Sherlock and Cookies - Day 33

This morning I was tutoring and preparing my lessons for the week. Before I started I had another experiment with the green screen on TikTok:

@lakessinglemum My heart will go on ##myheartwillgoon ##celinedion ##titanc ##fyp ##mumsoftiktok ##mumsontiktok ##over40club
♬ My Heart Will Go On - Love Theme from "Titanic" - Céline Dion

We were a bit short on lunch options so we made simple pizzas and cheesy, garlic bread with tortillas:

Then I headed off Morrisons to get shopping in for folks who are shielding:

Blue Skies and TikTok- Day 19

Last night I got into making TikTok videos. It is turning out to be pretty addictive when you have nothing better to do! It was good mood booster to start my day by filming this one:

@lakessinglemum Working hard ##working9to5 ##fyp ##over40 ##mumsoftiktok
♬ original sound - zachjustice_

I did then do some real work with an hour of maths' tuition via video link whilst dressed as Sherlock Holmes! Then I had yet another virtual coffee break with another friend. After that I couldn't resist making another TikTok video whilst in costume:

Cooking up some magic - Day 5

The realities of the new rules haven't really hit our home as we can't leave any way. We are settling into our isolation routines and I started off with my Joe Wicks live workout:

Then it was time to don today's silly outfit before hanging out the washing:

I was interviewed by CFR Radio about the rainbow on my window. They used some of it on their news bulletin which I heard this evening. It's great to know that the rainbows are spreading around the world.

My son was more enthusiastic about doing his maths work than his other subjects! He did ask to do some cooking which counted towards his food tech. He rustled up some cheesy crackers:

Mother's Day - Day 3

Like many people for whom today was Mother's Day it was incredibly surreal. With social isolation and distancing I wasn't able to give my mum her card even though she only lives 1 mile from our house:

To cheer me up I joined the global trend of putting a rainbow in your window as a symbol of hope. There is also a virtual Easter egg hunt. Just hope the paint comes off as easily as folks say: 

In order to raise a few smiles I spent the entire day dressed as an elf! It did make folks laugh on the video chats I had... Of course going out for a Mother's Day lunch was off the cards. I made myself a ploughman's and sat out on the lawn for a picnic. My son also tried to teach me how to play Magic the Gathering:

Reasons to be cheerful: Back to School #R2BC

 
It's September which means back to school for many of us and the hosting of Reasons to be Cheerful comes back to me from Michelle! So glad that so many familiar faces are joining in and I look forward to reading and sharing your posts. I've just come back from an 8.5 mile run and the happy endorphins are flowing so here are just a few of the things that have made me smile this week:
1) House sorting
It is still a work in progress but lots of things have got better. I swapped a chest of drawers with a book case in my bedroom so my bed feels less enclosed. My dad fixed the Algot shelving in the cupboard of doom so I can be much more organised. We had a patch of damp in the lounge and this has now been fixed and patched up. Just have to decorate once all the works in the lounge have been done: 

2) Walking to work

I have missed my daily commute across the River Kent. It lifts the spirits taking in the water and sky:

3) Into Year 8

My son went back to school and he is now in Year 8. He had to stand one step down for the annual in front of the door photo as he has grown so much this year:

Operation Central Heating

When you have filled your house to capacity (and have squeezed in things right to the edges of rooms) getting a letter saying your heating is being replaced is the stuff of nightmares! For the last couple of months I have been rearranging furniture and selling excess stuff in the hope of making everything accessible. It's hard when you will have to continue living a property during major works as some jobs have to wait until the last minute. 

So this weekend I found myself dismantling beds with help from my dad. We had had lots of fun constructing the high sleeper in a box room 4 years ago and it was just as interesting to dismantle! At least my bed wasn't as tricky as it just needed some gentle persuasion:

I am very lucky to have a decent size shed that I had decluttered as it is currently full of things such as dining chairs and recycling boxes (only problem is I should have left lawn mower accessible!):

The results of all this manual labour?

