Romanais Blog

May 31st, 2020

31/5/2020

Mays running stats -
* ran 25/31 days
* time spent -18 hours
* Distance - 170.00KM (105.6 miles)

Ran our second half marathon distance

2020 running stats to date -
* 114 times ran so far this year
* 75 hours 14 minutes spent running this year
* 720KM ran so far this year = 447.3 miles

Our Sunday looked like this -

* day off, no run, lie in until 7am

* the majority of my day was spent reading this book which I cannot put down

* Thanks mom and dad for the birthday cake, we ate it after lunch.

* Roast chicken, mash, peas and carrots, brocolli, stuffing and yorkshire puddings for lunch.

* After lunch we had another walk through the park. Roman went on his bike.

* Mark and Roman have started to make another Lego video.

* Mark has been working on his model.

* Roman has been following NASAs feed on Youtube.

* This evening I made mint aero chocolate pots for pudding.

Todays simple pleasures -
* a nice warm day
* a slow day, no-one has done much
* bread rolls, crackers, salad and crisps for tea
* seeing mom and dad through the window before lunch

May 30th, 2020

30/5/2020

11.3K (7 miles) ran before breakfast. Day off tomorrow.

Our splits -

A lovely morning around the reservoir. Still find it hard to believe I can run all the way round that!

FACT - Bartley Green reservoir is where Bill Oddie did his early bird watching

Happy Birthday to Dylan! We did a door stop drop off of his presents, socially distanced.

Came home and made a picnic to take to the park for lunch. I made some hummus and added a splash of extra hot chilli oil Mark had for Christmas, big mistake, it was a little too hot.

Mark sorted Romans bike out of the shed so he could ride his bike there and back and around the park. We had a nice hour and half in the park reading our books while Roman rode his bike. It made a change from lunch in our back garden and we came home again when we ran out of drink. We were surprised as the park was very quiet. Maybe people are staying at home and meeting people in their back gardens? Or maybe it is too hot to go out today?

I made another mandala in pink cotton. Pattern here.

Pudding tonight.

Mark and Roman made another movie.

Todays simple pleasures -
* chicken drumsticks (quiche for me), wedges, cous cous and salad for tea while we watched a film
* Started a new book, 25% of the way through "Triptych" by Karin Slaughter
* seeing mom,dad, Jordan, Dylan and Lexi again after many weeks! xx

Tonight we watched "Space X, rocket launch" which Roman really enjoyed. He was getting very excited when he saw they had touch screen pads.

May 29th, 2020

29/5/2020

5K ran before breakfast. Such a lovely morning.

Still so close down the reservoir straight.

I finished another book.

Made some cinnamon buns for the freezer.

Made a decoupage card for my friend Deb whose daughter had a baby girl yesterday.

Ate lunch outside, pasta and garlic bread.

Pudding tonight, strawberries, meringue and ice cream.

I made a mandala, pattern HERE.

Mark went to pick up our Asda click and collect order. All good, nothing squashed or missing and only one strange substitution - requested a bottle of conditioner (Anais goes through it at an alarming rate) and got sent a bottle of shampoo instead. If I had wanted shampoo, I would have ordered shampoo. I wanted CONDITIONER! He was gone and back home again within fifteen minutes.

Todays simple pleasures -
* clean sheets tonight
* the washing dried on the line
* burgers for tea while we watched "Shazam" (jacket potato and cheese for me with ear phones on so I could listen to the news).
* FINALLY got vegetarian gravy in our Asda shop, yesssss!!!!!!!
* got another Asda click and collect for Friday 5th and Friday 12th June
* It has been two months since either of us went to a supermarket
* downloaded anther library book which I shall start to read in bed shortly

May 28th, 2020

28/5/2020

5K ran before breakfast.

It was much brighter today.

Lunch in the garden, toasted cheese sandwiches and a packet of crisps.

A meringue made.

Part three of "Fruit Garden CAL" completed. Next part to be released 9th June.

We had a nice walk around the park after tea.

