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What do you do during isolation?

I know exactly how you feel I’m literally going insane! Any motivation to do anything has just gone because the things I normally manage to get out of bed for are all away from home! Most of my mates are all loved up or have kids so I’m just like ahhhhh!!

 

Omg I can relate to this so so much!
None of my friends actually understand because they all have children and/or a significant other. It's a completely different kettle of fish when you have literally nothing to get out of bed for.
I find it hard not to resent them. Especially when they're moaning about their children as I can't conceive and they don't realise how lucky they are.
 
Well, apart from the threat of serious illness or death I’m sort of enjoying myself doing various things I’ve always claimed I didn’t have enough time for. So I have decluttered my wardrobe and taken up drawing and painting again. The art tutor on a workshop my friend dragged me to suggested I might like botanical illustration and she was right! I’ve also started dressmaking again. But more pertinent to this forum I have been doing a lot of low carb baking. Some from Sarah Flowers’ books and some from various blogs. All delicious especially Sarah’s low carb lemon drizzle cake.
I have also converted regular baking recipes. I’ve made some which already used almond flour and substituted Erythritol for the sugar. Those that included wheat flour I substituted the same amount of almond flour. They tasted delicious (even when I forgot the baking powder) but the texture wasn’t quite right. I investigated online and discovered that if you use almond flour in a regular recipe you need to reduce the amount of flour by 10% and the amount of fat by a whacking 25%! Cakes now have a great texture and taste (and minimal effect on my blood sugar). My non diabetic husband and neighbour also enjoy them.
Stay safe!
 
Fixing a rear timber gate that required a complete remounting, new hinges, bolts. Neighbour helped so gave him my new (spare) hammer drill and a load of masonry bits.

For a guy who just had a full knee replacement, he amazed me. Also managing my home 5 x PC linked network and keeping all my files in order and in sync and a new very sharp hatchet for my kindling given the wood burner will be called up for duty next week.

Far fewer deadly snakes seen this summer (one good thing about the bushfires) but tribes of parrots (80 plus at a time) make up for their absence.

Corona is front of mind of course but where I am, it puts into perspective just how distant where we are and removed from any threat. Medical, social or political.
 
Yesterday was an adventure.
Alongside dog walking, gardening and eating, I decided to trim the mutts. Groomer not available due to lockdown.
grooming Shih tzus is a highly skilled business. I am not skilled.
Fortunately, whatever I do will either grow back, or heal.

This is the sister (same litter) of one of mine, in full show coat.

That will NEVER happen to mine! Lol

This is my Mutt No2 (an old pic, but gives you an idea)
shows her just before the groomer usually picks up the clippers.
Coat v full, bouffant, and prone to dreadlocks in the knickers. Only 1.5 inches length, but long enough to need daily brushing or the matts multiply exponentially.





Stage 1: Oh the horror! The blond is Mutt 1. He is next on the Crew Cut List.



Stage 2 was discovering that my feeble cordless human grade hair clippers are USELESS in the face of Shih tzu fluff.
Apparently, these beasts can have up to 15 hairs growing out of each follicle, compared with our wimpy single human hair.
Clippers wouldn’t even do a single pass.

Stage 3 was finding my good scissors.

Stage 4 was procrastinating.

Stage 5 was trimming her chest and forelegs. Badly.

Stage 6 was calling a halt before I lost the plot.

Stage 7 was a large treat for her, and disposing of 2 double handfuls of shorn fluff (before the puppy could finish eating it ). Yes, that is 2 double handfuls from just 1/4 of her. I think I could stuff an entire sofa from the fluff off a single small dog.

Stage 8 was vacuuming the patio, the kitchen, me, and the hall.

Stage 9 was a large drink. Only booze in house an old bottle of Cinzano. It did the job.

Stage 10 will commence later today. Am thinking back legs and bikini area. With tail on Monday, and back and sides sometime in the Autumn.

