Day 1419 work, toenails 💅🏼and pub alcohol restocking!

Well there’s a title and a half eh?!?

I am SO tired today. I didn’t get to bed until at least 11.30pm last night…. On a school night too.

The Hookers on Tour (crochet hookers obvs!) went to see An Officer and a Gentleman in the King Theatre in Glasgow last night. It was SO good. We had great seats in the back row of the Grand Circle…. No one behind us and the grand circle is not too high up and it’s not too busy either. Just perfect…. I’m like Goldilocks wanting everything to be just so…. I’m not a fan of big crowds, or being up in the gods (upper circle) or driving into Glasgow and parking in tight spaces car parks…. So I got to go to the theatre without any of that!! Thanks to Evelyn for driving and taking the strain for us all. She booked the best seats.

The show was just amazing. The music is all big 80’s tunes, just my kind of thing! I couldn’t believe how amazing the hits were and they just kept coming.

In the meantime the village filming of Lockerbie TV drama, went on all evening.

Here are the extras lined up outside our house.

The pub was covered up to keep it dark for filming.

The window in our back garden was blacked out too.

We had stage light in unique living room shining out the window.

There were huge lights lighting up the street.

We had a Ford Sierra parked outside our house… hiding the fact that the lamp post has a fake base. It was plugged into our electricity!!

This was the lamp post when I came home, about three minutes before Craig switched it off for good.

I quite liked it.

No one was allowed to film the controlled explosion to simulate the plane crashing. It’s going to be so interesting to watch the first episode and see how it all comes together.

I got 6 hours sleep.

I took this through the pub window this morning. I loved these wee tables!

The White Horse one last time as I head to work.

It was a beautiful morning and the road was still closed.

If only it could stay like this.

All of our cars were parked in The Gateside Plant Centre.

It was super frosty….. beautiful patterns on the windscreen.

I had to go to Screwfix on the way to work.

The Tartan vans were all frosty too.

So it was a good day at work and it passed quickly and all of a sudden it’s my weekend again! Woo hoo!

I got my toes painted a lovely dark red on the way home, got my eyebrows done and then got back to the village. The road is back open and the pub is being put back together.

The pub now has no name as they wait for a sign writer.

The old sign was too badly damaged on removal.

I’ve been in to help Holly put the pub back to normal. Here it is all empty!

All of the pub stock was in our house so it’s now back in the right place!

It’s 7.45pm and I’m finally sitting down, I could just shut my eyes right now but I’ll give it another hour.

I’m so happy I got to go to the show last night, something really different and there’s a real buzz about the village after the TV crew have been here.

And it’s Thursday night! Woo hoo.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1367 back to reality!

Oh I don’t know where to put myself tonight…. My head has been sore since after lunch. It feels like a tension headache. My jaw is tight too.

I actually felt fine this morning, slept ok so no excuse there.

It was soooo frozen this morning I couldn’t get into the car!

Claire had been super lovely and scraped my car for me this morning as a wee Monday surprise! how kind…. But by the time I got out I still couldn’t get into the doors. The Beetle has those coupé style windows that drop down as you unlock the door… in the ice there’s no dropping down, hence door not opening.

I finally managed to get into the passenger door and climbed over to get the engine started. It all defrosted in the end but the windows sat kind of open all the way to work. It’s a real flaw.

I got on fine today, felt fine but mid afternoon I lost all focus, I kept having to look things up two and three times.

So… I could just be tired after all the excitement of the last few days!

I really wanted to go for a run after work to try and clear my head but it’s freezing. It’s that bitterly cold that takes your breath away a bit. Tomorrow we have snow forecast!

Probably means we’ll get none but I brought my laptop home just in case. Us anxious folks are always prepared for every eventuality. 😆

There was a lovely sky as the sun set.

Pic doesn’t do it justice. It was almost pink and grey striped, like wallpaper I had as a wee girl.

So yeah, I’m missing my “Heidi the Mountain Goat” tourist attitude of the last few days. Meanwhile I have this sleeping beauty next to me. She looks a bit like a kangaroo!

I am considering a super early night tonight.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1360 back to the every day… 😆

EDIT: So for some reason my brain went from day 1359 to day 1400 and thanks to “anonymous” for pointing that out. It made me laugh a bit too hard!!! title amended… blog as it was!

