turps

intoabar is open for signups and I think I'm going to sign again. It's the only thing that's made me write for the last two years, and I do like the challenge, especially as it's so low stress. Now I need to think who to sign up with. Again, I'm tempted to use Aramis from The Musketeers for the main character, but that does make how he'd meet other characters tricky. Then again, I suppose it's no less tricky than the Neelix from Voyager meeting TK from Lonestar assignment from last year.

I enjoyed weight management class on Monday, especially as it was a beautiful sunny day, so I didn't need to wear a hoodie or cardigan on the way down. We talked about stress and how it affected health, though, I say we, as per usual the last few weeks certain people dominated the conversation.

But, the battle ropes were out again, which was great as I do enjoy using those. Also the three level step complete with 10kg kettlebells to hold while doing the step-ups if you wanted to be spicy. I did want to be spicy, and was spicy, in that I used the kettlebell and also the colour of a spicy red pepper by the time we were done. The place we use for class is attached to the modern gym building, but the actual hall we use is much older, and gets freezing in the colder months and boiling in the warmer ones. As much as I enjoy the warmth and sun, I haven't missed looking like a wrung out rag at the end of class.

Tuesday was a Bodhisitting day, where we spent a good amount of time in the garden as the weather was still beautiful.

Yesterday was one of James' days off so we went to spend some time with Kayleigh, again in the garden, as she has a huge garden with some nice garden furniture. Then went to get rid of more clutter at the tip -- including, finally, the old broken microwave that's been stuck in the greenhouse for months now. Then off to the hospital so James could get his new splint fitted. What I love about that department is they have dedicated parking spots for the patients, so we never have to worry about getting parked, so it was an easy and fast appointment. Plus, James says the splint feels good, strong but lightweight, which is what he wanted.

Today is another gorgeous day, and we did have tickets for Thunderbolts this afternoon, but have just had to change to Saturday as we're still waiting for the alarm person to come -- we've used the cooling-off period to cancel the alarm as it wasn't suiting us, so they're coming to take the equipment this morning some time. Then, tonight, we're meeting up with Pauline and my brother/niece/nephew at the Indian restaurant we like. So, it should be a nice time. But man, I wish that guy had come at the beginning of the time window so we didn't have to change film times.

The Sky tv was also turned off this morning, so we've had to install the new EE TV boxes, which seem fine so far. The interface will take some getting used to, and they don't support the Disney + app, so I'll have to watch that on my PC now. But we do have six months of free Apple TV, so lost one thing, gained another.

And ha, the alarm man has been and gone. Tickets changed again, and we're off to the cinema now :D

On Saturday, I was at Pets at Home, helping out for Consett Cats again. This time I was manning the tombola, and final total raised was £81. Not as much as the week before, but considering the prizes were the usual, not exciting tombola fare, I was pleased with the total. The shop did warn Kay, the main rescue lady, that we had to be careful about people stopping to talk and blocking the aisle. Not just for our day, but the whole fortnight.

This is a year-long partnership, so we'll be back in the summer and before Christmas for two more fortnights of fundraising -- in between they have collection tins out for Consett Cats near the tills, and raise money that way -- and hopefully they'll rearrange, so the table can go in the foyer and not cause bottlenecks.

We ended up staying much longer than originally planned, but again, I got to stroke lots of cute dogs and talk to lots of people, so I enjoyed the day.

If anyone is interested, Kay was recently interviewed for the BBC news, talking about trapping a feral colony. She really is an amazing woman, running the rescue single-handed with the help of volunteers.

Sunday I spent hanging at Kayleigh's as my brother and nephew were going there to put up a shed. It's not often that us sibs can get together for nearly a full day, even if Chris was working for most of it. It was nice to just hang, though man, it was chilly, and in the end Kayleigh switched on the patio heater.

Monday we were supposed to take Bodhi to a Tinkerbell Easter party at Moo Bears, but it was cancelled as Tinkerbell ended up having to be admitted to hospital. Thankfully, Bodhi still doesn't really have any real concept of time, so didn't realise she was missing out. Plus, she had all her eggs to concentrate on, so was happy enough.

I was a bit annoyed at Moos, who only announced the cancellation in a few sentences within their normal daily FB post. If I hadn't read that, we would have turned up to no party. I think, considering the tickets were pre-paid, they should have messaged people individually.

As there was no party, we rearranged plans and did grocery shopping in the morning, dropped off Bodhi's easter basket, then went to Pauline's as she'd asked us to come for lunch. Stayed there for a couple of hours and then headed for Newcastle to drop off Corey's Easter eggs.