Dear Groomer, you offer a vital service. Please re-open. We can call it a health appt. for the mutts' physical health, and my mental health.
 
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Well I spent about an hour and a half well maybe a couple of hours trying to relight our brand new gas boiler after a short power outage even phoned the landlords and said that new boiler wouldn't light Failure to ignite error displayed and could they send someone to fix it.

Then grandson has a look after about ten minutes he says is the gas supply connected I hadn't checked as there was no reason for it not to be except not so smart meter during the outage had told gas meter to cut supply.

After fiddling with high tech gas meter for a few seconds all was back to normal what a rookie mistake I made always check the supply first.

Had a rather embarrassing call to make to the landlords cancelling the visit of plumber.

Still filled a few hours yesterday.
 

That's the kind of thing I do.

Chez B saw some excitement last night.

Virgin internet went down intermittently through the evening.
Played merry hell with my VITALLY IMPORTANT search for John Innes No 3 compost (rarer than hens' teeth apparently, due to CV-19), also caused some grief while taking dictation of my parents' supermarket delivery shopping list. Fingers crossed that all went through OK.

But the major distress was when Mr B got dumped offline several times while marauding a Dwarven Ruin in Skyrim.
There were some choice words used, I can tell you. Something to do with cogs, and a Draenic helmet, but I may be misquoting. It is a long time since I traveled through that part of that world.
 
Yup was a very bad day for Virgin Media yesterday ours kept dropping out every so often throughout the day poor Alexa didn't know whether she/He or androgynous AI was coming or going. in the end I put my phone's hot spot on and ran everything from that for a while.
 

The sad part is that the disruption didn't start until after 5pm so it didn't affect my work server access.
Hey ho.
 
Judith is nominally working from home at the moment but in order to carry out the work she has to have one of the office computers at home but so far they have non available she offered to have the IT guys set it up on either our PC or her laptop but that was not deemed viable so they have ordered in some laptops when they have them and the IT department have set them up one will be made available to her very frustrating for her at the moment as she want's to get started on a lot of work that has been piling up.
 

Our office has made an exception to its rule about not using personal computers for work - it would have been costly and taken a while to get everyone set up with work laptops at such short notice. Seems to be working so far.
 
As Judith works within the NHS it makes the use of personal computers a little more problematical and so the powers that be are a little sensitive about it Judith actually bought a new laptop specifically to make it easier to work from home but the upper management level will not allow it.
 
I have a deLonghi expresso machine that has decided not to work... builds up pressure but nothing coming through...
Dismantle to find difuser filters completely bunged up.... shock!
Fineness needle required to clean out holes... taking for ever.
For light relief, I am attacking the Leyalndii, that separates garden from neighbours.... all root stocks are on their side of partition...
Busy is as busy does.... or some such.
and we've just had a power cut.... reset clocks and alarms...
 
Lol, collecting dwarven cogs for Arniel perhaps. That's serious business even without the power outages!
 
My wife is a nurse currently on nights so lots of being quiet in the day
Trying to suss cubase on the headphones, some photoshop/illustrator, Gangs of London (yikes) Uni module work (so much time to procrastinate now, eek) fretting over deadlines etc.. and two longer runs each week to clear my head.
And following Johns post above, testing my own hair cutting skills in the garage. If the missus doesnt comment Im doing a good job, so far so good gradual chops every few days
 
Sadly I'm one of the ones who isn't going out apart from the one day per month that I have to walk the two mile round trip for my prescriptions. I've avoided all people and all shops for five weeks, and my only fresh air is in my back garden for perhaps ah hour's weeding or grass cutting some days. I have putv on weight of course too!
 
I'm overdue for a haircut also.
The person who cuts our hair at home phoned yesterday and said she is getting her appointment book going again.

She has us booked in for the May 18 at 14:30 and would it be suitable, my usual #1 clipper cut has grown out to a mop top since the lockdown here started.
 
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