******************

Wow, I wished I’d had a more exciting day for day 1400 but sadly not…. Days 1358 and 1359 have blown everything this week out the water 😁 still, I’m focussing on enejoykng the present moment so I didn’t wish the day away.

The pillow under my leg in bed is still working a treat. No sore knee overnight, I’m soooooo pleased about that. Even after that run and two walks yesterday, it’s ok sleeping. It’s sorer sitting at my desk than anything else.

So another frosty day but a lot less sunshine today. It was bitter.

This is Craig’s windscreen this morning., his car hadn’t been out since Saturday lunch.

Mine wasn’t as bad as we’d been at Gro Coffee last night.

I love this…. my friend Isy posted on FB today. She shares a lot of amazing things and I very rarely give her credit.

It’s beautiful.

It’s been soooo lovely to see the blue sky and sunshine…. Especially the fact there is no wind and rain…. It does feel like quiet time.

So work, stop for diesel and food shopping on the way home. This made me laugh.

So I’m just gonna share some more photos from the wonderful weekend.

Awwww precious memories, I just loved it.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1359 sleep, jog, dog walk, housework, dinner out!

Another great day in the life…. Though some random anxiety mid day… 🤷🏻‍♀️

I slept like a log last night…. Not surprising I guess after 10.7k in a kayak and all that sea air… but I did have my knee up on a big pillow at the physio’s advice. That seems to have made a difference, though tonight will be the real test as I’ve used my knee a lot today.

I went for a walk/jog/run with Rachel two doors down…. And we actually ran for most of the route, it’s so good to be back out there ~~running~~ jogging!

We did Tough Mudder together in 2022 and ran at a really similar pace. We stopped when either of us needed to and we both felt tired at different times. Neither of us actually like running, which is half the battle!

So at 10am today in the freezing cold thick frost, we gingerly set off. Baby jog steps!!

Selfie in motion!

It’s another stunningly beautiful day.

The roads were slippy!

We walked down the two slippy hills just to be on the safe side but did run most of the way.

Don’t think either of us expected that. Just plodding along at the same speed makes all the difference. We both don’t like to hold anyone up if we’re running with someone faster. It makes it less enjoyable.

So it wasn’t much, it ended up being 23 minutes but I think that’s a really good start.

It’s way more than I managed during the Christmas holidays. All in all today, 15,877 steps so far!

When I got in, I was still quite fired up so took Calaidh up the hill…..

Everything is so pretty in the frost.

Then who suddenly appeared?!? Nacho with Rachel!! He’s off to catch Calaidh!

The Garnock valley looks stunning with the the fog over Kilbirnie loch.

I came home and did housework before Criag and I took the dogs over to the field across the road. This is where my anxiety arose…..

I’m overwhelmed walking four dogs… it’s just completely above my pay grade. I imagined sooooo many things going on. I felt really anxious but instead of holding it all in, I did tell Craig. I didn’t want to spoil the walk and I knew I would if I held it all inside.

He wanted to take them down to Irvine beach park but I was worried there would be too many dogs down there.

When we were in the field I was upset by Khaleesi barking so much, which she does as she has fun…. I thought the dogs might get out the field, was worried someone else would come in the field and we shouldn’t be there. You name it… floods of anxiety.

Here’s the Scottish Dog Behaviourist sitting on a tree stump, calling a client who had some questions, while we were in the field.

The dogs had a blast!

I didn’t actually relax until we got home.

I need to do some work on that.

Here’s Leesi in her new coat. Bless her.

We decided to head to Gro Coffee in Irvine as I got vouchers from Craig’s mum and stepdad for my Christmas.

The sun was just starting to set when we arrived….not a breathe.

Love the way these flats are lit up by the sun.

You can’t book in Gro and they said it would be a 45 minute wait…. So I dragged Craig towards the sunset.

Look at the reflections! My friend Helen will be so proud of me for looking at the reflections.

TEN MINUTES later Gro called and we had to rush back!! There’s a bank of cloud running along the base of Arran so I think the actual sunset would have been stunning but we had to head back.

All of these were taken while walking very fast!!

Our food was the usual Gro standard…. Lovely! meat feast pizza, chicken tenders, halloumi fries and skin on fries.

So all in all, minus this afternoon’s anxiety, I’ve had THE best weekend.

It looks like it will be frosty and sunny most of the week. Long may it continue.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1334 we woke up to SNOW!!

