29. Post 40 online reviews (Part 4)

I always seem to have a lot to say to praise or to complain about when it comes to places I visit but I never seem to get around to writing a review. I sometimes can’t be bothered to write a review of a product despite how many times they remind me to do it. I’m not always ready to do it straight away and often they’re gifts for other people.

Of the reviews I have done, not all are on Trip Advisor. I’ve started doing Google Reviews too.

I do like to give credit where credit is due but also if I’m disappointed with a service then I have a right to point this out too.

Review Number 8
Lincoln has banned Uber so I Googled a taxi firm and used Direct Cars back in January. Below is my glowing review.

Review Number 9
In July, I thought, to boost my number of reviews, I would review the amazing restaurant we went to in Crete - Raki Ba Raki back in September 2018 (which will be further explored when I do my next ‘A-Z of cuisines’ blog).

You can read the review here.


Review Number 10
As mentioned in the review, we had initially booked this for my birthday in October 2017 but due to being unwell we had to postpone. After much nagging, on my part obviously, we finally booked to go and we invited our friends, Owain and Kai to come along as they are also escape room fans. The place was called clueQuest on Caledonian Road and we took part in ‘Operation Blacksheep’ which was utterly brilliant. Thoroughly recommend it, as you will read here. Since ‘Operation Blacksheep’ we have been back to clueQuest as the same team (last week) to do ‘Revenge of the Sheep’ - super clever and we loved it.

What a team!

Review Number 11
The last review is, unfortunately, not a very positive one. It was another taxi company and I was so miffed that I wrote quite a long review (had to do two screen shots to fit it all in).

All I wanted was a smooth journey! Usually I’m pretty lucky but clearly not on this day.

21. Do something special with my niece, Lexie, every year (Year 5)

Despite Uncle Matheus not being able to join us for the day, I managed to cram in so much with the kids on my day out with them.

I picked them up and, once the car seat for Eden had been attached, we were off.

I took the kids to Watford to go bowling and to the arcade and for lunch. We played a game of bowling which the kids really enjoyed and then I gave them money for some of the games at the arcade and I may have played a couple myself. Lexie found a ‘Scooby Doo’ game and after a couple of goes she managed to get the jackpot of tickets. I also played a game and hit the jackpot so Eden and I sat in front of the machines for ages waiting for the tickets to come out. The three of us played a few more games and took all of our tickets to get cashed in. The kids chose the toys etc. they wanted and then we left to go for lunch.

Lexie showing her skills

Eden watching his skittles go down

Lexie hits the jackpot

So many tickets

We went to TGI Fridays and the kids immediately knew what they wanted to eat. We briefly popped to the Lego Store before going home and I got them a little something each.

That face!

Beautiful smile

A hat for me too

Eden's Lego creation

Before going home we went to Hobbycraft in Borehamwood because I had told them I would make homemade ‘Forky’ figures with them (from Toy Story 4). We bought everything we needed and headed back to my place. We sat in the garden and began our crafting. I helped Eden and Lexie managed to do a great job of her own. I also made a ‘Spoony’ with Eden too.

Spoony and Forky

Once we had made our cutlery characters, I took the kids home so they could show Mummy and Bubbie what they had made and what toys they had procured from Auntie and from arcade machines.

Pleased with his handiwork (with help from Auntie)

I already can’t wait until the next time!

35. Buy and build the Tower Bridge Lego

I’m becoming more than a little obsessed with Lego. I’ve bought a number of new sets lately.

March
I saw an advert on my regular Minifigs.me email about a Beatles set which had reduced in price for a limited time. As I already have the Lego Yellow Submarine Beatles, I thought it would be nice to have the earlier incarnation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

April
One of the Lego Ideas that was successful was the Mickey Mouse Steamboat Willie set including original Mickey and Minnie Mouse figures. The whole set is in grayscale. However, what you can’t see is that the inner mechanism is all using colourful bricks. As it was a limited edition set, I thought that it would be remiss of me not to include it in my collection.

Steamboat Willie seemingly on the Thames

May
Matheus and I went to the pop-up Brick Bar. It was good fun but I was a little disappointed that they were using generic bricks and not Lego bricks. We had a few challenges to do while we were there which included building the tallest tower and then naming it for extra points and also building a self-portrait. We did actually win points for the best building name (thanks to the quick thinking of Matheus) but it was, unfortunately, not the tallest tower - the tallest was built by a team of five or six people and we were only two.

