Today I shall be Mainly...

[Marilyn]

Glad you are doing ok, Stanley. Just keep in mind that these fragile moments will return over the next little while. You just have to acknowledge them and get extra sleep in when required...buggar the rest of the world. Sleep...and good food...will get you over the humps that life gives us all.

[Marilyn]

After I had my darling dog put down, I was a tear stained, swollen eyed, soggy mess for about 6 weeks....the mere mention of her name and I was off again...
I can’t go through that again in my life, despite the want for another dog.

[Stanley]

I'm not that bad Maz but overall you are quite right. Look at the time I got up this morning! 05:30, things are changing and I am not fighting it. So I am playing today by ear and going out for a walk before I have my morning coffeee. Then I'll let the rest of the day sort itself out. For a start there will be no second sleep, I had a solid eight hours last night. A long time since that happened! I shall report later.

[Wendyf]

Well I would like to register a complaint about your late start, I like a bit more reading matter with my 6.45am breakfast! This will throw my morning completely out of kilter.

[Sue]

Morning

Busy today. We are off to Bacup market first thing, then back for breakfast. After that we are hooking the trailer to the car and driving over to Claires. We are loading up with garden bits and pieces, plants etc and bringing them back here for the weekend ready for the big move on Monday, fingers crossed.this afternoon we shall be doing a bit of cleaning as Joanne could not come yesterday as she has to wait in for the boiler repair man. Not a good day for plant moving, its raining heavily

Yesterday was uneventful. After dance exercise I went to the Range for some craft bits and pieces to continue with my Christmas card project. I spent the rest of the day producing cards. I managed 18 by teatime. I will probably do some more today .

Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

I am fairly certain that normal service will be resumed Wendy. I like my early mornings. I may have to explore the alarm function on my radio!
Not sure yet what the shape of my day is going to be. Instinct says I must force myself into the shed. Everything is out of kilter today!

[Marilyn]

You will be fine Stanley. You have the strength of 10 men, because you are pure.
( have to admit I was worried about lack of reading material too, Wendy )

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

Later.... I think I understand what happened now. Because I was up late I had my walk and breakfast before I went in the shed. eating a meal always tends to make me sleepy. I went to bed and slept for two hours waking up at 11:00 and feel fine now. I shall go in the shed after getting a lungful of fresh air and then proceed as normal. All I have to do is to get to bed in good time and get up early to stop my fans revolting! I shan't set an alarm, just rely on my Circadian clock and see what happens. All part of the reboot of normal life after Jack.
Sorry about the underlining, don'/t know what went wrong.

[Stanley]

Later, two hours in the shed and I feel fine. Here's the results.

[Stanley]

Pursuing a near normal routine and getting in the shed before breakfast when second sleep tends to strike!
I don't know if it is peculiar to me but I always feel sleepy after a meal and any form of carbohydrate acts like anaesthetic!

[Marilyn]

That is the Diabetes talking, Stanley...

[Stanley]

In that case I have had diabetes since I was born!

[Sue]

Morning

I can’t have a main meal at lunchtime or I need to go to sleep. I am always better if i have a light lunch and my main meal at night. Strange that eating later does not make me sleepy.


What a day of rain yesterday. After the market and breakfast we drove over to Claires and loaded up our trailer but it was chucking the rain down. Bob discovered his waterproof was not water proof so that was another job when we got home, a reproofing cycle on the washer. Anyway the trailer full of outdoor plants is now parked on our drive ready for transporting tomorrow. They hope to have the keys by 2.00 pm. We will meet Claire there and the three of us will go in and clean through, Bob is on cleaning carpets, I shall steam clean floors and Claire will do surfaces. Hopefully all we go according to plan. Back at the old house, Claires in laws are helping with loading, sorting and the final clean. Claire didn’t want the two families to mix so in her usual organised manner we have been allocated different houses and tasks

After lunch we had did a quick clean here. Unfortunately Joanne couldn’t come on Friday as her bolier was broken. I spent the rest of the afternoon making some more Christmas cards. Its not exactly saving me money but it is keeping me occupied. More of the same today I think as I don’t think we will manage a walk with more rain forecast. I shall change and wash the bedding this morning, and do the ironing. I have some winter pansies to plant that I bought on the market of it stays dry long enough. I may also start bringing in my houseplants which I always put outside for the summer. However the cacti are not liking all of this rain.