I got up to the loo at 6.30am and Craig said to look out the window! What a shock to see a huge blanket of snow.

Obviously this photo wasn’t at 6.30am…. More like 7.30 by the time we got up.

She who usually has one eye constantly fixated on the weather forecast…. Did not see this coming! There were a few tiny flakes when we were out the back with the dogs last night. I didn’t even bat an eyelid…

It’s so pretty.

We had to make a plan to try to capture Khaleesi’s first snow 🤦🏻‍♀️😂😂

Craig went out round the pub so he could come into the back garden with fresh snow so I could let her out the back door.

She was not impressed to start off with… she ran out… seemed confused, tried to see if she could eat it…. And ran back in!! Poor Craig’s half way down the garden waiting for her 😂 I got her back outside and she finally clocked Craig and went bounding towards him! She’s always so excited to see him. there are no decent photos arms it was all video.

I’m all sent for my walk to the little gift shop.

It’s a beautiful morning… a cold walk but got some lovely shots. I’m like a kid in a sweetie shop, walking and taking photos.

This is the A737 and one of the busiest junctions, the Gateside – Beith cross. it’s usually heaving.

Another good morning at the shop and all too soon it’s time to walk back home.

It’s such a lovely day… there’s a real cold air hanging over the snow.

I played with the dogs for a bit. Craig’s only just left for the weekend so they’ve been out all morning. They’re still so excited.

It’s hard work all this snow play!

I had to clean all the snow off the car and headed over the Largs to pick up my new reading glasses. I’ve never seen the tide so night and there’s no snow in Largs given that it’s obviously at sea level.

There’s a nice sunset too.

I treated myself to lemon sole and chips from the Fish Works again.

I ate one half in the car!

I ate the other half at home!! Khaleesi is beside me. 😂

So I’m all wrapped up cosy.

I had to get wood in from the wood store but both fires are going strong and I have an electric fire in the living room and one outside then bathroom. Our friends Lindsay and Euan dropped a heater off today and Gayle was going to lend me one from the shop.

It’s amazing how our body’s adjust to the temperature. What shocked me to the core on Thursday is now becoming the new norm. I’m sure we didn’t have central heating when we were kids… I’ve survived it before and will again. Called three guys but have no one booked yet. One was only oil heating and sadly he’s the one that answered!!

Anyhoo. Happy Saturday night!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️ and warm… stay warm!

Day 1330 a beautifully cold, sunny day!

I have to admit that I am wrapping Khaleessi up like a baby when she goes to bed at night…. I never thought I would be that person. I’m worried she gets cold 😳😬😂 here’s Bhru trying to get some of the action last night 😂

She was gonna sleep over but decided to go to her own bed at the last minute!

I had a VERY hot night. I went to bed with straight hair and woke up like I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards!

The sheets were soaking wet! It’s obviously a hormonal thing. The house wasn’t warm at all.

While I’ve been having a lovely time of it these last few weeks, my hormones have been really playing up. Is it socially acceptable to have hold the weight of your chest every time you get up from your desk?!? Asking for a friend obviously….. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 😂😂 honestly it’s been agony. I tried ibuprofen today and it didn’t touch it. It’s waking me up every time I move in bed… not for long just long enough to get comfy again. Hey ho… the trials of being peri-menopausal.

So for those of you who are squirming now… it’s just photos from here on in 😂

Scraping the heavy frost by the light of the moon this morning.

So thankful I’m not having to scrape the van anymore!

Team scraping Claire’s car!

It was another stunning drive to work.

Then all of a sudden I spotted this red sky.

Later on the sun came up and it was a beautiful day.

I had another lovely Tupperware tub salad for lunch today…. Rocket, Bavarian ham, Mexicana cheese, cracked black pepper cheese, tomato, celery, spring onions, pumpkin seeds and olive oil!

Unfortunately I then ate 4 of boss man’s chocolate digestives, in quick succession!

When I left tonight the sky was lovely again.

And the moon was just out of this world. NONE of these photos actually do it justice. I hope you’ve all been able to see it for yourself. It was a massive orange ball in the sky tonight. I stopped by the river in Drybridge on the way home from work.

This is the view of the sunset opposite where I stood.

I stopped again closer to home. 🌕

I could live life without wind and rain… very easily. This is lovely weather. Sunny cold and crisp during the day. Just perfect.