The Hypodermic Needle - winner of the best building name

My self-portrait

June
I finally bought a building for the other corner of my street. It is the Corner Garage building. The ground floor is the garage complete with petrol and a door that rolls up for cars to get into the garage to be fixed. the other side has a door up to the veterinarian who is currently caring for a bunny rabbit and a frog. There is a little girl looking at a goldfish as well. The top floor is a flat for a family and a roof with a sun-lounger.

The Corner Garage

I also found on Facebook marketplace, a reasonably priced ‘Back to the Future’ DeLorean (retired Lego product), one previous owner. It was given to me built so I took it apart and rebuilt it from scratch. Anything ’Back to the Future’ makes me think about how Matheus and I first met, so I knew I had to buy it.

‘We’ve gotta go back, Marty” / “Where?” / “Back to the future”

July
One year married and my darling husband bought me our spirit animal in Lego form - a turtle (schildpad). He almost forgot to give it to me with the other anniversary gifts he had bought. Such a generous husband!

Een kleine schildpad

I also found on eBay this month, a 3-in-1 Pelican which can also be two other animals. However, I really love the Pelican and this is sitting proudly in my cabinet with my other animals.

I hope you’re enjoying my obsession as much as I am.

14. Donate £40 a year to charities (Year 7)

Another year of philanthropy sees me donating £57 to various worthy charities.

12th July 2018
Two of my colleagues, Sara and Neha, took on a 100k walk over 14th/15th July raising money for charity (their poor feet). I decided I would donate to a different charity closer to my heart. It’s not that I have anything against Cancer Research but I have my own personal reasons why I don’t donate to them, aside from the fact that so many people I know often do sponsored events for them and I do sponsor them a lot. Also, there are a number of smaller charities that really need the money. I, instead, donated £10 to Crohn’s and Colitis UK in their names.

18th July 2018
July was the month of fundraising ventures in my team. Two other colleagues, Caroline and Lucy, did the RideLondon cycle ride on 29th July for NSPCC and Tommy’s. I sponsored them £10 each.

What strength! Though, I think you’re supposed to sit on it - I wouldn’t know as I can’t ride a bike

16th November 2018
As always, making me cry multiple times in one evening, I donated £20 to Children in Need. They really do know how to tug on my heartstrings (“that’s how they get you”, my husband tells me).

1st June 2019
When I was on holiday with my Mum a year ago, she was saying how AMAZING her Skechers were. I tried them on and was super jealous. It took a year but I eventually decided that I would buy myself a pair because I wanted to start to do more walking in the summer with Matheus. I went to Watford into the Skechers store and found a pair I liked and thus decided to buy. I went to the till and the young man behind the till said that the store was raising money for Breast Cancer Care and would I round up the cost of my trainers - “that is how they get you”, I thought to myself. I agreed and rounded up by £7.

25. Finish the Cinderella cross-stitch I started in 1992

You may not have seen a blog about this for a while because I never really got anywhere. A busy lifestyle and no “me” time means that I never really get a chance to sit and do this. 

However, I just went away for the Bank Holiday weekend with Matheus and his family to Hay on the Wye Festival, which is a literary festival, and I thought that in the downtime when I wasn’t going to see speakers, I would sit and do some more of this. I detached it from it’s wooden frame, put it in its old WH Smith bag and went on my merry way. 

Remember this???

I didn’t get as much time as I wanted but I did manage to complete some more of a leg and the head. I really need to put some more time aside for this. I have enough train journeys for work where I could but I tend to use the time to work. 

Honestly, I have made progress 

It’s been out on my wooden frame for so long that I’m going to finish the thread I’m on and then give it a gentle hand wash to make it clean. I might feel better about it if it’s nice and fresh!

32. Watch 40 Tom Hanks movies (Part 2)

As mentioned in a previous blog (November 2017), I am a huge fan of Tom Hanks; he’s such a versatile actor. I’ve watched a number of his movies over the years. Some of my favourite movies have had him in the cast. Some of the movies below (in chronological order) I actually can’t believe I haven’t seen already e.g. Philadelphia, Cast Away.

