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Monday 17 April 2023

A Day in My Life: April 16 2023

 

Young couple with baby in papoose, on walk in Epping Forest

Dear friends. I was intrigued to see Leslie documenting one of her days because I've thought about doing this, and even had a half finished version of a day in February.

In  20 years time I imagine we'll have forgotten the flow of our days, what technology we were using, what we were eating and so on.  Life changes so fast.

So I made notes on Sunday about everything I did. It was a "rest day" for me, I wasn't planning to take any exercise.  I like to have a couple of hours to take photos for the blog, and the weather was promising. J was going out on a long cycle ride so I knew I'd be uninterrupted. Unfortunately I didn't take as many pics as I should have done...but here goes! 

6.05am: Awake, come downstairs. Opened sitting room window - I've been doing this every day since Covid. Weather forecast: sunny intervals, max temperature (London) 16 degrees. 

6.10am:  Switched on PC in the conservatory where we always have breakfast and watch TV   (we watch it on the PC screen). Did small amount of washing up - water bottles, chopping board

6.15: Wiped round kitchen with Zoflora

6.20: Got everything ready for breakfast

6.25: Took out a slice of seeded sourdough from the freezer for my toast

6.28: Get the various pills out. I take each day Omegas/ Biotin / Vitamin C plus an antihistamine. In winter we take vitamin D. 

6.30 Heard J moving around, put his porridge on

6.40: Sit down with first mug of tea and J with his orange juice,  porridge with berries, Activia yoghurt and tea. 

6.45: Watching BBC1, Travel Show.  We only watch"scheduled" TV for an hour at breakfast time, mostly for the news and sport. Applied cuticle conditioner

7.00: Using my Samsung S7 tablet booked Pilates for 8 days time. If you don't book dead-on 7am, you won't get a place. 

7.02: Watched news. Lead stories about protesters at the Grand National and NHS strikes

7.10: Booked 2 MeetUps for May and June

7.20: Get my breakfast ready. 

7.25 Breakfast, slice seeded sourdough with Marmite, 2 poached eggs, 2nd mug tea

7.31: watching MOTD highlights.  Lead match is J's team Spurs losing to Bournemouth.  Oops, here's Bournemouth scoring. He's decided to do extra 10 miles of cycling before he meets Don, his brother-in-law. Won't need his 2nd cup of tea after all. 

7.42: J leaves

7.43: Turn off TV

7.44: Take washing off clothes horse and take upstairs, putting it in our respective drawers/wardrobes 

7.45: Fill bath, adding Radox. I usually have a bath once a month when J is out!  (Obviously showers the rest of the time). Hunted for a face pack, but couldn't find one.

7.51:  Bath is ready. Relax for a few minutes. Put hot water back on so I can wash my hair in a short while.  Exfoliate face. 

8.10: Out of bath. Apply body lotion. Clean teeth. Put robe on, I won't get dressed today until I've done my make-up in case I make a mess on my clothes.

8.15: Mini pedicure - trim nails, push back cuticles, apply foot cream. 

8.27: In my home office.  Turn my Kef speakers on and open Amazon Music on my PC. Choose my 70s Faves play list. 

8.28:  Do some blog admin. Check Disqus to see if there are any unapproved comments. Have a look at Google analytics. 

8.40: Book reviewing admin. Once I've reviewed a book I was given to read, I make a calendar note of publication date.  I then upload an Amazon review and occasionally give a "Happy publication day" tweet with the link of my review.

8.50: Wash hair over bath. Need to get a move on, sun coming out at last. To save time don't use conditioner. Will apply Aveda Damage Remedy instead. 

8.53: Do a try on, swimsuit and a pair jeans from Mint Velvet. Hate trying things on, but has to be done.  Yay, both are good, keeping them. The swimsuit is orange. It will be the first year since 2005 I haven't taken bikinis on holiday, but fed up with being self conscious about belly roll. 

9.05:  Dry hair. Use a hair dryer without a diffuser. 

9.10 Put moisturizer, eye cream and SPF on, followed by a full makeup on ready for a blog fashion shoot

9.30:  Choose first outfit. The shoot is for 3 identical jackets in different colours. I didn't write down what I was planning to use (usually do). Select the first outfit in the knowledge that the second outfit will use the same lip colour, I won't have to change it. 

9.40:  Take a few selfies on the stairs, by the window. I'll use one on Instagram ("WowLipsWednesday") and one in my blog post. 

