Since half term finished, we have slowly got back into our home-school routine. This week we also celebrated a birthday. Celebrations do make lockdown more interesting. For one it means we have plenty of cake and secondly it breaks up the monotony. We enjoyed a fish and chips takeaway; I even had a cheeky glass of Asti. My first drink of 2021.

Other than that, we are still sanding. It’s becoming a bit of a running joke our decorating efforts. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry! We keep feeling like we might turn a corner then in a different light we find lots more tool marks and divets we have to try and sand out for a nice flat finish. Then when you sand them out you have to make sure you’re very careful. Otherwise, you see scratchy marks all over the walls… and so the decorating saga continues!

Chocolate Painting

For my son’s birthday celebrations I bought a chocolate painting set for a bit of a change. They both had chocolate monsters and lots of edible paint colours from Lab Cocoa. They do chocolate workshops normally but make up these kits so you can enjoy the experience from home.

You need to pop the paint in the microwave to soften it. The paint on its own wasn’t tasty but on the chocolate it was fine. The chocolate itself was very good. Their creations could have done with another coat, but the boys were too keen to tuck into the chocolate. So they did rush a bit.

It was nice for them to have something a bit different to do. I think with a little bit of imagination lockdown birthdays can still be lots of fun.

Cake

There has been plenty of cake this week. My brother made a tasty lemon tray bake. Which literally got wolfed down at record speed. Plus, we had ordered two cakes, Apple Crumble and Biscoff for the birthday celebrations. We love cakes from SPONGE. Although from tomorrow I am going to try and ease off the treats. January I was so good, February I went crazy on sugar so March I really hope I can rein it in again! Wish me luck. The sugar cravings are the worst for the first week I ease off…

Blogging

It’s been rather quiet on my blog. I have only had one post between my weekly updates this week. Hopefully when things open up and everyone is back from furlough, I can enjoy busier weeks again. So, the only blog post on my main feed this week is how to keep your children safe online during lockdown. My two are definitely spending a lot more time online, but it does give them a chance to chat to friends. However, you do need to know who your children are interacting with to keep them safe.

I was sent a lovely bottle of red wine from Independent Wine, that my husband said was most enjoyable. So, I need to write up my post about that. You can read an earlier post I wrote about gifting wine which is a helpful resource if you struggle to pick out a decent bottle for a present.