Life lately in lockdown ... coronavirus 2020

Just bringing you a few random thoughts and musings on how life looks like for me and my family whilst 'enjoying' coronavirus lockdown 2020!  

I was chatting to my accountant yesterday and he asked me how it was going, I said well to be honest it isn't much different for me, he summed it up "you've been training for the last 22 years for lockdown"!  Well yes, as I have mentioned before I have been a mostly stay at home mum so being at home is fairly normal life for me.  However I was gradually getting used to an emptier nest and had been looking forward to my son vacating his room when he purchased his own flat, which was imminent, but is now delayed.  I had plans to create a spare room come walk-in wardrobe and was looking forward to having all my clothes in one place and even considering being brave and doing more blog videos.  But I am very happy that my son is safely at home with me so that can wait.

Having my daughter home from uni has meant I have my little photographer on tap, well she does like to complain a little but on the whole is very happy to help me.  I am more relaxed in my photos with Emily helping, and we can do fun things like this one below!  Here I am rocking a wrap skirt* from Roman Originals (now on sale, reduced to £10.80 and available in a 10 and 12), the Daisy pumps* from Hotter Shoes (currently 20% off) and a lace camisole vest from The Wendy House (details below).

Loving the sun! Outfit details above.

Shopping for my family and parents

I have been very busy!  Having both adult children back at home and my husband working more at home again has created manic days for me!  I had been managing to walk every day and do a weights workout 2-3 times per week but that is suffering a little.

Trying to keep up with their food requirements is quite a challenge.  My son hasn't had breakfast or lunch at home for years and would only be in two or three nights a week for dinner.  And my daughter was away at university.  But now I need to feed four adults, 3 meals a day!  Plus snacks!  I am very glad however that I am not home educating!!

I am also doing the food shopping for my parents who live nearby.

That means quite a big Ocado delivery, I am unable to get a slot every week but I am managing to get one every 10-14 days.  Then I use our local farm shop for fresh fruit and vegetables and bread.  But they have expanded more in recent years and have a fantastic selection of tinned items, store cupboard staples, fresh meat and a delicatessen as well.  I'm very impressed and I can see myself making permanent changes to my shopping habits when lockdown is over.

Fun walking in the woods!

Daily walks in the woods

I'm trying to get out for a daily walk, not always easy with my busy house but this weather has made such a huge difference to the lockdown situation we find ourselves in.  If it had been winter, cold and wet then I think I'd have really found it much more difficult.  And having just got over a period of depression, thank goodness I am better!

We are lucky to have the woods on our doorstep so no need to drive anywhere for our hour of permitted exercise and our two westie dogs enjoy the extra walks.

Spot the westie hiding behind me!

Getting up and dressing up!

I still get up every day at my usual time (normally 6.30 - 7.00 am) and I still shower, wash my hair, dry and straighten my hair, put my make-up on and get dressed up, albeit slightly more casually than I would be if I was out and about.  I would never be able to do a PJ day or a no make-up day, I just wouldn't feel right at all.

i do spend some days in workout gear though and I am trying to escape to my log cabin space and do a weights workout.

I have been slowly swapping my wardrobe over from winter to spring and even getting a few summer bits out.  Wasn't the Easter weekend amazing,  I spent Easter Sunday on my sun lounger in my bikini.  We took these photos, my bikini is from Fantasie Lingerie and is the Cote d Azur and my sarong is from a selection at The Wendy House, this one is £12.

Easter Sunday bikini day! Details below, bikini is from Fantasie and Sarong is from The Wendy House

Supporting small businesses

I am using this opportunity to reduce down my online shopping habit a bit.  I don't need many new clothes and we are trying to keep to a tighter budget whilst we navigate this time with our own business.  But I am making sure that I support small businesses wherever possible.  It is great to see so many adapting and taking their businesses online.

I had to soak off my own gel nails and my natural nails need a bit of TLC, a friend on instagram recommended the Jessica Critical Care and the Brilliance Top Coat to me.  I remembered that our local beauty salon, Sunrise in Marlow stock Jessica so I emailed Dawn and both items were duly delivered to me and I paid by bank transfer the next day.  Sunrise now offer an online shop, they stock a large Elemis range as well as other brands.  Big shout out to them - thank you.

