Into 2021 We Go

Well 2020 wasn’t much to write home about was it? Let's hope 2021 is going to do a bit better.

I certainly have lots planned for 2021 - even if most of it is events I should have attended in 2020.

Liverpool on the To Return To in 2021 list

I have just started living with the Tier 4 restrictions, which is a tad annoying, as one of my goals for this year was to try and make sure I get out to do a walk at least once a week in the Peak District or similar that would appear on my website Peak Walker. Needless to say the 'Stay at Home' part of the Tier 4 restrictions means that is out. I may live in Derbyshire but I personally don't consider the 30 minute plus drive I would need to do to get to the start of a walk as staying at home - others may say it is fine, it is up to them to live with themselves if that is what they are happy to do. With a daughter-in-law who has being treating Covid patients since this pandemic began I don’t wish to add to her workload.

On the other hand it should give me the opportunity to catch up with publishing my website walks, as I am now nearly two years behind - not quite as bad as it may sound as that only puts me 13 walks behind. The birth of my grandson and becoming Chair of a camera club had a major impact on the amount of time I had to spend walking in 2019 and of course 2020's numerous Lockdowns didn't help either.

One of the walks soon to be added to my website

 

Despite all of that 2021 has started with a 5 mile walk, it is just around my local streets with lots of crossing of roads to ensure social distancing is maintained. In 2020 I managed to cover over 800 miles walking my local streets, it would be nice if this year that total was beaten but with one little alteration - most of the miles walked with my walking boots on rather than my trainers.

Back

Well I tried using Wordpress but just couldn't get on with it and I miss blogging I thought why not see if I can get this blog going again, although at the moment stitching is a very rare activity.

Where to start - I could go on forever about 2017 but lets just say in too many ways it didn't go to plan and so by the end of the year I weighed a stone (14lbs for those who don't understand proper weights) more than I did at the start of the year. To be fair more than half of that went on in December which was a month that started with a haoliday where a lot of good food and wine was consumed and ended with Christmas.  The last three months of the year also saw me spending far too little time in the gym so a significant decrease in my fitness levels also accompany the gain in weight.

On a more positive note I passed my HNC in Photography with Distinction and was forced into launching myself as photographer, my son got engaged and my daughter has secured herself a new job.

So to 2018 - given there is wedding to attend in January 2019 the priority is too shift a lot of weight as I know exactly what style of dress I want for the wedding and it requires a figure to die for. With that in mind I have made exercise a priority for this month with the first goal being to get back to the pre-holiday weight and the second to be regaining some power in my legs and finding my stomach muscles again.

Since the 27th December I have been able to fir at least one sessions of exercise in every day and since the Sports Centre opened after the New Year Holiday I have been able to get both a walk and trip to the gym or pool in every day. So far THIS YEAR I have already lost 3lbs  4lbs, although I am realistic enough to know that the weight loss will slow down.

Since Christmas I have also begun to catch up on the backlog of walks from my website. The first walk was in October when John and I enjoyed a walk around the Goyt Valley taking in the ridge to Shining Tor Shining Tor walk details

Cats Tor from Shining Tor

The second walk was the one which marked the start of our November trip to the Kirkstile Inn in the Lake District. This time we enjoyed long distance views of the Pennines and Shap Fells thanks to the blue skies and a bitterly cold wind on that day Seat Robert walk details

Looking across Wet Sleddale Reservoir to Seat Robert

I need to get the website up-to-date as John has made it responsive and it needs to be relaunched so it makes sense to get all of the 2017 walks on the site before we launch the new version.

Sewing at the moment looks like being a none-starter , although I did briefly pick up my needle in 2017 and put some more stitches in Celtic Autumn, I would dearly love to finish her but she is so fiddly at the moment that I get fed up with only being able to put a few stitches in before I need to move to another section or change colour.

Here's to hoping 2018 will be a little more successful than 2017.

The ABC of Me

I've seen this on a few blogs now so thought I might as well have a go.