Yesterday was supposed to be a no plan day for me, but first thing I got a message from Kayleigh asking, what are your plans today? Which I always know means, something has come up, can you babysit for me? And yep, I was at Kayleigh's from 10 to nearly four as Bodes wasn't feeling well and Kayleigh and Lucy had tattoo appointments booked in. It was all good though, I got to play tea parties and got some sun in the garden, and had a bit of excitement when first, their youngest cat decided to carry in a giant, fat, furry bumblebee. Then a blackbird decided to stroll in the house to get a drink from the cat's waterbowl. That I didn't mind, the bee situation, trying to work out how to get a cat to drop a bee wasn't a good time.

I got excellent mail. Thank you so much ♥

I went to see two films on Friday and Saturday. First was The Minecraft Movie on Fri, and I enjoyed it a lot. Apparently there's a trend of people standing to applaud and shouting out lines at certain points, but we had none of that at our showing, no doubt because it was an early Friday showing and also a school day. I'm sure loads of things would have gone over my head as I've never played Minecraft, but going was worth it for just seeing Jason Momoa hamming it up in his pink leather jacket, never mind everything else.

Saturday we saw Death of a Unicorn, and that was fine. ( cutting for spoilers )

The cinema was buzzing that day, I've never seen it so busy for a long time, or as messy, as popcorn was everywhere in the areas outside the theatre screens.

That day, we also made the decision to ditch Sky and have signed up with EE TV. It was a difficult decision as we've been with Sky for over 25 years, but the price kept going up and up, and when we phoned to see if we could get a deal they said a straight out, nope. So we've cancelled.

The EE modem and tv boxes are coming tomorrow, and the Sky broadband is being switched off Friday. So, hopefully the switch goes smoothly. If not, well if I disappear completely you know something has gone badly wrong.

Monday it was class, and we talked about good and bad fats, and Rosie said she's still looking into a second class, asking if people would be okay going in the evening. Personally, I'd prefer during the day, but I still said yes. But something interesting, a new lady started last week, but I only chatted to her properly on Monday, and she said she has lymphedema too. ( cut for medical stuff )

James was supposed to be at work today, and actually set off there as normal. But what we didn't know was that overnight there had been a multiple vehicle crash, including four police cars that had totally closed the main road to his work in both directions. Normally it's a 45 minutes commute, this morning he was still stuck in traffic after 90 minutes and still nowhere near work. He wasn't the only one, anyone coming from our direction to control was stuck in the same jams, so they all called in late. But for James, sitting still for so long made his back and leg intensely painful. He asked if a team leader would meet him when he finally got to work, to help him out of the car. They did, but also brought the on duty paramedic who said the amount of pain James was in no way could he sit for a ten-hour shift. So, he got sent home and told to call in sick.

Thankfully, it's a day off for him tomorrow, so he should be fine going back Friday.

It's also a Bodhisitting morning tomorrow. The first for a while, so it'll be nice to spend time with her. It's also forecast to be 19C so I can see me sitting in the garden watching her bounce on her trampoline.

It was another lovely spring day yesterday. As James had a day off we headed to Beamish again and continued on our plan to visit the parts of the museum you can only reach by foot. Including yesterday, a restored farmhouse which had the most adorable sunbathing pig, and a field of hens and turkeys. Which led to the turkey situation.

James thinks he can do a great turkey impression. Now, I'm no turkey expert so can't say if it is or not, but it is enthusiastic and loud, and he was talking to the turkeys, causing a little girl who was also watching them to give him a very dubious look. She eventually went off with her dad, and we wandered off too.

Later in the day, got on one of the restored buses, and guess who gets on? The little girl and her dad. Now the buses are small and a lot of people got on, so the dad was practically sitting on my lap next to me with the girl sitting on his knee. James was sitting opposite us, and the dad went, 'oh look, it's the turkey man' Which cracked me up, as the girl still looked very dubious.

Later still, onto a different bus, and who was sitting on the seat opposite? The girl and her dad, I'm sure they must have thought we were stalking them at that point. We had a bit of a chat, and then they got off at the next stop, no doubt hoping they'd never see turkey man again *g*

Another thing that happened yesterday. There was a very loud knock at the door, James looked out the window, and it was a policeman. As it was heading toward seven I was already in my PJs, feet up in the recliner and ready for some TV while James was relaxing too. Of course that changed in an instant because I don't know about others, but seeing the police at the door always makes me think worst case scenarios.