A lovely end to the day.

Have a lovely evening.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1288 loaded with the cold but still functioning 😂

Jeezo man. Amazing how fast this came on. I was up at 1.30am and couldn’t breathe through my nose at all. My sinuses are solid.

That’s nothing to our new Rocket Fuel!

Oh my actual word. The first time I tried this I managed one drop on my tongue and it blew my head off.

At 1.30am I took 7 drops and all of a sudden I could breathe. What a relief. It’s great stuff. It would clear a blocked sink given half a chance. 😂

I took it again when I got up at 6.15am. It blasted my sinuses.

It was the first morning I’ve had to scrape the car too. It was a pretty heavy frost. Also a beautiful morning!

I forgot how long it took for a Beetle to clear it’s windscreen. The windscreen blower is no more than a puff. I scraped it clear and had to sit to wait for the demist.

I had to stop at the side of the road as the sky was stunning. This isn’t the best photo but it gives you the idea.

It was such a lovely drive to work. The sky was so red most of the way. By the time I got to Tartan, it was pink and purple. Boyed up by Rocket Fuel I had a good morning.

I didn’t take the Rocket Fuel to work with me though. By lunch I was all bunged up again so I ordered some comfort food for lunch instead of my salad. I had a cheese and ham panini and it was soooo good. (I did eat my salad for dinner so I didn’t waste it…. Almost saint-like!)

One minute I want to curl up in a ball and the next minute I’m getting loads done.

I ended up late getting away again as 3 customers phoned in a row, after 4pm! AND I had to go for diesel after work… isn’t that just the worst when you want to get home?!?

I got 514.2miles out of a £77 tank fill which is 15p a mile…. It also limits trips to the fuel station, which is a very good thing!!

This time I put in £78 to fill the tank. The van would have been over £120. It still makes me very happy. I love having this car! I can drive into supermarket car parks and do all sorts without not dreading the driving. I will live with the pathetic windscreen blower 😂

So comfies on and missing Kinisi-flo tonight. If I bend down my nose runs. 🤧😆

Stay safe everyone 🤧🤧🤧

Day 620 Christmas nails 💅🏼 & Hookers Christmas lunch 🎄🎅🏼🧑🏼‍🎄🎄

It was a lovely morning at 5.30am when we left for the Fit Body Farm. I love a Friday as I get a lift there and back and Craig has heated seats 💺 🤣 oh and I have a day off!

The workout was hard this morning. 4,500m of running through the session. The air got colder as the hour went on and by the second run the air was freezing. I can still feel the cold in my lungs and it’s 9.15am! One lovely lady kept me going on the last lap where I would have slowed to a walk. The support you get there is amazing.

So home for shower, put in a washing, tidy the kitchen, feed the dogs, make breakfast and coffee, quick dry of hair as I’m getting my nails done at 9am….. or so I thought. Would appear my rush to get here wasn’t necessary…. It’s 9.30 hence me starting the blog now. Least I’m early when I thought I was going to be late because of the ice on the van.

Check the ice on the windscreen. The photo doesn’t do it justice. It was beautiful… like the Jack Frost ice you see in the movies!

It was a sheet of ice!

So raced back home at 10.15 to pick up a Christmas present for my wee 81 year old friend. Not seen her in ages. When I got down there she was still in her nightie doing all the housework! Felt awful interrupting her but had a lovely cuppa (took my own decaf and oat milk… seriously, how sad is that?!?)

Managed to get away by 11.35am and back up to take the dogs out. Can you tell I’m on a time schedule this morning?!?

Still love this old gate.

Nearly at the field where they get a good run. A

Back in by 12.35pm and had 25 mins to get some slap on ready for the Hookers Christmas lunch, in the pub next door, at 1pm.

Our lunch was lovely and up to the usual Gateside Inn standards. ♥️

All followed by coffee and a mini mince pie.

We had a lovely time. A lovely meal and great company!

We did a secret Santa and I got the loveliest gift. A mindfulness book to record mood, gratitude etc and a lovely gin glass full of Lindt chocolates!

My glass with my new alcohol free gin for £3.99 from Home Bargains of all places

So I’ve had the busiest day! Ended up back in the pub with Craig for a couple when he got home and now I’m in jammies, in front of the fire and might never be able to speak to anyone again for days. 😱🤣

Happy Friday night to you all.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️