Week 4 of Lockdown

So we went into my fourth week of lockdown commencing the 18th of April.

Saturday 18th April

Saturday was a day that all I really did was read. 

I had been struggling all week with my attention span reading Hunting Prince Dracula, but I was determined to make a dent into it as I'd really got into the story the day before. 

So I read on and off until about 1am and had about a 100 pages left, and I was literally falling asleep!

Sunday 19th April

Sunday was quite a busy day! 

In the morning whilst eating my breakfast I was looking at some old family photographs (I'll include some below!) from when I was younger living in Saudi Arabia, photos of my mum when she was younger etc. 

I love looking at physical photos, I always have done, and it's one of my reasons of printing out my photos when I have chance and put them into albums. 

One of my earliest memories is going to my Nannies house and looking at her photo albums every sunday! (So very fitting I was doing it today)

The above photo is of me (I'm the one sitting on the top of the car), my mum, sister, nana and grandad in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

This is a photo of my nana, mum (first and second on the left) and grandad (first on the right with the huge side burns!) with my great grandad (in the middle) when my mum was younger.

Final photo! This one is of me and my sister with my nana and grandad.

So after i finished looking at the photos, I tidied up my room, hoovered and polished, did my laundry and then I actually took some photos for my bookstagram!

I actually posted this one to Bookstagram!

I then spent the remainder of the afternoon finishing Hunting Prince Dracula, which was brilliant so many plot twists and turns. 

I also threw the remainder of my To Be Read list out of the window, as I want to finish this series, as I started Escaping From Houdini straight after!

I spent my evening painting whilst watching a random crime drama on Netflix, I cant remember what it's called now!

Monday 20th April

On monday I was asked by my mum to go to our local home bargains as she wanted some lights for our garden and my dad wanted some milk. I've included some pictures of the garden and the lights below.

When I came back from shopping, I put my  clothes away from doing laundry yesterday, then I went onto my computer for a little bit, I didnt do much in the afternoon, as I had the most awful headache and couldn't really concentrate on anything, even after taking some pain relief. 

After tea I spent the evening painting again whilst watching the TV show Manifest, I decided to watch one episode as I'd heard good things and ended up watching 4 and a half episodes and painting 2 pictures!

Tuesday 21st April 

Tuesday was a pretty relaxing creative day. I spent the morning updating instagram and creating blog post drafts.

I then spent the afternoon doing some more painting. I'm really, really enjoying painting. Its relaxing me and taking my mind off being anxious. 

I've also had Manifest on in the background, which I am really enjoying!

I really like how this one came out, as doing all the different blues and whites was quite difficult!

I then joined my mum and dad for a Zoom quiz with my sister, and some family friends.

Wednesday 22nd April 

On Tuesday evening I had a reasonably early night (for me during lockdown anyway) of about 11.30-12. But I had a really bad nights sleep, I kept waking up thinking I'd been asleep ages, but it was only like an hour later, but despite the awful sleep, I was still awake between 8-8.30, I dont think I've yet sleep past 8.30 despite not having my alarms set for work!

So I decided that I would have a morning watching the remainder of season 1 of Manifest in bed.

Whilst watching Manifest I did a bit of updating and adding to some blog posts I want to upload.

At 1pm, I then went to have some lunch with my mum on her lunch break, I also had some more company in the form of Barlow whilst we sat outside, I did cut the sitting outside short, as some wasps kept buzzing around, and I'm not a huge fan.

Once I'd finished my lunch I then headed back to my room and put some more Manifest on and decided to paint a rainbow to put in my bedroom window as support of the NHS.

Once I'd finished season 1 of Manifest, I decided to put Divergent on instesd. I read the first 2 books and watched the first 2 films in the series, and have yet to complete the 3rd in both book and film, and think I might want to rectify that in lockdown.

Obviously whilst watching the film I also started painting again!

When it hit about 5pm, my mum asked me to make tea, so we had decided on a pasta bolognese lasagna bake. I made far, far too much pasta, so ended up with enough for 2 large bakes so I called my sister and see if she wanted a dish, to which she said yes (thank goodness, as we didnt have any room in the freezer to store it!).

When I took it across to her, we had a nice social distanced chat and we've arranged to do a virtual pub quiz especially for my niece and nephew.

When I came back I continued on with my painting and my Divergent rewatch.

Thursday 23rd April 

Going to sleep on Wednesday was awful. I couldnt sleep for the life of me, and I ended up dozing off around 2am.

Because of the late night, I had a bit of a lie in till about 9am. And then I was reading some articles on my phone.

At about 11ish, due to the fact that I used up all of our remaining pasta, I went to the local co-op to see if they had any more, they didnt and having had to queue to get in, I really couldn't be bothered to go to another shop, so I came home, exchanged the shoes I'd been wearing for my trainers and decided to take Barlow out for a walk.

Whilst I was out, I thought I'd take some photos of the surrounding area as it looks much nicer in the sun!

The below photo is looking towards Mow Cop.

This is Barlow waiting for me to get a move on whilst I take the photo of the fields!