Thankfully, it wasn't. He was there to take a statement about Rosie's window being broken. I was surprised it took so long, or that we weren't given any warning he was coming, but it does sound like they've got the investigation in hand.

To end, have a Kevin photo. This is the view I now get when I'm in the bath. There used to be nice succulents and ornaments up there. ( Now there's Kevin surveying his domain. )

It was a Bodhisitting day today, so we ended up at Moobears, where the mascot of the day was Bluey, which caused great excitement as Bluey is one of Bodhi's favourites right now. Then she got upset when Bingo wasn't there, too. But we did get some good photos, including James dancing with Bodhi and Bluey, which was adorable. We also booked Bodes in for the Easter Monday Tinkerbell party, so that should be fun.

We've been taking advantage of our Unlimited Odeon card and saw Marching Powder last week, which was pretty much Danny Dyer playing Danny Dyer and seemed to have a ratio of one swear word for every four other words. Then yesterday we saw Snow White, which was okay. I enjoyed all the singing and dancing scenes, and it was very pretty to look at, but nothing I'd make an effort to watch again.

Thursday it was another lovely spring day so we took advantage of our yearly pass and headed to Beamish, the open air living museum. This time we walked to a part we normally miss out as it's up a big hill and can only be reached by foot, but we were both glad we'd made the effort as the hall and tavern were lovely to visit. Plus, there were two adorable ginger pigs to admire. By the end of that visit, we'd managed a three-mile walk, which was pleasing.

Nikita from Strictly is doing his solo tour at the moment and reviews have been great. Sadly, it's not coming to Sunderland, and the Newcastle showing is sold out. Which is typical, as the rave reviews make me want tickets so badly. Especially after seeing Nikita give Vito a lap dance as part of his latest show. I mean, come on, that outfit, that dance. I need to see! I even got close to buying tickets for the Edinburgh show, but sadly, that's next week when I'm cat and tortoise sitting, so an overnight stay somewhere isn't possible.

I may have gone to the giant charity shop again, and may have bought more clothes. Included in that was an amazing wool blend coat which is thick, has multiple pockets and is really good quality. Normally I would have passed it by as it was priced at £20, but there was a 25% discount on all the winter coats, so £15 for something that really is good quality was a steal. Though, when I got it home I did discover it's dry-clean only which is a pain.

I also got the greenhouse tidied when it was nice, so everything there is good to go once the weather gets more consistent. Because right now we're having some lovely days, but also frosty nights. But as soon as we're having more sun, the greenhouse is ready.

I didn't realise it had been so long since I last updated, but as I've just said elsewhere, it's been a busy few offline weeks.

Of the good. Excellent long walks to High Force and Gibside. I won't talk about them here, but if you want to see photos there are posts on my insta, which is here We went to see The Last Showgirl at the cinema, which was better than I was expecting, and got some good mall walking in that day.

Monday class was good, we talked about the immune system and I partnered with my usual lady as we encouraged each other on. Especially on the three level step complete with carrying a 10kg grab bag, which was one of the stations. I hate it I do.

James' phased return is going nicely, and he's back up to full hours from next week.

The best good, James applied for a grant from his work union to pay for the deposit for our new motability car, and after a lot of waiting, it was approved this week. As the deposit is 1k, as you can imagine, not finding that ourselves has taken a lot of weight from our shoulders. Our new car is actually at the garage now, just waiting to have the adaptions fitted, so soon Rosie will go, and hello, Bluey. (Bodhi picked the name)

Our bank randomly gave its members £50 each. The money isn't in the accounts yet, but will be next month, so that's money to look forward to.

Not good or bad, but why I was offline so much this last week. I've Bodhisat every single day this week, as she wasn't well enough for nursery. I love spending time with her, and she's fun to be with, but still, three-year-olds are like live wires and five days in a row is a lot. Especially so as a few of them I was up there from 7am.

The bad. After years of having cats, Kevin is the first one who has decided to jump up to the bathroom windowsill, and knocked down one of my owl ornaments, smashing it. I've had to take everything off the windowsill, as the thought of lying in the bath and getting hit on the head by a flying T. rex wasn't appealing.

The extra bad, I was Bodhisitting today, James was off work, so the plan was we'd go up there for 7am, then James was taking my SiL to a hospital appointment at 11 while I waited for Kayleigh to come home. Then, this afternoon, we'd planned a walk and maybe a cinema trip.

But, got to the garages, and found out that overnight, someone had broken into our car, and also a neighbours. The whole back window was smashed out, and they'd taken a bag off the back seat. A bag that contained a few pencils and pens James uses when he's drawing.

