We're second!

I felt a bit bleary this morning, and after waking up at 7am and going downstairs, I went back to bed at about 8am for another hour... oh dear! 

I felt much better when I woke up again and we pottered about in the morning, catching up with jobs and watching some of Saturday Morning Kitchen. At lunchtime, we drove over to Weedon, through stunning countryside that was in full bloom.

We decided to have lunch first and managed to bag a table outside. Sophie ordered a Pimms while I made do with a glass of water. I was still trying to re-hydrate after last night! We had lunch of sandwiches and turkey salad and it was heavenly to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.

The place was packed, and after lunch, we had a wander around the shops. I was on the lookout for some pretty jars for the new laundry room and I found a little slate tile with "Laundry" on it that was perfect for the door.

From the Shires Shopping Village we drove to Vintique in Weedon itself and I picked out two lovely little jars which will go perfectly in the kitchen. I also found a wooden sign for lost socks which will come in handy! We're always losing socks and lonely ones stay on an armchair in the living room until their partner is found!

Today has been warm and the temperature was about 22c. Summer is on its way! From Weedon, we drove to Dobbies Garden Centre as I wanted to get a bottle of Champagne and there's a Sainsbury's outlet there. They only had one bottle, though, so we bought an ice cream instead and sat in the car to eat it! Perfect for a warm day!

We bought a bottle of Champagne in Aldi for a few pence over £13, which was excellent value, and returned home to relax. I made the meringue for a pavlova while Sophie prepared vegetables for the beef stroganoff. Of course, tonight was the Eurovision Song Contest and we were hoping that we'd do better than last year when we received nul points!

Sophie and I played Scrabble and listened to music and Keith joined us at the island to watch the FA Cup Final. Liverpool won on penalties. Sophie beat me by 3 points... drat!

Dinner was delicious and we ate the stroganoff with rice and garlic bread. We managed to catch up with the Eurovision Song Contest, and we enjoyed this year's show very much. We scored each song and our favourites were Armenia and Iceland, both of whom didn't do that well. I finished off the pavlova and we drank Champagne and had a lovely evening.

The fantastic surprise, this year, though were the scores Great Britain received. We were leading after the Jury votes, but once the public votes had been counted, Ukraine won and we were second! Not much surprise there! But it was brilliant for us! What a difference to last year when we were well and truly last!

Catching up with friends.

The phones today have been busy, in that drip, drip way that's so annoying. In between calls, I managed to get the rest of the holiday playscheme places on and noticed that some of the earlier days in August have already had children enrolled on them. We have some very organised parents!

This evening Sophie and I had been invited, along with our friend and ex-neighbour, Sue, to Michelle's for dinner. Unfortunately, Sue has tested positive for covid so she wasn't able to come along, so it was just the three of us.

Before we went, Sophie and I had a sneaky wine hour with a glass of Pinot Gris and the rest of 90 Day Fiance... bliss! Keith didn't go to the pub this evening and cooked himself fish and chips. He should have taken advantage of the van, but Sophie and I would have been very jealous!

We walked up at 7.15pm and were given a glass of fizz to start proceedings. I said hello to Hector and Lily who didn't seem as wary of me this evening!

Lily

Michelle had cooked a vegetarian lasagne with salad and garlic bread. It was lovely to be out for dinner and catching up with her as we haven't met up since last year.

The cats kept us company all evening and Lily loved having a cuddle. Hector wasn't so sure!

Can I join you?

We had a brilliant evening chatting and laughing, and Richard joined us later after we'd had a delicious Tiramisu. He showed us photos of their trip to Iceland some years ago, and the fantastic Northern Lights they'd seen.

It was 12.30pm when we left - I hadn't realised it was so late!

Time flies!

I had a busy, shorter shift today and managed to get a lot done. Tracie was working with us, and as well as helping out in the contact centre, she runs a pub in Wellingborough with her husband. They've just won the CAMRA pub of the year and I keep meaning to go over and visit with Keith. As I left, Sara suggested we all go over as a group from work, which I thought was a great idea!

The rest of the afternoon sped by... I don't know where the time goes on a Thursday! I finish at 2pm but it seems like only minutes before it's 5pm and Sophie's leaving work!

Keith and I had planned to go and see Operation Mincemeat at the cinema this evening, but we both decided it was too much hassle to try and do dinner before 6pm, eat it and then leave in good time to get there. I wish our cinema showed films a little later in the evening, like before, but I don't think that's going to change any time soon. Life as we used to know it has well and truly gone, which is a shame. I would love to go back to the hours I used to work!

Running errands

It was Sophie's turn for new tyres on her car today and the fitter arrived at just after 8am. He wasn't finished by the time she had to leave for work, so I gave her a lift and we popped to Cafe 900 for a coffee and a muffin. We didn't have long to linger, though, and after five minutes I delivered Sophie to her workplace.