Here's Barlow leading the way!

It was at this point when we found this pond, that I got a bit lost and took my phone out to see where we were.

At this point Barlow is over my taking photos with him, and decided to sit down and to give me evils whilst i looked on google maps and took selfies!

We then continued on and found another little pond, and made our back home.

We were both shattered by the time we got home!

When I got home I spent some time with my mum whilst she was on her dinner.

I then decided to watch some travel guide videos of Canada on YouTube.

After tea I then spent some time with the parents watching tv.

Now I may have mentioned earlier in the week that I was going to throw my TBR list out the window and focus on Escaping from Houdini. Well I havent picked up a book all week 🙈. But during the day I'd seen an advert for Family For Beginners by Sarah Morgan and I'd been intrigued by the blurb and it was only 99p on kindle, so I bought it!

By 9.30pn I decided to start it! Needless to say it intrigued me so much that I couldnt put it down, and by 3.30am the following morning I'd finished it!

Friday 24th April 

So after last nights late night, I think I dropped off about 4am 🙈, I had to be up for 8.30 am to help my my mum with some technical issues for her computer for work that she had been having the precious day.

My dad wasnt working today, so it meant the kitchen was free and I'd been wanting to make cookies all week, so when I'd finished helping mum and she had to go on a conference call, I decided to go all out and make a salted caramel brownie as well as the cookies!

Both turned out quite well, even if the cookies were more biscuit like, if I do say so and I'm very happy with them.

I then spent a few hours sitting with my mum whilst she worked and I played  BlokuDoku. 

I then decided to go up to my room and try and do some reading, but as soon as I laid down to read, I fell asleep! 

I only woke up when the dog started barking. By this time it was about quarter to 4 and I'd promised to take Barlow out for a walk.

So I got up and took him for another hours walk around our local fields, but going in a different direction than what we did yesterday.

When I got back my dad was doing his first proper BBQ of the year for tea, so that was nice!

I then decided that I wanted to do another one of the virtual quizzes by the person that did the Harry Potter quiz last week, but todays quiz was dedicated to The Big Bang Theory.

Whilst getting ready for the quiz, I decided I wanted some pudding, so I decided to have some of the brownie I'd made earlier I paired the brownie with a donut and some fruit, and it was very yummy! 

By the end of the quiz, I was quite happy with my knowledge of The Big Bang Theory and look forward to doing more virtual quizzes!

So that was week 4 of lockdown! I hope you're all keeping well and keeping safe!

Vanessa

Get to Know Vanessa!

So for todays post, I thought I'd tell you some things about me!

Name: Vanessa

Age: 29

Where I live: Stoke-on-Trent 

Places I've lived: Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool in the UK and Al-Khobar in Saudi Arabia (A photo of me and my sister and mum is below).

Siblings: 2

University: Yes - I studied Business and Business Management at Liverpool John Moores (me at graduation below)

Current Job: IT Administrator

Eye colour: Blue

Hair colour: At the moment Blonde with Pink underneath!

Pet: A shipoo, a shih-tzu poodle cross called Barlow.

Here are a few of my Favourite Things

Singers: Jack Savoretti, Tyler Hilton, Taylor Swift, Gavin Degraw, Hilary Duff

Actors: Richard Armitage, John Barrowman, Henry Cavill, Stephen Amell,

Actresses: Missy Peregrym, Sally Hawkins, Jaime Alexander, Hilary Duff

Films: Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Rings, The Marvel Cinematic Universe 

TV shows: Rookie Blue, NCIS, NCIS LA, DC TV Universe, Poldark, One Tree Hill.

Comedians: Jack Whitehall, Russell Howard

Hobbies: Reading, watching tv and films, going to the theatre, having days out!

Place in the UK: Liverpool and Chatsworth House

Place outside of the UK: Canada

Candle scent: Either fruity or foody.

Food: Pizza, pasta, cake and sweets.

Fruit: Grapes, mango, peach 

Drink: Pepsi or coffee

Season: Summer

Perfume: Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel

I hope you feel like you've gotten to know me a little more!

Hope you're all having a good day and staying safe.

Vanessa 😊

Week 3 of Lockdown

So I entered the 3rd week of my lockdown over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Saturday 11th April

Saturday was probably the most boring day of the week. I spent the most of the saturday reading and watching films in bed.

I ended up watching Love Wedding Repeat.

Whilst I spent most of Saturday cooped up, it was also probably one of my worst days for feeling anxious and just a general fed up feeling!

Sunday 12th April

Sunday was another quiet day. I spent the morning helping my mum rearrange the freezer, as I'd complained that there wasnt anything that I wanted to eat I in there (I'm a very fussy eater). There was a lot of red meat (burgers) and sausages in there, which I don't eat and chicken, which I love, but hidden under all the other meats and couldnt find!

We now have some space in there so I can do some shopping for myself in the next week or so, as I'd also spoken to my nana and she needs some shopping which I'll do for her.

I then spent the remainder of the morning finishing off the Shadows Between Us, I love it and would definitely recommend it!

