening on the family tree and Argos collected the bed at 7pm.

163 Thursday Started the morning with a bacon butty, then did nothing but sit on the sofa until lunchtime. I painted half the dining room, it bubbled so I had to sand/peel it all off and over fill it. Parcel dropped at mine for a house 2 streets away, so I walked round to deliver it with Bob. Bed at 8pm to watch iplayer as there was nothing on the TV.

Another skill added to my lockdown CV.

164 Friday Finished painting the dining room. The preparation is key, filling holes, re plastering walls, sanding and cleaning before the actual painting. Walked Bob, did a spot of gardening while the plaster dried. I had 2 double glazed units in the conservatory replaced. My friend and neighbour came round, we've fallen back into the Friday night 'talk random crap and drink wine' like we used to do before we moved abroad.

165 Saturday Spent a couple of hours mowing the lawn and tidying up the edges and borders. Put the dining room back together and painted the windowsills in the conservatory, cleaned and hoovered throughout and washed the kitchen floor. I walked Bob, watched some TV, paid bills, registered with the Doctors and almost finished the pom pom rug. Tesco food shop arrives this afternoon.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo - Still going out for a latte, just in the garden or taking one with me on a walk
My Garden in May and plans for June.
Flying during lockdown

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Post comment Love - 12th-14th June

It's been 10 weeks since I arrived back in the UK, from my home in Dubai. I was scheduled to have returned for 3 weeks in May to organise a house move and shipping our furniture back to the UK.

An international relocation is bloody hard at the best of times. In the past we've been hampered by HR and companies that refuse to deal with me as Peter's wife as the contracts are in the company name and they've only been able to talk to Peter or HR about all the stuff I'm usually running around behind the scenes doing such as filing in custom and insurance forms, trying to organise school places online meetings with Heads, contacting agents to rent a property in an unknown country, organise the papers for the cat and dog.

So for this move we decided to go ahead and do it all by ourselves, no time scale, no HR, no visas required, no new bank accounts to open and no medical reports to file, so what could possibly go wrong this time? A pandemic, that's what.

So plans have been rejigged, house move and shopping of furniture put on hold and I'm living in the UK with the cat and dog and Peter has remained working in Dubai. On a positive I've now finished painting and cleaning the house, all repairs made and new carpets laid last week.

We have been able to repatriate as we are both citizens of the UK and residents of the UAE, but up until now, it's one way flights only and a total of 4 weeks in quarantine. If I return to Dubai it's the middle of summer, too hot to sit outside and I don't have anyone to look after the cat and dog in the UK.

If Peter comes here, apart from seeing me, he won't be able to spend time with the family to any degree, so we're waiting a bit longer before either of us gets on a plane. I flew during lockdown, it was unnerving, I'm in no rush to do it anytime soon. I've linked up with my experiences to this weeks #pocolo

Stephanie and I would love to know what you've been up to this week.

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My garden in May and plans for June

Some big changes to the front of the garden in May, starting with the removal of the tree and creating a new border out the front.

View from bedroom window, we're not overlooked at the front or the back of the house. 

Before

After

My friend collected the logs for her wood burner.

The border had disappeared and was half weed, half bulbs.

I've since added a few new plants here, a fuchsia and lupin.

The back garden also saw some tree work, not as successful, but I did read up about how to cut a fir tree back to retain shape and regrowth, time will tell how it's worked out.

The lawn looks so much better now it is edged properly.

Bluebells growing in the garden.

I've been wanting a hydrangea for years, now I'm back in the UK I treated myself to one.

I'm growing peas, basil, mint, tomatoes.

I added some colour to the garden fence.

My friend distance dropped a table and chairs she no longer had use for off.

My garden plans for June.

 Repurposing my recycling I made mini green houses for my beans. I've been unable to get a plastic greenhouse anywhere.

The cat and dog have been digging up smaller plants, so I made this frame for the beans to grow around. I've been unable to dig up the tree stump so this is a good way for me to hide it.

I've prepared a spot to plant my pumpkin out and looking for somewhere for my cucumber plant.

Long term plans are to extend the conservatory with a lean too, to enable us to enjoy sitting outside more when the weather isn't as good. If anyone has done this I'd love to hear how easy it was to do and what costs were involved.

If you'd like to join in with The Garden Year and showcase your garden then you can link up with Stephanie on her blog Life at 139a. I'd love to read more gardening posts to share ideas.

My flight to the UK during lockdown Covid-19

In the lead up to lockdown we had visitors in Dubai. My flight with BA was scheduled for 10am on March 24th. Our last lot of visitors were leaving on the 20th so we were keeping a close eye on the flight schedules. Theirs went on time on the Friday morning however, at the same time, mine was cancelled. I rebooked immediately onto the next available flight which was 2pm on the same day. On the Sunday night, Emirates cancelled all flights in and out of Dubai and BA were further reducing their services eventually down to just one a day. In the end I was actually on the last BA flight out of Dubai.