Todays simple pleasures -
* a Zoom call to catch up with Sue, Gilly, Deb, Helen, Sarah, Laura and Karen this morning
* pasta and meatballs (a roasted pepper for me) for tea
* cinnamon buns from out of the freezer when we got back from our walk this evening
* submitted our Asda shop for collection tomorrow
* "Clap for Carers" the tenth week tonight
* an early night to read my book which I may finish tomorrow

May 27th, 2020

27/5/2020

5K ran before breakfast. Pleased with my time today, under 30 minutes.

So close but still cannot get under 3,20 down the reservoir straight.

Warm but cloudy.

This morning I finished making the five squares of week three.

After lunch I sewed the ends in and joined them together.

Lunch in the garden again, Anais and Roman had noodles. Mark and I finished the cheese and crackers off from last night.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading my book. I will do the rest of part 3 (eight Acanthus flowers) tomorrow.

After tea (hunters chicken, veggie fingers, chips, peas, fried egg and salad) we went for a walk around the park. It was a lovely warm evening.

Todays simple pleasures -
* another lovely warm day
* started our Asda order for click and collect on Friday. Need to check out tomorrow.
* lunch in the garden
* we forgot about the ice-creams in the freezer so this afternoon Anais and Roman had a screwball each
* Anais has been playing the ukulele
* Roman is kind and continues to offer me his sweets though I don't eat them as they contain gelatine

May 26th, 2020

26/5/2020

5K ran before breakfast.

Still can't beat my best down the reservoir straight.

Warm but very cloudy this morning.

This morning I read my book until part three of "Fruit Garden CAL" was released.

This week is based on Clementines and then continues to make four Acanthus flowers. More information about it and the pattern can be found here.

I got this far today.

Lunch in the garden again, extra toppings on the pizzas courtesy of Roman.

Our next door neighbour had a new table saw delivered today. He saw Mark and Roman in the garden recently making things and very kindly offered them his old one.

We had a "picky" tea tonight of cheese and crackers, crisps, salad, quiche, sausage rolls, veggie sausage rolls, popcorn chicken, a garlic bread pizza and an omlette for Roman.

Todays simple pleasures -
* another warm day
* no washing as the washing pile is empty
* Anais and Roman have been on their computers all day - Roman had a message from a school friend asking why the school work this week was the same as last week. He didn't realise it was half term!
* Mark was supposed to be off this week but has postponed it until later in the year when he can make better use of the time

Bank Holiday Monday 25.05.20

25/5/2020

5K ran before breakfast.

Only TWO SECONDS slower down the reservoir than my fastest time of 3 minutes twenty seconds.

7AM and not a cloud in the sky.

A bit of drama after breakfast when Mark went to the shed and discovered a wasps nest.

He cut the top off a milk carton and caught the nest in it. He put a rag on top to stop them escaping and then used electrical tape to stick the lid back on to the carton.

I didn't feel comfortable killing them so we drove into the countryside at the back of the reservoir to let them go in a bush. He taped the bottle to a piece of copper tube so he could hold it at arms length and carefully peeled the tape off the top of the lid. I've never seen him move so fast as he did when he emptied the bottle!

All wasps safely rehomed, no wasps killed and no humans stung!

Mark and Roman got their DIY on. What did they make?

Roman wanted a stand for his headphones. Its made with pallet wood for the base, a piece of old shelving unit for the upright and the end of a wooden spoon for hanging thing. Roman also counter sunk the screws and added rubber stickers at the base so it didn't scratch surfaces.

Roman even had the idea to make a little hole for the jack plug.

I made this before lunch. Pattern here.

And after lunch a set of six crochet coasters using cotton. Pattern here.

Anais and Roman spent the day in here because its the coolest place in the house and garden.

Mark took his model in the back garden to do.

Peanut butter bagels on the picnic rug for lunch.

It was nice to see Jenny this afternoon. Thanks for the masks and marmalade. xx

Roman wanted to use the tools again so this afternoon with Marks help they made the Starship Enterprise.