A - Age: 47
B - Bed Size: Double
C - Chore You Hate: Grocery shopping
D - Dogs Name: Never had a dog
E - Essential Start of the Day Item: Orange juice
F - Favourite Colour: Blue
G - Gold or Silver: Gold
H - Height: 4ft 11 and three quarter inches (don't forget the three-quarters)
I - Instruments you play: None
J - Job: Self-employed quiz setter
K - Kids: 2 daughter 22 & son 21
L - Living Arrangements: Own home
M - Music You Love: Genesis are at the top of a very long list.
N - Nicknames: None
O - Overnight Hospital Stay: 7 nights when my daughter was born and 6 nights when my son was born. Normal births in an RAF hospital in West Germany where nobody went home early.
P - Pet Peeve: Socks being inside out or rolled up when I'm sorting out the washing.
Q - Quote from a Movie: 'I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her.' Notting Hill
R - Right handed or Left: Right handed
S - Siblings: 2 sisters and 1 brother, all younger
T - Time you wake up: Rarely set the alarm but usually between 8:00 and 9:00
U - Underwear: M & S
V - Vegetables you dislike: Most
W - Workout Style: Fell walking, swimming, aerobics.
X - X-Rays You've Had: Leg when I broke my it in 2002 and a few others as a child/teenager when I did a lot of gymnastics.
Y - Yummy Food You Make: According to my family, meat pie, meatballs, shepherds pie, chocolate malteser cake, lemon meringue, muffins, sticky toffee pudding. I like to bake and they like to eat it.
Z - The Best Place to Visit - Any hill but my favourite place is Bleaklow Stones in the Peak District.

We're in Love

With Yankee Candles.

Whilst out Christmas shopping last December I came across a Yankee Candle shop in our local shopping centre. As the sister-in-law is incredibly difficult to buy for I picked up some candles for her as a gift, which she ended up not getting.

As is traditional in our house on Christmas Eve we had a take-away and as I didn't fancy coming down Christmas Day and opening our presents in a room that had that, you had a curry last night smell, I set one of the candles alight. Never really having had much to do with candles, unless there is a power cut, I wasn't sure it would have the desired effect, but the room was soon smelling of cinnamon, rather than curry, and the next morning no curry smell at all. Wonderful.

Now they must be good because last night we also had dinner in the living room, rather than in the dining room, and I came downstairs last night to find that husband had lit one of the candles.

It is official we are candle converts and I'm just wondering how long it will take us to burn our way through the sister-in-law's Christmas present so as that I can pick a new fragrance.

2010 Goals

Not being a great believer in New Year Resolutions I do like to set

myself some goals for the year.

Last year my stitching goals were quite simple:

To finish Celtic Autumn.

To finish the stitching I committed myself to for others.

Sadly neither of them were achieved in fact last year saw a pathetically

small amount of stitching being done.

My main goal however was to still be happily married by the end of the year. As I explained the start of 2010 new decades are not good for me:

In 1990 my first husband was killed in a road accident.

In 2000 my second husband decided to trade me in a for a younger model.

So I set as my main goal to get to the end of this year with my marriage and family still in tact and with us all fit and healthy.

Well we are still married and quite happily despite it being a challenging year, with us both being in the first year of setting up new businesses. The health front hasn't been quite so good as the second half of the year saw me unable to walk very far but that is being sorted out now and I'm back out walking again so all in all I think we can say my main goal for the year was achieved.

My Sort of Doctor

Just returned from a visit to the Doctor as I have been suffering from a bad attack of arthritis for the past three weeks. It seems to clear up but then returns.

Anyway, besides the pills she has given me she has also instructed me that I'm to do:

No Ironing
No Washing Up
No Hoovering

Shame I did them all before I went to the doctors, which probably explains why I've had another flare-up.

As you can imagine there are howls of disbelief from my Husband, Daughter and Son, knew I should have got it in writing.

As for me that's my sort of diagnosis, I'll be visiting her again!!

Please Forgive Me

Please read all of this blog entry.

My stitching plans went flying out of the window when my sister Debra spoke to me last week. She has signed up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in September for charity. In order to do it she has to raise around £4000.00 and so I have written a quiz for her that she can sell on.