I needed to return to the UK, we'd just taken possession of our family home back from tenants in the December, I'd changed the locks and had some basic work carried out, the cat and dog had flown over on February the 1st and I'd returned to Dubai on March 3rd as we had 2 lots of visitors scheduled to arrive. My Mother in Law was house and pet sitting for the 3 weeks I was away and our eldest child is in a care home in the UK and we knew there was a possibility that I may need to be there to care for her, should the situation worsen.

Saying goodbye to Peter not knowing when we'd next see one another was hard. I packed one suitcase with essentials, being fortunate enough to already have winter clothing, toiletries etc in the UK and I'd done a large shop stocking up with loo roll, cleaning products and pet food back in February as I knew I wouldn't have a car when I got back to the UK. I also did 2 food online shops, 1 for me and 1 for my mum to ensure we had enough supplies, which thankfully were done just before the UK started panic buying.

On arrival at Terminal 3 in Dubai, social distancing was in place, the floor marked and staff now all wearing gloves and face masks, having made regular visits to the airport over the past 2 weeks, in both departures and arrivals, we noticed quite a stark change and the silence was deafening. The shops had only started the social distancing the week before, but pubs, bars and tourist attractions had shut down on March 16th and the malls were almost empty of shoppers.

Arrivals hall Dubai Terminal 1, never have I seen it so quiet.

After check in and saying our goodbyes I went through the departure gates where I was asked if I was a resident or a tourist. On replying I was a resident, I was asked to sign a mandatory form stating I agreed to a 2 weeks stay in a medical facility upon my return to Dubai. At this point I realised I wouldn't be coming back any time soon and after receiving an exit stamp in my passport I filed through to departures.

The terminal was almost empty and it was easy to social distance. I'd receive an email in the morning to tell me that it was unlikely any food and drink would be available on the 7 hours flight to Heathrow, so I stocked up in the duty free.

I was surprised that the flight was full and we were all sitting next to one another as usual, flight stewards weren't wearing masks or gloves, but if I'm honest that pleased me as gloves and masks don't stop the spread like people think they do and I'd already observed people weren't changing the gloves as often as they should be washing their hands.

A full food service was provided, I carried anti bacterial wipes and cleaned my screen, seat belt and tray table, despite being informed the plane had already been fully sanitised. I settled back to the flight.

On arrival in Heathrow, I expected long queues for passport control, but to my surprise the electronic gates were open and we were being directed straight through. No questions about where we'd travelled from, no instructions to self quarantine, only a woman meekly asking if people would like a leaflet.

Again it was deathly silent and I was grateful to get outside, to empty skies where my friend had kindly offered to collect me and house me for the night before I made my journey across the UK to reach Malvern and home.

Heathrow T5 7pm

Travelling across the UK on the 26th March was eerily quiet, trains were cancelled, rescheduled and rerouted several times during my journey. The staff at all the stations couldn't have been more helpful, everywhere was closed, no one was out unless they were making essential travel and most like me were trying to get to or from the airport or just home within the UK. 

Quite literally one person per carriage, regular announcements asking us to social distance.

 Birmingham New Street around 1pm

There were a couple of incidents on route where passengers were shouting at rail and station staff about changing trains and few announcements, but they were dealt with professionally by the staff.

I arrived home in Malvern after almost 4 hours, with a short walk via the shop to collect milk and I self isolated for 14 days. My Mother in Law had left and returned to her home in Bristol as I was making my way back on the train.

As much as I'd love to see my husband and we can now travel as residents and citizens of the UK and the UAE, we have no desire to take a non essential trip with quarantine either side, in total of 4 weeks, for a 2 week visit.

My Sunday Photo - Enjoying a Starbucks

Pre lock down I would go out for a Starbucks every single day of the week. I'd pick a different location each day, whether it was the Souk Madinat with views over looking the Burj Al Arab or a drive through on my way home or to a mall.

I went out everyday for a coffee for 5 years that we lived in Dubai to just get out the house, for the random chat with a stranger and to stop me going stir crazy.

We have a coffee machine like this in the UK and Dubai, but the actual drinking of the latte wasn't the experience, it was the going out. Up until now I've always drunk tea at home.

Since lock down started the day before I arrived back in the UK and I made a 4 hour journey by several trains across the country, without being able to purchase a latte as I would've normally done and without being able to visit the local Caffe Nero stores as I favour in the UK, I had to learn to make my own lattes and quickly.