9.45:  Downstairs, set up tripod, switch camera on and select the remote app.  On phone, select the camera's wi-fi network, the Imaging Edge Mobile app,  and select Start. The phone is now my remote control. 

9.50:  First set of poses done. Not very happy with the lighting. Some shots very dark, added fill flash. In some parts of the garden the light is too bright. 

9.55:  Change into second outfit. Check makeup is OK. Take second batch. 

10.05: Third outfit.  Wipe off my lipstick and reapply, a different colour. Take selfies first indoors.

10.30:  Finished. Tidy up my room which looks like a bomb has hit it. Change into old jeans. Still wearing the top from the last outfit photographed, but add a short tie wrap. 

11.10: Make cappuccino. Look at J's Garmin Livetrack to see where he is. He's approaching Epping Forest visitors centre, so is about 20 minutes away

11.16: Back in home office, connect camera to PC and download the pics. Select best 4 for each outfit and put them into a new folder. Don't edit them yet. I will do that tomorrow or Tuesday. 

11.39 Js tracking session has ended, he's at Don's. Unlock back gate in readiness. 

11.40: On Sundays we nearly always have a "roast dinner," usually chicken. Pre-heat oven.  

11.42  Accessing the photos I took on my phone, create a Facebook post for the Kettlewell colour club

11.50: Empty the waste paper baskets, fold laundry, tidy up

12.10 J is back, stopped for a coffee at Don's.  He has his London Marathon uniform for next Sunday, when he will be volunteering. 

12:15 Peel potatoes, blanch them in hot water for 15 mins. The chicken has been taken out of the fridge to come to room temperature and a small tray of hot oil put in the oven for the roasties. 

12.20:  Chicken goes into oven, seasoned, sloshed with olive oil and a sliced lemon inserted.

12: 30: Reach for a sharper knife for the butternut squash and cut my thumb, quite deep. Put plaster on but blood comes through right away.  Have to keep wrapping kitchen towel round my thumb. 

12:45:  Place pigs in blankets on tray.  Prepare stuffing  (sorry ladies, it's Paxo!).  Baste chicken. 

13:15:  Roast potatoes go in. 

13.20:  Cauliflower cheese and pigs in blankets go on the floor of the oven.  Take chicken out, check the juices are running clear.  Put it aside under foil to rest. Slide a tray of carrots, parsnips and squash into the oven. 

13.30:  Lay the table in the dining room for the two of us. 

13:50:  Plates in the oven to warm.  Make gravy.

13:55:  Carve chicken.  Peas in microwave. 

1400: Lunch served on time, but it was quite tough without a thumb! Carried on bleeding.

1430: Loaded dishwasher, have greasy pots to do but difficult to put rubber glove over thumb

14:40:  Strip chicken carcasse, will use the rest of the chicken in a salad or curry. 

1445:  Make my prediction for the 1st song in Johnnie Walker's radio show, Rock n Roll with me (David Bowie) in the show's Facebook group 

1504: First song was Hues Corp, Rock the Boat. Nobody guessed correctly. 

1506: Carefully take dressing off and sterilise wound. Was thinking about going to casualty if it hadn't stopped bleeding, but it's stopped now 

1510: Sit down in conservatory to read Sunday Times - we pay for it via the app and I read it on my tablet. Listen to Johnnie Walker.  J is in the sitting room watching cycling. 

1530: Sparrows in the garden are enjoying a "dirt bath" in the border. 

1545: Made mugs of tea. J is having choc melting middle pudding with ice cream

1630: Rachel and Sean are on their way round with baby Olive. We go for a walk in the forest, Sean wearing a papoose. (Top pic). Found some wild garlic and Rachel filled a bag. Also saw the pony paddock and one of them came over to say hello. It's warm! 

1745: Back from walk. Emptied dishwasher. Toasted olive bread and gave it to J with olives & feta and a beer. Nothing for me except fizzy water and a non-alcoholic ginger beer. 

1800: We're in the sitting room. Started watching new season of The Last Kingdom (Netflix). It's the same old thing, always ends in a fight! Updated my Story on Instagram with pics from the walk. 

1845: Followed by episode 1 of The Watcher (Netflix). I liked it

1945: Went to bed, I read for an hour or two. Cleaned teeth, cleansed skin, used Retinol on face, neck and arms. 

1955: Started The Bedroom Window, a thriller by KL Slater. 

21:30:  Put Kindle down and switch light off. Fell asleep right away.

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