Before tea we went for a walk around the park. In through buttercup field, down and past Woodland Walk, round the estate where we re-entered the park through the car park, back through the park, over the bridge, past the football pitches and home again.

Todays simple pleasures -
* just a nice, pleasant day
* 23% of my new library book read
* TEA - chicken wraps and salad (veggie wraps for me)
* it has been a day well spent

May 24th, 2020

24/5/2020

No run today, rest day. We had a lie in until 6.45 and then deep cleaned the kitchen, bathroom and conservatory. I do clean everyday anyway but we gave everywhere some extra ooomph this morning!

LUNCH -
Roast chicken
butternut squash
roast potatoes
stuffing
roast parsnips
yorkshire puddings
cauliflower
carrots
sprouts

After lunch we went for a walk to the park. We went down a little mud path today instead of sticking to the footpath. These are supposed to be ponds but they have dried up. Apparently the flowers are yellow iris.

Note the lines in the grass - the mowers have mowed strips two metres wide for people to observe social distancing. Those are a field of yellow buttercups, we think they are so pretty they never got mowed.

Home for cheesecake.

Mark cut the lawn.

Mark worked on his model.

I made two crochet wash cloths

Chocolate pots for pudding tonight with a Strawberry Dream Cadbury Rose in each one.

Todays simple pleasures -
* having a rest day
* it has been nice and warm
* no-one has done much for a change
* TEA - chicken drumstick, bread rolls and crackers, crisps and salad
* we watched a film on Friday and a film yesterday and it has been another day the TV hasn't been on
* it is a bank holiday tomorrow and Mark has the day off

May 23rd, 2020

23/5/2020

Saturday - long run day. 11.3KM (7 miles) done before breakfast. Very windy this morning, it was like running in a wind tunnel at times. Day off tomorrow.

Our splits, you can see where we went up hill, down hill and flats.

It rained about an hour after we got home and rained on and off throughout the day. We definitely had the best of the day.

Mark and Roman made another Youtube video.

I finished my book, started on Thursday. Really enjoyed this one, couldn't put it down.

Tea - chicken drumsticks (vegetable fingers for me) with chips, cous cous and salad. Pudding was strawberries, ice cream and meringue. We watched a film at the same time "Fast and the Furious - Hobbs and Shaw".

Todays simple pleasures -
* the washing dried on the airer in the conservatory
* Lunch- Mark & Roman - beans and sausages on toast with a fried egg, Anais - toasted cheese sandwich, me - cheese on toast
* we opened a box of Cadbury Roses this evening
* I prepared Sunday lunch for tomorrow
* Mark sorted the table in the conservatory, tidied all of the tech things up and cable tied all the leads together as it was spaghetti junction in there
* an early night tonight = tired legs xx

May 22nd, 2020

22/5/2020

Heavy rain this morning so we almost abandoned any ideas to go for a run. Changed the bed and waited until 7.15 to go out when it stopped raining, which is approx half hour later than we normally go out. 5K done, overcast and very windy.

Six seconds slower than my fastest down the reservoir straight and two seconds slower than yesterday.

The rest of the day was spent doing not a lot - I have been in the conservatory reading my book.

Forgot to take a photo of pudding tonight, meringue, strawberries and ice-cream. This was Marks after he had already started to eat it.

Todays small pleasures -
* Mark picked up our Asda click and collect shop. We have potatoes after not having any last week! Haven't been able to get any vegetarian gravy granules in weeks though. We had three suitable substitutes, had nothing squashed or broken this week and was just missing one pack of malted milk biscuits.
* Got ourselves another click and collect for Friday 29th May and Friday 5th June. It has been almost two months now since we have last been in a supermarket.
* fuel prices have come down, cost Mark £48 to fill his tank up from empty, normally it costs in the region of £60
* the rainy morning turned into a lovey day and all my washing got dried on the line
* clean sheets tongight
* it is a bank holiday weekend