A bed of roses

I made it to church last Sunday. It felt sooo good to be back!

Monday, the district nurse came to change husband's dressings. Tuesday, the plumber came through the rain at 8am to fit our new toilet - it's only taken about 6 months for the stars to align on that one! Wednesday, the electrician came to fit new lights in the kitchen - they are VERY bright. Thursday was the nurse again. On top of that, we had an MRI scan at Broadgreen Tuesday afternoon and a GP appointment Wednesday afternoon. Friday, we were very glad to have nowhere to go and no-one to see :D

Today, we met my mum and step-dad for lunch at Brown's - I'm usually underwhelmed by their food but today's shepherd's pie was delicious. Then we did some shopping - including a birthday card for the son who is 32 on Monday.

Daughter's baby is still head-down, so now we're just waiting for him to arrive in the next 2 weeks. If he comes this week, he'll be a Tiger; if it's after next weekend, he'll be a Rabbit. Given how things have been with him so far, I'm going for Tiger :D

I've been trying - and rejecting - television shows the last few weeks. I watched 3 episodes of Marie Antoinette but... well, it's like Titanic, isn't it? I know what happens in the end...

Pretty Little Things: Original Sin has Bailee Madison, who I really like. But I didn't watch the original series - and there are 7 seasons to get through!

I watched two episodes of The Recruit, but I really don't care about finding out what happens next.

I do think I'll stick with Kaleidoscope - I just need to get round to the second episode.

Still, there's always ST:DS9 to fall back on >D

Oh, and I LOVE my new bed. So warm, so snuggly, so hard to get out of in the morning.

Sunday I led the service at church - nice, big, airy space.  And good to see people in the flesh!

Monday, worked from home in my big, baggy, oversized hoody because it was my last day WFH (well, until Friday!) and I wanted the comfort.

Tuesday was just zipping from one thing to another - ToG, very short meetings, scrabbling to get Things done (including eating my lunch) in between.  Oh, and back in the office.

Wednesday was also exhausting but I'm not quite sure why!  But I did get a proper lunch break and watched Primalliquid play Legend of Dragoon.  I also had a meeting in the evening.

Thursday was much calmer and I got to finish my 'Let's do DevOps' paper - not particularly because I felt there would be any objections but because I wanted to get the case laid out clearly.  When I shared the paper with folk, one was so impressed they asked if they could use it as a template when they need to make a case for something!  Which gave the the idea to use it as the basis of a template myself - I'm calling it a 'briefing note', and it will be used when I need to organise my own thoughts and, possibly, share them.  Another evening meeting.

Friday morning was sooo much calmer - after three days of frantically running around getting ready in the mornings (prayer, exercise, making my breakfast (porridge) AND lunch (reheated leftovers) to take to work in food flasks because I'm NOT going in the kitchen thank you very much, wash, dress, walk to work), I was able to do everything at a nice, relaxed pace.

I also managed to fit some gaming in this week.  And my sleep pattern seems to have (mostly) settled down again.

Last night I watched three episodes of Kristen Bell's latest series - The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window.  She seems to enjoy playing VERY broken people.  Well, 'enjoy' might not be the right word!  But she does a great job of it.  I have no idea if ANY of the things that are happening are real or just in her head, but I can't wait to find out.

One good thing about being back in work is that I can pick up my bits and pieces of shopping on the way home, so I have an indoors Saturday to look forward to!

I normally update on a Thursday but yesterday I completely forgot about DW and did some work on my novel. I did know it was Thursday but somehow didn't connect it here.

Anyway, today is Friday and the last day of my week off work. It's been a busy week and has just flown over but it wasn't work, which is a Good Thing.

Saturday I re-did the seal on the bath because the old one was manky. Putting on the new seal was OK - after the husband and I had spent half-an-hour working out how the tube of stuff went in the gun thingy (ROFL) - but taking out the old stuff took AGES. I also managed to do some washing but otherwise it was a lazy day.

Sunday we all went out for a fairly disastrous family meal. The family part was OK - the meal not so much. I'd suggested a place I walk past quite a lot that, from the outside, looks like a nice pub and has a pub grub menu. The food was awful, not helped by the thumping music and the Bank Holiday drinkers both inside and out. So, yeah - NOT a place we'll be going back to. Daughter and grandson gave me a room diffuser.

Monday I met up with my mum and step-dad for coffee and gift (a cute china cat) then did some shopping for the kitchen (MORE paint, tablecloth, utensil holders, clock), came home and washed the windows and nets, watched some telly and played the last of NNK2 (for now). I also did a really nice Tarot reading using my new Triple Goddess deck. The spread used only Major Arcana and there were only six cards but it was really affirming of a new direction I'm exploring. I was amused to get The Fool in the 'What are my fears?' position and confused by the High Priestess in the 'What's going against me?' position (generally, I think of myself as the High Priestess, and I am VERY introspective - you may have noticed). But I decided that it was reminding me that I can't do EVERYTHING on my own.

Tuesday was my birthday!!! Had a bath and played the first hour or so of Horizon:Zero Dawn. I enjoyed it but ran into difficulty right away. OK, you want me to speak to my foster father on top of those rocks - but how do I get UP the bloody rocks? After falling off the cliff a couple of times I did the unthinkable and went to YouTube. I was frustrated that I had to do that so early in the game. If you're reading this and HAVEN'T played the game but want to, look for the small wooden post wrapped in yellow rope (facepalm). I then switched to The Witness because FRUSTRATION!!! Which caused more frustration, but for different reasons! The husband was a star and made a start on painting the doors in the kitchen, which are now grey. Yellow walls and grey woodwork - not a combination that I would have thought of but it really works! Anyway, it was one of those days that fly past without much happening. I also got a cute owl-shaped backpack from the husband, which I will use for carrying odds and ends to church, and a ficus in a pot from the son.

Wednesday I went to Morning Prayer and had a brief meeting with one of our church safeguarding officers who is moving to Shetland, so I'm taking over from her. It fits well with my role as 'leader' of the Pastoral Care Committee. In going through her file, we realised there are some gaps in our provision. I get so frustrated by this stuff. Obviously, I want the people who come to our church to be safe - but having all the checks and balances suggests there are people there who aren't safe - even though everyone is! Urgh. Anyway, we have some work to do on that as a church, not least getting the people running the kid's group to recognise the need, too. Then I finished the painting and started falling in love with H:ZD.

Yesterday, the son and I did a bit of tidying up in the front garden and I got my hair cut. Still loving the short style - but still amazed how much lighter my head feels after a hair cut! I mean, there wasn't much there to start with! I also picked up some curtains I'd ordered for the kitchen - but I'd got the measurements the wrong way round so they were far too long. So, they've been sent back and I will reorder next week. It's frustrating because that's the last piece in the kitchen jigsaw! My brother-in-law came round to tell us some more details of our niece's funeral. He and our nephews have made some decisions about cars and who goes where that are bound to be the cause of family Issues for years to come - but we'll just go where we're put. Then more H:ZD and Once Upon A Time.

Today, I have a meeting with someone else from church to begin planning a Hillsborough memorial 'happening' at church next year and I may do a bit of tidying in the back garden - or I may just slump since it's my Last Day!

Tomorrow, I'm planning on taking the grandson to get yet more school shoes - don't know what he keeps doing to them! - and to see Sherlock Gnomes.

And that's all for now! Toodles, DW!