Tuesday, 25 May 2021

Chuckles Blog Update

I don't know where this month has gone to be honest as I've been so busy off the computer that it is making my head spin. I'd fully intended to at least be back visiting your blogs and leaving comments by now but things have just got away from me. I'll give you an idea how crazy things have been.
 
Most of you are aware that it has been almost a year since we lost my uncle to Covid and we were struggling to try and deal with all the legal issues last year. My dad gave in and hired a lawyer in April who has taken charge of the 'estate' (basically the house!), is dealing with companies looking for money from us and reducing our stress levels. They hired someone to clear out and clean the house for us and now, this week it is finally going on the market for sale. It is a huge relief to get this dealt with as it has taken up a lot of time, energy and stress to get to this stage. The housing market is good for sellers right now so we hope for a decent price and a quick sale to get it over with.  
 
My dad has been waiting for a knee operation for two years now and was meant to get it done last summer but it was cancelled because of the pandemic. He has been told it is going ahead this summer and he will be on a list for cancellations at short notice. That got us into a real panic because we still have all the good stuff from my uncle's house inside ours, waiting to be sorted into keep or charity shop etc. We have all the stuff from our house ready to go to either the dump or charity shops. The place is in a mess! Lockdown rules keep changing in our area so we don't know from one week to the next whether non essential shops are open or closed, what the charity shop is taking or not, what hours the dump is running and what we can get rid off...it's chaos when these sites aren't giving updates on it all. 
 
My dad is also struggling to drive some days because of the knee which makes things more difficult. This has all been taking up a lot of our time, trying to get ready for this operation and knowing he can't drive for two months after it. He's also had a change of diet on doctors orders which means more frequent supermarket deliveries to get in the fresh fruit. Wiping down every item we get in each delivery each week is also time consuming. He's also having insomnia off new medication which limits how much he feels up to doing so I'm doing it all some days. My dad's room is a disaster zone with boxes/bags full of old cds everywhere but the charity shops aren't taking much of that at the moment so we are struggling to get rid of it. Add in the usual housework and 90 minutes of exercise every day and I'm not getting much time for anything else during the day. 
 
So overall I've been pretty busy each day and at night that is my relax in my room watching stuff time so I'm not on the computer then either. I haven't read anything this month as I'm now trying to get a pile of stuff watched to clear some space on various shelves. I have boxes full of series recorded from tv plus bought dvd box sets breeding everywhere! I intend to have a summer of getting stuff watched so I can catch up on a few series and get rid of stuff I don't like. I'm trying not to think about the book pile right now but that will be my task for winter I think. Things are pretty chaotic right now and I still don't know if I'm going to have a blog running when this busy month ahead is finished. I haven't had time to even think about it to be honest. I am pleased to report that I had my second vaccine dose last week and only had a slightly sore arm in the way of side effects, so that is my dad and I done until we need these booster shots later this year.
 
That's my update for now. I hope you are all staying safe.
Take care
Chuckles

Saturday, 1 May 2021

Unexpected Blog Break

 

Hi guys!
Sorry I just seemed to vanish without word earlier in April. To be honest I wasn't planning a blog break of any kind. I just got really annoyed with Blogger messing me about on a few of the posts I was doing. I also happened to be reading a book written by one of the DS from SAS Who Dares Wins (Ollie's newest book, for those who know the show) and the book was about looking at the time consuming things in your life, the things you do out of habit or addiction etc and deciding why you do it and if you should continue with these things if they don't add to your life. It's got me thinking about the blog being so time consuming when Blogger is doing my head in, how I hate writing the book reviews and so on. It sort of got me wondering again about the long term future of my blog which has been a theme for me since last summer.

Can I see myself doing this blog in five years time if Blogger continues to arse me about over simple graphics and text? No, to be honest. Are there other things I could be doing like reading and getting stuff watched? Yes. Am I also tired of the toxic social media environment I'm wading through? Yes. I guess I didn't realise how draining it all was and on the 13th I think it was I told myself I couldn't be bothered blogging that day and went off to do other stuff. I ended up exercising, weight training with my new weights, varnishing the fences, watching reruns of favourite stuff, browsing the internet just for fun. To be honest, the caterpillar cake wars (Colin v Cuthbert), Ed Balls Day and the failed European Super League had me so entertained that I forgot to go back to the blog and I realise I've been away from it for two weeks without thinking about it or realising. The question is, what now?
 
I just wanted to let you know that everything is ok with me despite my vanishing so suddenly. My health is fine, my dad got his second Pfizer dose earlier this week and he's ok, my mood is fine and I'm not depressed or anything. I'm just trying to have a think about things but I'm not reaching any conclusions yet. I'm off the blog and social media until Monday as there is a anti-racism boycott going on in the UK but after that you'll see me active on Twitter. At the moment I'm hoping to start visiting your blogs next week to say hello, and I plan to continue keeping in touch like that for now even if the blog isn't posting anything. So I will see you guys around while I ponder things for a bit longer!
 
Take care of yourselves and your loved ones
Chuckles