Sean and Louise at Love The Lakes have donated the prize which is one of their limited edition prints. It only costs £1.00, plus your stamp and envelope to enter the quiz so please can you help my sister by heading over to my Peak Walker website and downloading the quiz. You only have to part with your pound when you submit your answers.

Debra lives in Cumbria and is doing the climb to help the local radio CFM Radio raise money for their charity Cash For Kids. She trained and worked for many years as a sick children's nurse which probably explains why the charity appeals to her.

On a personal note I really want Debra to raise this money as she has had it quite tough herself over the last few years and it would mean so much to me to see her doing something she has always wanted to do. She has survived a very rare form of cancer, when she was in her early 30's, a very nasty divorce and last year as a result of her cancer treatment was back in hospital having lesions removed from her lungs. It's time she got to have some fun.

Can I also ask one other favour, if possible would you mind spreading the word as much as possible via your blogs or friends etc. In return I promise to get this blog back to where it should be i.e. stitching ASAP. I have to get stitching as one of the things I'm working on is Debra's birthday present which is next month.

Sick of the White Stuff

Some of you may notice that my blog background has suddenly got very bright. It's my fight back against the white stuff.

With the exception of three days we have now had snow and ice on the ground outside for over three weeks. There is no longer any grit in the the tub at the bottom of the road, the snow is still falling and our road resembles an ice-ring. Husband has just got back from rescuing Daughter from work as they shut early so as that the staff could get home as the buses have stopped running.

It no longer looks pretty just downright slippy and dangerous and I'm sick to death of the world being white. My friend Bilbo has some lovely shots of her garden being turned upside-down over the last few days and I have to say I never knew I would love looking at mud quite so much.

I have informed Husband that if we ever win the Lottery or he becomes a multi-millionaire we are going to spend our winters following the England cricket team when they are abroad.

Bring back the colour I miss it.

I've Just Had Good Laugh

I have just looked back at the goals I set myself for 2009 and guess what, I achieved not a single one of them!!

Nothing there that wasn't achievable at the start of the year, although where on earth I thought I was going to get enough time to do all that stitching I don't know.

This year I'm not at all sure I should bother setting myself any goals at all accept maybe to try harder.

Lets be optimistic though, she says as she has already failed to start one of her goals for 2010!

Last year I wanted to lose about 3 stone in weight and get a lot fitter, neither of which I achieved. This year I have exactly the same goal and in an attempt to motivate myself I've set up another blog that I intend to update each Tuesday where I will keep a record of how much exercise I'm doing and set myself new goals each week. I had planned on starting it last Tuesday but I had an attack of arthritis in my shoulders so my original plans disappeared. I currently have a stinking cold so my plans for getting back in the pool will have to wait. We are also having yet more snow so getting out for a daily walk is not on either, as the pavements will once again be treacherous. Not a great start is it.

Sewing wise I have only two goals:

1. To finish Celtic Autumn
2. To finish the stitching I committed myself to for others.

My biggest goal for the year though is to still be happily married by the end of the year. The start of new decades are not good for me:

In 1990 my first husband was killed in a road accident.
In 2000 my second husband decided to trade me in a for a younger model.

Which is why getting to the end of this year with my marriage and family still in tact and with us all fit and healthy is really the only goal I have for this year. I truly don't want to make it a third decade in a row that starts on a low

Not a Happy Bunny

I have just got in from a delightful walk around Carsington Res and jumped in the shower, to find there is no hot water.

Why.........

British Gas were here earlier and serviced our boiler and guess what, they left it not working.

No hot water, no central heating, just a flashing red light on the boiler

After Husband rang them and insisted they returned today and not tomorrow (which was what they wanted to do) they are coming back in an hour. They are not leaving until it is working, even if I have to hold them hostage!!

In the mean time I'm waiting for the immersion heater to kick in so as that I can get the shampoo out of my hair!!

British Gas returned later and discovered they had left a valve shut that they closed as part of their tests. I guess that's what happens when you decide to supervise someone instead of just letting them get on with the job. In this case two heads were not better than one.