Since I've managed to get a Starbucks blend from Tesco click and collect this week, I've been drinking coffee from Waitrose, their own blend. I've realised even more it's never been about the coffee, it's been about the going out.

So I've been going out for the past 10 weeks with a take away latte. I've been going out to the garden to sit and read or blog. I've been going out with my take away cup as I've walked to do my food shop or taken Bob on a walk.

During lockdown I've consumed 71 lattes. Each and every time I've made one, I've put £3 in a pot and so far I've totalled  a saving of *drum roll* £213.

I will go back one day to the coffee shops, but from now on I'll steer clear of the big chains (unless I'm travelling), but these visits from now on will be to meet with family and friends, not just to visit for something to do. I'm learning to find things to do that don't involve me spending money and just going out for the sake of it.

One daily Positive - Week 23 Fairy door, Narnia and new carpets

On my to do list this week

Learn to crochet (been carrying this forward since pre lockdown).
Family Tree.
Investigate returning to the OU to finish my degree.
Read.
Add backing to pom pom rug.
Finish Jigsaw.
Remove carpet from last bedroom.
Empty wardrobe for carpet fitters, move furniture.
Weed round back of the shed.
Schedule #PoCoLo blog posts.
Fix blind in ensuite.
Paint conservatory, lounge and dining room.

My to do lists aren't compulsory. I find a list helps me choose something to do if I'm feeling a bit lost or the day is dragging on too long. Things like walking the dog up the Malvern Hills, general gardening, cleaning, paying bills etc just get slotted in as and when they need doing

Lots of local dog walks and more letter writing, birthday cards and gifts delivered.

152 Sunday Up early so gave the main bedroom windowsill a fresh coat of paint, sat in the garden to have breakfast and catch up with blog comments and painted the walls in the downstairs loo, popped out to Worcester to fetch my click and collect food shop. Back to bed for a couple of hours, tidied up, dog walk, watered garden, dinner and a video gin call.

Never too old for a bit of magic

153 Monday The man came back to fix the issues in the bathroom and the with the shed roof. I did some blogging and cooked a roast in the morning. In the afternoon I painted the walls in the kitchen and the hall, cleaned the bathroom and put it back together, Walked Bob, watered the garden, bath and bed.

154 Tuesday - Went over to see my friend Julie the other side of the town, we met through child 5 at school, about 15 years ago. The boys don't keep in touch anymore but we've remained friends. It was her birthday so I dropped off a gift and cake and we social distanced in the front garden. Removed the last carpet from the room I'm sleeping in and moved bedside tables into the wardrobes and other bits into the bathroom. I'm now sleeping down stairs till Saturday. Spent the evening in the garden writing letters and sorting parcels to post for upcoming birthdays. Child 2 and 2a's 2nd wedding anniversary.

155 Wednesday Took Bob up the Malvern Hills, I parked half way up at the quarry and took a slightly different route up today. I had a quote to replace 2 double glazed units that have blown and are full of condensation. We've already had the 10 smaller units replaced. Didn't sleep well with a Chinook flying over head between 1-3am and felt a bit sick and headachy, so spent the rest of the day watching TV, napping and some crafting and letter writing. 2a's Birthday (DIL)

C S Lewis was a pupil at Malvern, it is said he was inspired by the gas lights to write the Lion, the Witch and the wardrobe

156 Thursday Carpet fitters came today, they can enter through the front door, I can isolate in the kitchen and access the the rest of downstairs through the garden. When I got the house measured for carpets, they did the lounge as well, we decided not to replace the carpet in there because of the pets. Guess which muppet forgot to tell the carpet fitter? I spent the day painting the woodwork in the lounge and touching up the paint on the walls, evening spent putting upstairs back together, before collapsing into bed at 8pm. 

157 Friday I spent the morning removing paint from the wooden floors from the decorator, grouted and resealed the ensuite shower ready for my mums stay, cleaned all the light fittings and did some washing. Carpet fitters finished today. I then hoovered the new carpet 100 times, put everything back and enjoyed a chilly evening with a bottle of wine in the garden with my friend and neighbour.

158 Saturday Finally the house feels 'proper' clean. I still have the dining room and conservatory to paint, but the deep clean in both rooms is complete. I finished my jigsaw, took delivery of a new bed and received a lovely gift from a twitter friend from Hotel Chocolate. Rest of the day I made cards, wrote letters and got the parcels ready to send on Thursday.

On the blog this week:

A huge fail with the Jam Jar waste challenge

#Ad Trendhim Tan Leather Cardholder great for Fathers Day, but this is a late 21st birthday gift for child 5.

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Post Comment Love 5th-7th June

How is it June already?