Obviously, we couldn't drive to Kayleigh and Lucy's, so I called Lucy who agreed to bring Bodhi to our house, leaving James to try to sort out the car. End result of that after a load of calls, because the car is technically driveable, there's no chance of a hire car, and the earliest the glass can be replaced is Tuesday. So, right now the window is covered by a bin bag and a load of tape, and we'll bus it this weekend if we go out. Then, James will have to carefully drive to work on Monday.

James does have his bag back now, because they'd left it at the top of the estate when they realised it contained nothing valuable, but we've still got a £50 glass excess to pay on Tuesday, so hello and goodbye unexpected money. It was nice to enjoy the thought of you for all of a few days.

Catch up tomorrow hopefully, Kayleigh bought me a thank-you bath bomb today, and I intend to lobster bath it and luxuriate knowing I don't have to be up and about early tomorrow morning.

I ended up at Moo Bears both Saturday and Sunday at the weekend. Each visit went well, and helped keep Bodhi entertained, and contained which is important. They had character mascots turn up on both days. Sonic the first day, Dougie from Hey Dougie the second. Bodes was fine for the first, she knows Sonic to look at but has no real emotional attraction to him. But Dougie is one of her favourites and she got a bit overwhelmed seeing him.

I had to laugh on the Saturday visit. Moos have some new staff members atm and they'll still learning the ropes. They'd had Dougie as the mascot on the Friday, too, but instead of putting the costume away behind the scenes had left it in the foyer. As Dougie is a rather rounded shape, it was easy to see him, apparently unskinned and balancing on his head. After a few kids asked why Dougie was there and also upside down, three staff member carried the costume through the café, trying to hide the identity with a carefully held binbag. I was highly amused watching, and bet they never forget to put the costumes away again.

Weight management class yesterday was about metabolism, and was really interesting ( cut for details )

I called into the chemist after class, and they finally had my new compression wraps, it only took nearly two months for them to arrive. So I've been wearing those today.

This morning, it was James' physio appointment at 8:30, a time we'd picked, so there was a chance to get parking, and that worked nicely. As always, I was half expecting him to be discharged from physio, but he's still not there yet. So, next appointment is in six weeks. After leaving the physio dept we headed for the hospital canteen for breakfast, and not going to lie, it was delicious. I love beans that have been stewing away, and the hospital scrambled egg is always tasty.

Then after that I went on a tour of some of the charity shops, and got more dresses in the next size down. Very nice they are too. The biggest charity shop we went to had a fabulous selection, as they've a huge shop over two floors, but strangely, they didn't have a fitting room meaning I had to take a chance on things fitting. Thankfully, three dresses did, and the one that didn't was just a touch too tight. So, for a grand total of £25 I've got seven new to me dresses.

It's been such a nice, sunny day today, it's been good to be out walking around, even if it was just to appointments and shops. Then, when I was taking the recycling out I saw the first daffodil had opened in the garden, a lovely reminder that spring really is close.

Thank you to misbegotten and romantical for the cards that arrived yesterday, and the messages inside. Both made me smile.

Also, thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes yesterday, I enjoyed every one ♥

With going out on Sunday, and with having plans for a sibs dinner on Friday, I didn't go out anywhere yesterday apart from to the shops to buy some plain t-shirts to go with the very jazzy cat print trousers James bought for me. I now have four pairs with different prints, and I like every one.

My brother and nephew called with chocolates and flowers, I saw Bodhi, Lucy and Kayleigh, Corey, my in laws and Pauline phoned, so on top of the messages from friends, I felt nicely celebrated.

Today, Kayleigh, Lucy and Bodes have gone away for two nights, so I'm on cat looking after duties. Thankfully, James finishes work at 2 this week, so I'll have a lift to the nighttime visits, but I'll be walking it in the morning. And I say cat looking after duties, I don't remember if I ever said but one of Bodhi's Christmas presents was a baby tortoise, so I need to look after him, too.

Not that he needs much looking after for just two days, just some fresh food mainly and making sure his heater is working properly.

Briefly as I'm heading out for the cinema soon.

I enjoyed the new Bridget Jones film much more than I expected, it helped it was in my favourite cinema screen too.

The visit to Mog on the Tyne was lovely, but also sad. One of the cats had already gone to its furever home, and two more are going before the official close date. Plus, it was obvious the staff were really sad about things, with the manager especially upset. They did say it's a financial shut-down due to an oversaturated market, which isn't really that surprising with three other cat cafés in the area and a dog café literally next door.