I picked my first tomato yesterday, lots more beginning to change colour but they could do with some sun

Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

Tomorrow sounds like a busy day Sue. Rather you than me.



After two hours of careful work I am tapping for studs, moving forwards slowly and carefully.

[Stanley]

Filling Wendy's breakfast reading quota and making more progress in the shed.

[Wendyf]

Thank you! Much appreciated.

[Sue]

Morning

Today is the day and at last it looks dry and sunny. Nothing worse than moving on a wet day. Not that I would know, we have lived here since 1973,and we didn’t own much when we moved in. I have decided not to do pilates this morning but take advantage of the weather and bring my cacti plants back inside . This afternoon we will be busy with the move.

Yesterday afternoon turned out better than expected and we managed a very short walk late in the afternoon when it became apparent it had stopped raining, despite the forecast. I also planted my winter pansies and did a little weeding. Otherwise it was washing, ironing and making my Christmas cards.

Have a good day all, I am looking forward to doing something different!

[plaques]

I have decided not to do pilates this morning but take advantage of the weather and bring my cacti plants back inside .

Being a fan of Jake Thackray your 'Today I Shall be Mainly' post brought to mind his 'Cactus' song....

She gave up her duties, her food and her slumber
For this potted hedgehog, this son of a cucumber!

[Stanley]

Sue, you'll not go short of exercise this afternoon.



I've had a busy but frustrating morning because I have no 5BA studding and after a lot of wasting time searching I had to set to and make my own. I shall be ordering 5BA studding this morning!

[Sue]

Thats what I thought Stanley, chilling out at the moment in the conservatory with a cup of tea, waiting for the call. Cacti all brought in, looking very healthy indeed. I shall make us a sandwich for lunch soon then we can take it with us if we need to. There appears to be no rush the removal van wasn’t arriving till 10.30 and didn’t expect be unloading until after 3.00. Provided Claire gets the key at 2.00 it will give us a good 45 minutes to do some cleaning.

[Stanley]

No doubt you will let us know how it went. Flitting is exhausting work!
I shall be in the shed.

[Sue]

Morning

Well its all done. We got in the house at about 1.45 pm. We were told it had been cleaned by cleaners. Well I wouldn’t employ them, bathrooms were clean , but the floors sticky, light switches and skirting boards thick with dust and the kitchen cupboards sticky and full of crumbs. The oven was bad, and as he was a smoker there was a musty air. The carpets just need to be freshened, so Bob hoovered, shampooed and when dry hoovered again . They came up well . The kitchen cupboards and drawers were all lined, once we took that out they were pristine inside so the cleaning there was not as bad as expected. As we had no steps the top shelves still need to be done.

I have never seen a house with so many storage cupboards, two walk in cupboards in the hall, another walk in cloaks cupboard in a second hallway and a utility room bigger than the average kitchen. Its a classic fairly modern bungalow that has been extended behind the double garage to make a big dining kitchen and utility room. Even with a utility room the washer and dryer are plumbed out in the garage. The garden is well stocked if rather untidy, and perfect for two environmentalists there are solar panels and several compost bins in the garden

The van arrived about 4.30 pm by which time we we had cleaned through and had windows and doors open, airing beautifully. The removal men left at 7.00 pm. We had pizza sat on the garden wall whilst the unloading went on All was a little late as they had to get a second smaller van for garden furniture and the contents of the garden shed. Erin loved it, she and I went on a walk, an adventure to see where various roads went, but she played inside and out safely. She quickly starting chatting to the little girl Lucy about her age, who lives next door. We left when the beds were sorted. In Claire and Adams case, the mattress as the bed frame broke irreparably. Not unexpected apparently. I don’t envy them unpacking those rooms full of boxes today.

On the whole a successful day , a busy day, and how nice to have a really normal non covid day. We see there is a park within walking distance, no doubt that will have to be where we meet next!

Today is WET , so glad it wasn’t yesterday. I have no plans, though I may make my tracksuit top that I cut out the other day. I am also glad I did manage to get all my cacti inside yesterday morning. This evening is the double pilates and yoga.

Have a good day all

[Wendyf]

How lovely to do something completely different!

[Sue]

How lovely to do something completely different!

Oh it so was! Apparently Claires in laws doing similar at their old house said the same. Jackie said it was nice to be really busy doing something useful