Musings// April Recap – Lockdown

Morning there! Wow I’m so behind on posting this! We’re already half way through May and I haven’t posted my April recap… oops…

I was going to start this by saying I hope you had a lovely relaxing Bank Holiday weekend… but that was over a week ago! I’m now counting down to our next bank holiday weekend next week 🙂 I was meant to be working up in Carlisle this week and Tim was going to get a train up Friday evening and we were going to have a long weekend in the Lake District – obviously that’s not happening now but we’re still going to have a long weekend at home. I’m hoping to chill in the garden and finish reading ‘Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown’ If you’re looking for an auto-biography to read give this a go – I saw Anne Glenconner on Graham Norton a few months ago and she sounded like she’d had an amazing life and was so eccentric – I’ve definitely not been disappointed by the book.

I don’t know about you but I can’t believe we’re into our 10^th week of isolating – time has gone by so quickly and we’ve really gotten into a routine. I guess it’s becoming more normal in a weird way. It’s definitely going to take some getting used to when we eventually go back to working in the office – goodness knows when that will be but not for a while at least especially after Bo Jo’s speech on Sunday.

I’ve been starting to enjoy my mornings before work during isolation – started nice and slow, making some breakfast and then doing a little blogging or painting. Some mornings I even do a little workout which I always feel so much better for doing. It’s going to be hard going back to ‘normal’ when this is all over – having to get up earlier, shower, get ready for work before getting the train into town. It’ll be interesting to see if the workplace changes at all when we eventually go back. You’d hope companies would now be forced to be more flexible with agile working so here’s hoping!

April has been sponsored by lockdown… and everything has centred around being home. My screen time usage has increased a lot (oops!) but then it was always going to in a time like this. This post isn’t going to be the most exciting but I’ll fill you in with how we’ve been keeping ourselves busy.

Posts you might have missed:

• Travel// Langford Fivehead and Cheddar Gorge
• March recap// Lockdown, London and Eating all the Food
• Food// Purnell’s Restaurant

Food! Being stuck at home we’ve obviously not been eating out so we’ve been trying to make some tasty meals and treats to get us through…

Breakfast: 

• Egg muffin
• Apple porridge
• Hot cross bun (for Easter of course!)
• Baked eggs (Turkish eggs)
• Avocado on crackers with bacon and eggs
• Breakfast burrito
• Left over gammon breakfast with eggs, spinach and mushrooms

Lunch/ dinner:

• Cheese (I’m such a cheese lover!)
• Left over roast baguettes
• Veggie tarts
• Antipasti
• Brie, leek and mushroom pie
• Sushi

Treats:

• Chocolate muffins
• Cannoli
• Brownies
• Rocky road

Sorting out the house:

I’ve been slowing making my way around the house sorting out rooms. I’ve tackled a different room on a different weekend – I’ve done our bedroom, the study, Tim’s ‘man cave’ (we call it his man cave just because it has his signed sport things on the walls – the only room they’re allowed in!) and then the spare bedroom. For a 4 bedroom house (the 4^th is a tiny study!) we don’t really have that much storage. 

• I sorted out my clothes and have a pile of clothes for eBay (in another room I found an old bag of bits for eBay so they’ve been added onto that!)
• The study took an age to sort – I mean I’m sure it could have been done quicker but I’m a procrastinator…
• I sorted out a couple old boxes from when I was at home and one of them was just photos – so that was fun to sort through! I need to find a scrap book or album to put them all in now.

This week I need to tackle that pile of stuff for eBay – it’s been sitting there for weeks!

Painting:

With all this spare time we now have I’ve been doing some painting and sending them to family and friends. Some of my favs to try and recreate are Rifle Paper Co – what do you think?

I’m going to try and make my own paintings next – wish me luck!

Workouts: 

I’ve been doing a few different workouts to try and keep active. I need to get better but these are some I’ve enjoyed:

• Zanna Van Dijk
• Alice Living
• Popsugar
• The Body Coach
• Virgin Active Coach (for those with memberships) – I love doing the pilates, boxing and barre classes.

And that’s it really! It’s been a weird time for sure. There’s bits I’m enjoying now – spending so much time with Tim, not feeling guilty for taking it easy, getting bits sorted around the house – and obviously bits I’m not enjoying so much – not seeing friends and family, going out for tasty meals, travelling (we were meant to be going to the South of France this month!), swimming and just being able to go out and about without having to worry about social distancing and people not following the rules.

I know this will all pass and I’m trying to keep positive.

Keep safe!

Until next time,
Cathers xx