Reasons to be Cheerful: Sunshine and Other Things #R2BC

Sorry for the delay! Can I blame the heat? I am standing in for one extra week whilst Michelle has a well earned break, then we are both having a week off with our families! Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Wine Tasting
I felt like a proper grown up when I was invited to a wine tasting at Majestic. It was great to sample a range of wines and have proper grown up conversations, with mostly much older wine appreciators.  They also laid on yummy snacks: 

2) Time with loved ones

Straight after the wine tasting I went out for pizza with three of the people I love the most:

3) Malham

I have already blogged about our wonderful day at Malham fell race. What I hadn't mentioned was how close we were to the stunning Malham Cove:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Family Memories, Photos and Film #R2BC

We have been so busy this week that I have just realised that its Thursday so linky day! The lack of blog posts is due to working on my YouTube channel. I also had to go to Manchester to collect my final studio portrait... I hope you will join in and share (I have a feeling I need to visit a few of you still from last week...). Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Videoing with my daughter:
I recruited my daughter to help me film the latest fell race at Elterwater. She used 2 of my cameras and her phone to record the action in the bog whilst I was on the hill:

Not only did she do a great job but she also assisted an injured runner in the under 13 race. Here is one of our videos:

2) Family memories

After tea with my aunt and uncle we were treated to seeing some slides from the 1970s of baby me and my brother as we grew up. I was a real chubster:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Running, Tulips, DIY and Winning #R2BC

At least I have remembered what day of the week it is this week so that I am ready for hosting! I am enjoying reading and sharing your posts this month and look forward to it again this week. Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Up and running
After a visit to the podiatrist I have been told to not give up running! I have new insoles to correct my flat feet and pigeon toes which should hopefully sort out my painful heel. So I was delighted to head over to Lancaster parkrun for a Run Mummy Run meet and our annual tourist trip to Williamson Park:

2) Winning things

I have won 2 Facebook competitions this week. First of all I have won a Haynes manual for the NASA Skylab:

Secondly I have won a burlesque photoshoot - ooh er missus - a chance to get primped, preened and try out a corset! Not sure if the results of that will be appearing on here...

3) Overdue DIY

Reasons to be Cheerful: A week of cheer! #R2BC

Are we really almost half way through December already? I can't believe in less than a fortnight it will be Christmas Day! At least there are plenty of festive frolics to make me cheerful now. I am also watching season 2 of the Crown as I type which I am thoroughly enjoying! Here are my 7 main reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Community Coffee Morning 

We had a Christmas coffee morning as a community as we had Big Lottery fund money left over from our playground opening in the summer. One of our residents is a professional cook and she made all these wonderful goodies for us to enjoy:

2) Magical Kendal

Whilst out to scope out shots for our latest Fell running video I saw how magical Fletcher Park was looking in the wintry light:

3) Fabulous Frost

Reasons to be Cheerful: Time #R2BC

This is Michelle's last week hosting as the linky comes back to me for October! I had better be super organised from next week. Let's hope I have as much time to be organised as this week... The advantage of being underemployed is that time has not been in short supply. So what have I had time to do this week that has made me smile:
1) Time with family and friends
This week I have spent more time with my local based family including a trip to Victoria and Abdul, tea out and a relaxed coffee. When things have been a bit bonkers this is so essential! Accidentally bumping into a friend when out and about is great reason to smile too.
2) Time to organise
The airing cupboard was out of control so I spent an entire day culling our bedding and towels and putting in back in an organised fashion. How long will it stay this tidy:

3) Time to finish fixing my iPhone

To get all the features of my phone working I had to get help to remove the LCD plate off the remains of the old screen:

Luckily once again my dad had time to come to the rescue and we successfully put the plate on the new screen and I now have a fully functioning phone with Home button and both cameras!

4) Time to appreciate my garden

I am very lucky to have been given some autumn flowering plants which are providing colour for me and food for insects:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Up and Back #R2BC

As it is September the blog hop is back in the hands of the lovely Michelle and I will be back in October. Gives me a chance to relax a bit! Apart from our trail run to Easedale Tarn here are my simple reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Butterfly
In the wet summer I haven't see too many butterflies so it was lovely to see this beauty whilst walking into town: 

2) Levelling Up
As you move up the levels of Pokemon Go it takes longer to progress to the next one as the number of points needs keeps on increasing. We were very happy to finally get to level 30 thanks to plenty of raids:

3) House Organisation

This week I tackled the clothes in our bedrooms. I did the Kondo trick of getting them all out and being ruthless. Then I had a lot more space to get the remaining clothes away much more neatly and organised:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Family, Friends and Celebrations #R2BC

Where is August vanishing to? Scottish schools are back already and we have less than 2 weeks left here! So much still to make me smile this week though and I hope lots of you join in too and then comment on other blogs:
1) Happy Birthday Dad!
Today is my dad's birthday so I just have to post the oldest photograph of him I can find which must be from the early 1950s!:

2) Furry Family

We have 3 furry family members who bring us all lots of pleasure here are Bubble (Splodge playing hard to get!):

and Coco:

3) Movie Time

Reasons to be Cheerful: Friends and Home #R2BC

It's Thursday so it is time to celebrate our reasons to be cheerful! I have now recovered from a fun but tiring week co-ordinating a Single with Kids holiday in Pembrokeshire and have had plenty of reasons to smile as we are now midway through our summer holidays. Here are a few of them:
1) Old friends
We managed to come back from Pembrokeshire via Buckinghamshire to spend time with my High School friends and their families. Great to catch up in good company and in good weather! We have been friends since 1983 and spending time together is still fantastic:

2) Back to Kendal
As much as I loved Pembrokeshire I did miss Kendal so its great to be back with more time to soak up our local sights. This is Stramongate Bridge one of several old bridges across the River Kent:

3) Kindness & Support

Reasons to be Cheerful: All Sorts #R2BC

This is the kind of week that reasons to be cheerful is made for when lots of things have gone wrong so you need to focus on the positives to lift your spirits! So its good to be back hosting the linky so I can post these reasons to be cheerful:
1) Pokemon Go Raiding
Thanks to a chance conversation in a shop we joined in with 2 group raids capturing our first legendary Pokemon! Looks like this will keep us out of mischief for a while:

2) House Sorting

I am enjoying having time to catch up on housework and get the house better organised. Quite a bit of decluttering and I am selling some now redundant bits of furniture. Hopefully end up before September with a house I can be a lot more proud of:

3) Orchid

This beautiful orchid was a leaving present from school and its looking gorgeous on my window sill:

Holiday hit list

Well school is out for summer so its freedom until September 4th! For that reason I thought I would draw up a holiday hit list of things I want to do or need to do before the schools go back...

1) Family fun

I want to enjoy time with my family when we have no time pressure on us. Whether its a break away from home or days out in the Lakes this has to be top priority!

2) Fitness

The last half term has seen my health & fitness take a back seat to my challenge is to:

a) get back to running 4 times a week and increase to half marathon distance
b) lose a stone as I have gained some of what I had lost...

3) Home

A year of me teaching full time has meant a house going backwards and it becoming disorganised so I have a few hits to do at home:

a) sort out my bedroom so that all my teaching stuff has a home yet I have a place to relax
b) sort out kitchen so that I make best use of the storage and its easy to maintain
c) with my son get his room into a proper tween room so that he has his own space too
d) get the lounge back into proper usage instead of a bit of everything and chaotic!
e) rescue the garden and make it a better place to chill

4) Blogging

I have neglected this blog whilst working full time so I need to revive it and get it back to where it was...

Watch this space!

Reasons to be Cheerful: Kendal Mountain Festival, Getting Organised and Family

I will have to be more organised next week when Michelle hands the baton back to me as the host! She has done a lovely job this month. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Kendal Mountain Festival

Kendal has a well deserved reputation for its festivals and the Mountain one was fabulous to explore. I just wish I'd been able to see a few films:

2) Getting Organised

It may be a drop in the ocean but paperwork with no home was a big problem. So I bought myself a handy home filing system and I've begun to work on getting the paperwork under control:

3) Family Time

An unexpected invite out to dinner with my parents was the highlight of the week. Tapas at a local restaurant followed by games back at our house. It all made for a perfect Saturday evening:

4) Fabulous Views

The thing that makes up the long drive along the A590 is the view. At the moment I get to see snow covered mountains, Morecambe Bay, the Hoad monument and some fabulous sunrise/sunsets. To top it off the slag heap behind school did an impression of Uluru one morning this week:

Hope you have reasons to be cheerful of your own? If you do why not join in and share.

Reasons to be Cheerful: Back to School #R2BC

The hostess with the mostest this month is Michelle so I hope you all pop over and say hi! I enjoyed reading everyone's posts last week and hope there are a lots of you joining in this week. Here are my back to school reasons to be cheerful:

1) Back on the Helm

Back to school means back to the Helm for running club on a Wednesday night. What a cracking first evening back up there too:

2) Carpet

I spent time at the weekend helping my son clear his bedroom so that he now has a completely clear floor. It looks so much better without the accumulation of toys etc:

3) New class

I spent several days organising my new classroom ahead of the children coming in this week its exciting having the power to do what I want with the space for the best teaching:

4) Parkrun

At a rather soggy parkrun last weekend I knocked 23 seconds off my previous time to send me back on track and in the right direction again. So pleased that my son was once again keen to help out by sorting the finish tokens:

5) My girl

We used the flood measure to prove that she really has sprouted upwards a long way over the last year! I received a super phone call from her new music teacher at school this week so here is hoping that year 8 is a fabulous year for her:

Let's hope all 3 of us have a great academic year!