Peter was supposed to be joining me this month, but with 2 weeks quarantine either side of his visit, we are waiting a bit longer.

Our friends daughter was getting married and for the first time in years Peter was actually going to be with me on my birthday. She rescheduled for June 26th next year, which happens to not only be my birthday, but my 50th. We were planning a cruise, but have scrapped those plans, I've joked they've saved Peter having to plan anything now.

I won't be venturing out any further or more often than I have been despite lockdown being lifted a little. Otherwise I feel it will have been a waste of my time and others for social distancing. I don't work, don't have school aged kids and I've invited my mum to move in with me in 2 weeks time as she doesn't have a garden and I could do with a bit of company also.

I've been enjoying lockdown, learning new skills, had more time for myself to rest and have been dealing with my anxiety and depression which has improved over the past 10 or so weeks.

It's amazing how busy I've been with DIY, gardening and crafts also as well as having the time and space to sort through my late fathers personal belongings. I've also spent a lot of time meal planning and maximising my shopping trips, so much so I've not had any food waste other than veg peelings which I've composted anyway. Last week I decided to attempt the Jam Jar challenge, where through recycling, repurposing and composting I minimise the amount of waste I throw out each week. I had a huge fail, which you can read about with this weeks #pocolo post I've linked up.

Stephanie and I would love to hear what you've been up to this week.

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Tan Leather Cardholder by Trendhim #ad

I was invited to choose a gift from Trendhim Men's Accessories and Jewellery online. I've previously reviewed a pair of gloves for my husband. This time it was child 5's turn for a gift and as he had his 21st birthday in lockdown, I selected this Tam Leather Cardholder for him.

Child 5 does everything online and on apps. From food shopping to store cards. He never has cash on him, he just taps his watch on the screen and voila, all done.

But he has realised that sometimes doing everything online is not always that simple. For example it's difficult to track your spend with contactless tap and pay and with a limit set for transactions, he will often need his card. He also needs to carry his work ID with him and has a couple of store/discount cards that don't have an online app version.

The cardholder has 9 handy pockets and a centre compartment that would be great for notes.

Trendhim have a wide range of leather wallets with prices from £25. They make an ideal gift for Fathers Day.

The jam jar waste challenge

CAN YOU GET YOUR MONTHLY HOUSEHOLD WASTE DOWN TO THE SIZE OF A JAM JAR?

Apparently it is possible through recycling, repurposing, buying food products in bulk or in recyclable packaging, composting, etc. But it is NOT going to be possible for me as I have dog waste to get rid of daily and I'm not going to be digging a hole deep enough for a dustbin with the bottom cut out to be sunk into the ground as a compostable toilet or carry it through the house to flush down the toilet. I also have a cat and a litter tray, the next time I need new litter I will purchase the brand that can go in the compost bin (obviously the cat waste can't be disposed of in this manner)

It is rare for me to have any food waste, especially since entering lock down as I've been concerned about the number of trips I make to the supermarkets so I meal plan for each day and I've been worried the refuse collection may have stopped at the beginning and didn't want items in the bin that may not be collected and the smell etc.

Despite keeping magazines for crafting, decoupage, making elephants and giraffes out of milk bottles and toilet rolls, repurposing tin cans as flower planters, using cardboard to make decorations for the windows and newspapers for papier mache chickens and using up old paint from the shed, I find I still manage to throw away half a bin bag each week of rubbish for the landfill (including the dog poo).

I have make up remover cloths rather than using cotton wool, I haven't found an alternative for removing nail varnish or cotton wool buds, but like the straws, I no longer use plastic ones.

I use my own shopping bags, have cloth bags for buying loose produce in the supermarket, the sticky price labels can't be recycled though.

I have a compost bin in the garden for flowers, uncooked food waste and paper towels and a green waste bin collected fortnightly by the local council along with the recycling bin.

So how did I get on?

Well it was a big fail for me this week as I sent carpets from 4 bedrooms, stairs and landing, a bath side and end panel and roofing felt to landfill. I did save some carpet to use in the sheds and some roofing felt. I also had to throw away Bob's football and the contents of two vacuum cleaners. this can go in the compost bin normally but contained carpet and paint flake waste.

So apart from the above, repurposing, composting and recycling, this is all I threw in the black sack this week. The contents fitted into an ice cream tub, in a week, not a jam jar in a month. But I'm carrying on with it from now on and I'll update you and let you know how I do.

My list of what was in the tub.

With the click and collect and online deliveries the amount of plastic waste I have has increased with plastic bags used for fruit and veg and carrier bags to put the shopping in, sometimes only one item per bag.

How much stuff do you throw away each week? Do you recycle as much as you can? Repurpose/reuse? Compost? Any tips you'd like to share with me?