I Shouldn't Be Here

Well the sun is shining outside, the weather is set fair and I should currently be pitching my tent in the shadows of Blencathra and heading out for a short afternoon stroll. Needless to say I'm not. Daughter had other ideas. Last night I got a blue light trip in an ambulance and a visit to the new A&E Department in Derby and no sleep. Not an experience I'm in a hurry to repeat. Daughter who was in a great deal of pain and vomiting doesn't recall much of it as she was completely out of it and that was before she had any morphine.

Thankfully she didn't need to stay in hospital and today is fine, moaning that she can't afford to miss work, on the phone and Internet whilst also watching TV. So, as I said everything seems normal. Husband and I simply didn't have the ability to pack the car, drive for 4 or 5 hours and then spend an hour or so setting up the tent and everything that goes in it. As long as Daughter remains OK we will instead head off early tomorrow morning and should the weather remain OK come home a day later than we originally planned.

I have no sewing to show you as I have been working on my Blogversry pieces for Conny whilst also finishing off an RAK which is now on its way to the USA. Hopefully when we get back from the Lakes I will be able to reveal the RAK to you all.

Thank you to everyone who made such nice comments about my Mum's birthday present and to all the people who commented on the LNS which was new to me. It's very reassuring to know they come highly recommended, especially when the first task I have given them is to frame something for my Mum. I was actually back there on Tuesday buying some threads to finish my RAK with. It really is too close to home for me. I can see a lot of trips to Alfreton in my future. Which reminds me I now have time to make enquiries about a photography course that is running there.

Washing

Thought I'd share two conversations I've had with the 2 male members of my family/household in the last 48 hours regarding washing.

Sunday evening Husband is collecting together his ironing, whilst I'm doing something on the computer:

Husband: Have you washed my shirt?
Me: Which one?
Husband: The light blue one.
Me: Yes ...................... pause and then think
Me: When did you last wear it?
Husband: Wednesday.
Me: No. I usually wash light blue stuff on a Monday/Tuesday with the towels.
Husband: I didn't know you were that organised.

Now I know he pays no attention at all to what I do. For years now he has been emptying the washing machine and putting the tumble dryer on overnight. Has he never noticed that because between them he and my two children have very little other than black clothes I rarely do a mixed/coloured wash!! I reckon I do 2 dark washes to every white or mixed coloured wash and that includes bedding.

P.S. I refused to iron his shirts long before he moved in as he's so fussy about them. I could iron my late Husband's shirts well enough for the Royal Air Force but apparently not well enough my for current Husband.

Earlier this evening I realise I haven't done any of Son's shirts for work over the last few days and he's at work tomorrow.

Son is a shift manager at MacDonalds which means he gets to wear a white poly-cotton shirt that generally gets covered in tomato stains, grease and black stuff from the grills (I think). As they are poly-cotton I can't wash them on a hot wash, so I have to treat the various stains overnight, before they go in the wash. He has four of them and I try to wash them in batches of three, which usually allows me to stay well ahead of his shift pattern. The trouble is he's just about to do the 5th day in a row and I forgot to sort any out last night.

Me: Dashing into his bedroom and desperately hoping that he has a shirt in his wardrobe. There is after all only one in the washing basket.

Son: I used the last shirt this morning.
Me: Well there is only one in the washing basket.
Son: They're on my floor.
Son's Friend: It's such a tip on your floor, how's your Mum meant to see them?

Thank goodness for tumble dryers as at least I can wash and dry his shirts in time, but I love the fact that it wasn't the fact he hadn't put his dirty clothes in the washing basket that Son's friend commented on, but rather the fact I couldn't see them on his bedroom floor.

Graduation

The last few days have been rather busy as on Friday it was not only Daughter's Graduation Day but also Husband's birthday.

The day after her graduation was also Daughter's 21st birthday. She had a big family do for her 18th birthday so this time she celebrated with her friends. She had stopped in London following her graduation ceremony and went out for lunch with all her friends from university and then travelled home to spend the evening celebrating with her friends at home. We saw her for about 30 minutes.