I cannot recollect which of Joe Versus the Volcano or Bonfire of the Vanities I have seen so I will have to watch both. I know I’ve seen one of them or maybe I’ve seen parts of both.

When creating this list I was thinking how good it would be to see some of these movies again once I’ve completed the list, e.g. A League of their Own, Big, Turner & Hooch. There are a handful I have definitely seen more than once: Big, That Thing You Do, You’ve Got Mail, all the Toy Story movies, Forrest Gump, Sleepless in Seattle and A League of their Own (yes, I said I want to see Big and League again even though I’ve seen them before - they’re just too good not to).

I’ve read the Green Mile books but have still never got around to seeing the movie.

I can’t believe I haven’t made any progress since my last blog. This is very disappointing but I blame not having enough time at the weekend to actually sit down and watch a movie. I also need to make sure it’s something that Matheus will also want to see, which is always where the complication lies. Perhaps you can give me short reviews of the movies I haven’t seen to try to persuade my husband to watch a few with me. Please do comment below.

Movie	Seen it?
Splash	YES
Bachelor Party
Big	YES
Punchline
The ‘Burbs	YES
Turner & Hooch	YES
Joe Versus The Volcano
The Bonfire of the Vanities
A League of their Own	YES
Sleepless In Seattle	YES
Philadelphia
Forrest Gump	YES
Apollo 13	YES
Toy Story	YES
That Thing You Do	YES
Saving Private Ryan	YES
You’ve Got Mail	YES
Toy Story 2	YES
The Green Mile
Cast Away
Road To Perdition	YES
Catch Me If You Can	YES
The Ladykillers
The Terminal	YES
Elvis Has Left The Building
The Polar Express
The Da Vinci Code	YES
Charlie Wilson’s War
The Great Buck Howard
Angels & Demons
Toy Story 3	YES
Larry Crowne
Saving Mr Banks	YES
Bridge of Spies	YES
Ithaca
Sully: Miracle on the Hudson
Inferno
The Circle
The Post	YES
Toy Story 4

I can’t wait for Toy Story 4 to be released. Only a couple of months to go!

I shall now start adding the movies that I have yet to see to my Netflix and Amazon Prime lists and then find some time to watch them!

23. Lose 40lbs (Part 3)

Last year, you may recall I blogged about having issues losing weight, especially in the lead up to my wedding. I did manage to lose a fair amount but not enough to know that I looked amazing on my wedding day despite people telling me I did. I know I could have made more of an effort, deep down.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. The more people tell me I need to lose weight, the more difficult I find it. I guess I’m using this blog post as therapy really. 

I’ve been in my current job two years and it involves a lot of travelling and often staying overnight a various cities around the UK. Trying to keep to a tight budget and trying to eat healthily on the hop is not an easy task. Now, don’t get me wrong, I could make more of an effort and I guess I’m just lazy, but it’s far easier to grab a sandwich for the train or where the meeting is and less so to grab a salad or a soup. 

I honestly don’t know how I am supposed to manage a diet, Crohn’s Disease and the constant travelling to maintain a healthy lifestyle. There is no time to join a gym. By the time I get home from whichever far-flung town or city I’ve visited, I just want to crash in front of the TV and not move. I just don’t feel motivated. Obviously, when I am at home I cook healthy meals for myself and Matheus. I’ve also recently been told I have type 2 Diabetes - come on Lauren (!!) - how much more can you really inflict on yourself??? This is an added pressure. The diet for Crohn’s Disease patients and type 2 Diabetes patients is completely the opposite. Less fibre for Crohn’s and more for Diabetes. Which am I supposed to prioritise???

I know I now have many more reasons to lose the weight but I’m still struggling. I’m sure counselling won’t help. I’ve tried ‘Paul McKenna’ and other hypnosis audio. I have no idea if they were beginning to work because I would fall asleep with my earphones in. I never know if I’m supposed to just fall asleep or whether I’m supposed to try to stay awake to listen but, I get so tired that I’m spark out as soon as I’m asked to think of a stream or lake or other body of water or birds chirping/tweeting in the background. 

If anyone knows the best way to manage this then please do dispense your wisdom. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi - you’re my only hope!