I also started my second read from my April TBR list: Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco.

I then took myself to my room and started playing on The Sims 4 whilst watching Supergirl.

Monday 13th April

On Easter Monday i had a lie in till about 9.30, I hadn't slept well the previous couple of days and probably could have slept more if Barlow hadnt jumped on me! 

So from the morning till the afternoon was spent in bed browsing through videos on Facebook, you know the ones where you watch one then suddenly you've spent 2 hours watching pointless videos!

I spent some of the evening texting friends in the conservatory and watched the fat pigeon sitting on our fence!

Tuesday 14th April

Tuesday morning saw me watching videos on my phone in bed (again!) for the first few hours, and then I decided I needed to go and get some food for my newly allocated freezer spot, and I'd been craving pizza for tea, so off I went to Tesco!

I felt quite anxious leaving the house and going to such a big shop, after not leaving the house for such a long time, especially considering the last time I'd gone out had only been to a small Co-OP. 

But going to tesco wasnt too bad, the weather made the queuing to get into the store so much easier, otherwise I'd have probably left it till another day had it been raining!

But I adhered to all of the social distancing rules set out by the store, and i thought if this as my trial run for going to do my nans weekly shop the following day!

Once all of my shopping had been completed, I needed something to do so I got my box of paints and set myself up in the conservatory and did some more painting from my Canada Colouring book. 

I started off by doing this Iris, the flower emblem for Quebec.

Not sure how I feel about the picture as a whole, but I do like how some of the petals of the flower came out.

I then started another painting of a beach walk, as I still had a bit if green paint left and wanted to use it rather than get rid of it.

Wednesday 15th April

Wednesday saw me head to my Nana's to get her list for her shopping. 

I'd been out to our local Tesco the day before and survived, but for Nana's shopping it was easier to go to her local Tesco to save on fuel!

Queueing up outside her Tesco was fine, again it was a nice day, but the people in this Tesco obviously cant read signs or unable to comprehend social distancing norms.

People going the wrong way down the one way aisles, people stopping to have a gander at the food in display causing a backlog of people, and then when you try to overtake they then move, it was a stressful morning!

Once I'd taken Nana's shopping back to her house, I then nipped to my sisters, to drop off some shopping I'd got for her both yesterday and today. 

When I'd got to her house, she had just nipped out, so I had to wait in the car for her to come back.

Waiting for Natalie wasnt too bad, it was sunny and I distracted myself with Snapchat filters!

Once natalie arrived, I popped her shopping on her drive, and had a wave from my niece and nephew I headed back home.

I then decided to carry on with my painting and completed the painting of the beach walk that I'd started the previous night, this was probably one of the more fun ones to do, as it required a lot of different colours.

As with the previous night, I still had some brown and green paint left, so I decided to have a go at painting this picture of a deer.

I might yet decide to add to the brown-ness of the deer, but overall I'm quite happy how its turned out.

Whilst I was painting, I was watching the final ever episode of Arrow. I'm not ashamed to admit it, I cried! I loved this show and loved how it spawned the other related tv shows in the Arrowverse.

Thursday 16th April

Thursday was a bit of a weird day! As of yesterday, both of the parents are now working from home. One in the conservatory and one in the dining room/kitchen.

I had a quiet morning catching up with DCs Legends of Tomorrow as I'd not caught up with some of the previous episodes of the previous season and wanted to catch up with the latest series. 

I then spent the lunchtime with my mum, she said shes happy for me to sit with her whilst she works, but it feels a bit awkward as I don't want to disturb her when shes on the phone! We spent her lunch hour watching Barlow be a Houdini (he escaped through a gate on the side of the house, the previous evening!). He can get through some small spaces as can be seen below!

Below is the gate he escaped through!

I then spent the remainder of the evening watching more of DCs Legends of Tomorrow.

We also got the news that our lockdown is extending for a further 3 weeks, whilst I knew this would probably be case, especially with the number of cases of Covid19 rising, I came to the conclusion that I also need to look into doing something maybe more educational or productive with my time for the foreseeable.

Friday 17th April

Friday was spent doing not a whole lot, if I'm honest! I spent a bit of the morning sat with my mum in the conservatory reading. 

I then went up to my room spent a bit of time planning out some photos that I want to try and take over the next few days for my Bookstagram.

Toward the later part of the evening my parents took Barlow  to my sisters to give him a bath and to try and trim his fur a little bit, as he was a little bit knotty! 

As you can see from the photo below that my sister sent, he looks a bit like a drowned rat!

Whilst we waited for the pooch to be returned, they ordered a takeaway and I spent the evening eating the takeaway and doing a virtual Harry Potter pub quiz on YouTube, which was quite fun! 

I then went to bed a read quite a lot of Hunting Prince Dracula, which I was quite surprised with, as I've struggling to get into this book all week, but I'm hoping this now means I'll get quite alot of it, if not finished soon.

If anyone has any ideas for further educational/productive ideas, please feel free to let me know!

I hope you're all having a brilliant week, and staying safe

Vanessa