I was looking at photos before I went, and our first visit was Feb 2016, a few months after they first opened. I'll miss them.

Yesterday we went for a visit to Beamish Open Air Museum instead of going swimming. It was bitter cold but instead of getting transport we walked between the different areas, so soon warmed up. I shared a cone of chips and a cup of tea from the fish shop with James, and that was our valentine's meal *g*

As opposed to Kayleigh and Lucy who went the whole hog with their Valentine's Day, candles, electric thank goodness, going up the stairs, rose petals, heart balloons and multiple presents to each other. It was like Valentine's Day had exploded in their house.

Pauline phoned wanting to put on a birthday tea for me. It was going to be Thursday, but has just phoned to say she's realised that's after my birthday, so would tomorrow be okay instead. I said yes, forgetting we're actually going to The Rock Orchestrate by Candlelight at the theatre tomorrow.

Thankfully, she asked us to hers at 3, so there should be time for both. I'm looking forward to the show so much, I mean, look at this setlist from a show a few days ago.

I was curious what MCR song they'd perform and can't be disappointed at Black Parade.

I suppose I should go and get ready to go out. At least the weather isn't as bad as forecast, there was a yellow warning for snow and ice, but that was cancelled overnight and the few snow flurries we had haven't settled. So, big coat time again, but at least no snow.

Sad news last night when Mog on the Tyne posted that they're closing at the beginning of next month. I've been there so many times, taken multiple online friends there for visits, and while there are other cat cafés in the area still, Mog has always been my favourite. I'll miss them, the staff, the place itself, and especially the cats.

Murphy and Kevin went for their annual boosters and health check last week. All went well, except for Murphy yowling like he was being murdered on the way there, and then being told by the locum vet he's overweight. Which we knew, but our usual vet always says it's about health not numbers and Murphy is healthy, just a bit of a chunk.

Kevin was given some medicated powder to sprinkle over his food to try to get rid of his constant congestion. He hasn't got an infection right now, but you can hear he's got a congested nose, so hopefully, this new approach will help.

That appointment was at 9am, and in the rush to crate two cats and get there on time, I forgot to take the vaccination records, so had to go back later to drop them off, and then back again to pick them up. Which wasn't in my plans for the day. Especially, as James had a physio appointment at the hospital at 11.

I was half expecting him to be discharged, but his strength still isn't there yet, so he's back at the end of next month and has been given more strength building exercises to do, focusing on building up his biceps and triceps. He was also reassured that the pain he's having in his arm will be because he's using it much more now he's back at work, and isn't anything to worry about.

Left the physio gym and had dinner at the hospital canteen as the food is tasty and cheap, and we had nearly two hours to spare before the third appointment of the day, in another place of course, so James could see the podiatrist. Cutting someone else's nails is a hard no for me, I'll do anything else but that? Nope. Thankfully, other people will do it while making sure James' foot remains as healthy as possible. So, that was a quick and positive appointment.

That was the Wednesday, on the Monday I'd gone to weight management class, where we talked about portion sizes, which is still an issue for me, and for the exercise part of things I was paired with a new lady who said she wanted to challenge herself and take the three level step, leaving the two level for me. And, who was I to say no to that? Though, when she also took the higher strength resistance band to do rows I could really feel the difference using the less powerful one. I didn't like that, so claimed the higher one myself on the next circuit.

Another two days included time at the play cafés, I can't even remember which days now, but they were fun. I was looking at the calendar when I took Bodhi home and as of now I'm not needed for any Bodhisitting the whole of Feb, and Kayleigh said neither her or Lucy have any intention of picking up overtime, so it should stay like that. Do I believe that I won't be asked at all this month? Not a chance.

Yesterday we decided to go to Durham on the bus, have a walk to the cathedral and then back through Durham to get some steps in. On the way I called into a charity shop and scored a lovely dress and top for £1 each, which, bargain. I also got a dress from a different charity shop on Saturday which looks excellent on, but now feels really expensive at a cost of £5.

I also finally bought some kimchi when we called in Lidl on the way home. I had some with my dinner, and loved it, but it's much more liquid than I was expecting. Which I found as when put some on my sandwich and the bread got soaked. Still delicious, but so much juice.

No class today as Rosie has taken some annual leave, so I've made soup and hit YouTube for some online routines. I may even go for a walk later, or you know, stay in and catch up online.

ETA: Just saw Festivids are live and have just started to check out the offerings. The one for The Great Pottery Throwdown is beautiful. I love fans and how creative they are. The two for The Fall Guy are pretty great, too.