Back home we sorted Mike's "care" package out and added some Squashies sweets, Kinder Buenos, and a couple of cans of McEwans Champion to the box before taping it up and driving over to the post office in Brixworth. I sent it First Class so it should be with him tomorrow!

The weather has been abysmal today with rain all morning and into the early afternoon. After popping to the post office, we drove to the care home to take Mum's washing back, so that was all the errands completed. I spent the rest of the day pottering about and doing some jobs and at 4.30pm, when the weather had improved hugely, we drove down to Brackmills to collect Sophie.

This evening, Keith went to the last of the football finals at Sileby, while Sophie cooked dinner. I'd already prepared the vegetables and she made a delicious chicken, mushroom and pasta dish. After we'd eaten, we had a look for 90 Day Fiance on the television and realised it was on Discovery+, which costs £3.99 a month. We took the plunge and signed up, so now we can watch the series again, something we haven't done since 2020! It's definitely our guilty pleasure!

Dreaming!

I had to take my Dad's car today as my front two tyres were being replaced and I was disheartened to see how dirty his car was... maybe on Wednesday I'll try and get it washed!

I felt tired again this morning, but not as badly as yesterday, and I managed to get a lot of work done, including a whole load of cancellations (worrying), a few orders, and the report that Sara now wants me to do every month.

It was great to escape at 4pm and head home, and look forward to tomorrow off. Before dinner, we watched a programme featuring Jane McDonald in the Florida Keys. Seeing the places she visited brought back some fantastic memories! She stayed in Marathon and the hotel and beaches looked gorgeous! How lovely to go back and spend a couple of weeks relaxing in the Florida sunshine!

Feeling weary...

I felt very tired when Sophie woke me up this morning. I hate getting up so early and think my optimum time for waking is about 7.30am!

Being tired really drags me down all day and work was quite trying. It didn't help first thing that we had an abusive customer who shouted down the phone at both Jo and me, even though we were doing our best to help.

Back home I have to confess to sitting on the sofa with Keith and doing very little. He was watching a programme called Mountain Men, which seemed to be a variation of the series set in Alaska we used to watch. I fell asleep!

We had decided to barbecue this evening, as I'm sure the forecast was for warm sunshine, but it clouded over and became horrible. Keith went out nonetheless and cooked some chicken and sausages along with corn on the cob. Sophie and I stayed inside and cooked new potatoes and prepared a salad. The meal was delicious, though, and afterwards, we barbecued three bananas and enjoyed them with chocolate ice cream. How strange that I love hot bananas or any other form of banana, except for a raw one!

After we'd eaten we watched the third episode of The Staircase and I decided I didn't want to see it anymore. Why was our lovely Colin Firth chosen to play a horrible man? I don't care for any of the characters and couldn't care less whether she was murdered or it was an accident, so that's it for me!

Pottering in the garden...

This morning I tackled the gravel garden and was amazed to see how quickly the weeds have taken over! We haven't really done any work out here since last year and I was delighted to see the Clematis flowering. I thought I had killed it!

This area of the garden is overgrown but it's lovely when we prune the bushes back and pull up the weeds that had spread like a carpet over the gravel.

The love seat at the end of the garden needs replacing but it's fine for now. We don't really sit in the garden at the moment - the constant banging of the ball from next door puts us off a bit, and I remember years ago when our children were smaller, we'd spend a lot of time enjoying a drink on the seat and soaking up the sunshine, as it's a real sun-trap. We did have plans to put a large table and chairs out here and make it an extension of the conservatory, but that will have to wait!

I was also thrilled with the clematis at the back of the garage:

This plant used to live in the gravel garden next to the love seat and has a twin which I placed in the back border. Both plants produce gorgeous flowers in May, and the one in the border has managed to survive despite being overcrowded!

We did sit for a little while on the seat in the garden and then it was time for a shower and a visit to see Mum and Dad at the care home. Mum wanted us to sort out Netflix for them, and between Sophie and I, we managed to get them a subscription so they have more choice of what to watch.

We were there for almost two hours, then left to go home. We called into the Co-op first and I bought a bottle of Rose to go with dinner, and Sophie treated us to an ice cream. We drove home via the scenic route and the countryside was looking beautiful. I do love May!

We played Scrabble early this evening and I beat Sophie. Ha! Monty has developed the habit of immediately jumping onto the barstools every time one of us gets up... he knows what he's doing and is a real monkey! Sophie is a real softie and doesn't have the heart to throw him off!

Dinner tonight was delicious - we had Thai green chicken curry and it was lovely with lemongrass and ginger. I have now grown to like fish sauce, something I thought I would never enjoy!