I also had great fun doing a Facebook Live with Wendy from The Wendy House in Maidenhead.  I have mentioned Wendy before on my blog - see my Embracing Life interview with her here.  Her home boutique is gorgeous but like other small businesses she has needed to up her online visibility so she has been doing daily sales to clear some stock and promote her business, she is excellent fun to watch on Facebook Live.  If you'd like to see the one we did together then you can find it on my Facebook page or on Wendy's (link above).  

After our virtual shop, Wendy delivered some items to me to try out and I did a few photos with my daughter in the garden for you to see - more will be appearing on my Instagram soon.  Wendy is also offering a gift shopping service.  She will chat to you over a video call and help you choose a card and a gift for your friend or family member and then if you would like she can write the card with your personal message, wrap the gift and post it directly for you.  

Below: Jessica nail care delivered by Sunrise in Marlow.  Flip Flops from Aspiga with scarves / sarongs from the Wendy House.  Bracelet stack from a selection at The Wendy House.

Walking with my daughter!

Video calls and virtual pub quizzes

Every day at 4.00 pm I have a houseparty call with my two sisters and my parents.  We can check in on each other and we can compare notes, share a few frustrations and make sure mum and dad are coping, not too lonely and have everything they need.  Then every Friday at 5.30 pm we are holding a virtual pub quiz over zoom, the grandchildren are taking it in turns to organise the questions and us adults make sure we have opened a bottle of wine and have an easy dinner or takeaway ready for after!  I've also been chatting to friends and family over zoom instead of meeting up and it is a fun alternative!  I stopped drinking wine at home about four years ago - it helped me cut down on drinking and calories - but that seems to have been forgotten during lockdown!  

Exercise and healthy eating

Which leads me onto what we are eating!  Well as luck would have it my daughter is enjoying doing some cooking, we've had lots of baking - banana bread, fruit cake and fairy cakes.  We've had chicken sausage rolls for lunches and snacks.  And last night we had sausage ragu for dinner.  We've used our local pub for a takeaway delivery or two and a friend who lives locally has adapted her catering business and is making home-cooked meals for delivery, Donna runs Seriously Good Food and I love having her meals in the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking, so far we have tried lasagne and lamb tagine and I have macaroni cheese and sausage hotpot still to taste.  In between though I do actually cook myself and where possible I cook an extra portion for the freezer, things like chilli and spag bol, curry and casseroles work well.  I made this Beef Kheema recipe from Scott Baptie last week, it was a good one, simple, tasty and healthy - you can find the video demo here.

Beef Kheema recipe from Scott Baptie

Katy and Bonnie, our two westies

I thought I'd include this photo of our two West Highland White Terriers, Katy and Bonnie.  They are half sisters and absolutely love the warm weather, being in the garden doing a bit of sunbathing, going for walks in our woods and getting lots of attention from any visitors - guard dogs they are not!  They are more likely to roll over to get their tummies tickled.  Katy is 8 and Bonnie is 5 and my sister-in-law has two as well, one being Bonnie's full sisters, Snowi.

After a bath and needing hair cuts! Katy and Bonnie behind.

TV and films

Well funnily enough I've not had much time to just watch TV and I'd rather be outside if I can, then by the time dinner is over and cleared away, I am often having a bath and busy with other stuff, like planning social media posts, chatting to friends or catching up with essential beauty tasks like pedicures and self tanning!!

We watched a good film a few nights ago, I didn't expect to like it, it was Le Mans 1966, my son watched it too and we so rarely have him sitting with us it was a treat.  I am catching up on Belgravia and Race Across the World.  And I watched Military Wives last week having missed out going for Mother's Day at the cinema.

More woodland walks!

So that is life in lockdown for me and mine! 

We didn't have any holidays booked so no big disappointments or things to cancel..  But I was hoping to get away later in the year for some sun and relaxation.  I guess we will have to wait and see what happens to travelling as the weeks go on.  But for now I am doing okay!

Do comment below and let me know how you are coping.

Lots of love
Michelle xx
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Disclaimer: Contains some previously gifted items as marked * please note I do not use affiliate links on my blog posts.

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