6th April - Things go right and things go wrong

I had a lovely session this morning getting my nails done. I absolutely love the new design. Neon tips. I just wanted something bright as the last 2 sets I've had have been darker.

I had all these plans of things I wanted to get done today. Trying out my calligraphy set, going to a new place for my day off walk, researching animals for my animal lover badge...

Yeah, none of that happened. Mum had a day off to go to a pre-op appointment today and it was raining. Walk was off due to the rain then. I figured it's ok, I'll take my laptop with me to the hospital while mum's at her appointment and sit in Costa. I'll use their WiFi to do my research.

Yeah, that didn't happen either. Their WiFi was absolutely useless! I couldn't connect to it! I also couldn't hotspot my phone because most of the time I had 'e' service. Worse than useless. Thinking it might have been my laptop, I did a troubleshoot. It only removed my laptop's ability to access any WiFi!!! I was so angry! So I didn't manage to get anything done.

I did manage to achieve more painting today. The colours look so bold without any of the blended shades.

I also managed to write my review of Aladdin the Musical for the Critic Badge. So here it is:

Aladdin the Musical

For my birthday I went to see the stage show of Aladdin in the West End with a friend of mine.

I'd never been to the West End before and only ever seen one proper show (Wicked).

It was an incredible show and experience as a whole.

The biggest issue I faced was that our seats were right at the back in the corner. We also had a tall person sat in front of us. Luckily, he was the only one obscuring our view. I know some theatres have pillars or funny shaped seating areas so the stage can be obscured from certain angles. We got round this issue by not folding our seats down and instead sat on the backs. Being at the back does have some perks.

The funniest character had to be the Genie. He was just so funny and, by the reactions of others on stage, often threw in a little improvisation. One scene with Aladdin, he kept sweeping his foot round to the side in a wide arc, hands on his hips and grinning at him every time he tried to deliver a line. This resulted in him trying hard not to laugh and not being able to properly deliver his lines.

At the beginning as well, when he's supposed to pull the lamp out of his pocket, he pulled out a Union Jack umbrella and apologised but he'd been souvenir shopping. His character truly made the production epic!

I also liked the fact that Alan Menken, the composer of the original movie score, returned to tweak this one. All of the familiar songs from the movie I remember as a kid were in it with a twist and a few new ones were added and all of them were brilliant!

I highly recommend going to see it if you get the chance and I recommend giving the album a listen to as well.

Today I'm grateful for...

1. Chatting to my friend while she does my nails and of course, getting a new awesome set
2. Even when things seem bad, it's not as bad as it seems.
3. Have I said coffee before? I've said coffee before. Hey, coffee is good. Especially Costa!
4. Fish and Chips takeout. Well, chicken burger and chips in my case. (Diet? Um... I took a meal off)
5. A dad who knows how to fix my computer (love you, Dad)

4th April - A day of painting

 Today I was up early, despite it being my day off, because I went for breakfast with a friend of my mum's. Lovely lady and it was nice to have a good catch up with her. The breakfast was nice too. If anyone is local to me, I recommend Dolly's, especially for breakfast!

We came home and I checked my Rebel Journal definitely had everything I wanted to include for the month. I had missed out a few things so that's up to date now. Hopefully. It's probably gonna be quite fluid though in case plans change. This Thursday for example. I think I've put stuff down to do after work, forgetting that I have a Cubs planning meeting.

Once I was all sorted, though, I decided to make a start on a painting kit I got myself with a birthday discount from Hobbycraft. I can't remember if it was the last birthday or the one before, but I'm 3 weeks away from my next one!! 😅

I'm going to put this towards my artist badge as the painting of a landscape. I know it's not quite the same, but this is my level of capability. I also already had this resource, I can't buy too much towards badges. I've already bought calligraphy books and plants so far.

This is the design I'm doing. I love the colours, they look really amazing and I'm rather fond of horses.

I find it amusing how as you paint one shade at a time, it just looks so random until the blocks start to fill.

This is how much I got done today while we watched NCIS. I had to down my brushes to go to my friend's house. I take her daughter to Cubs after her tumble class, but it was nice to see her boys too.

At Cubs, we played a version of Blind Man's Buff which is apparently Chinese in which instead of being blindfolded, everyone covers their face (we used Easter Egg shapes because it was the last meeting before the school break) and one person is chosen to speak. It was an exercise in recognising voices rather than feeling a face as in the traditional version.

Then we had an egg and spoon race using Creme Eggs (my team won!) where we also checked our pulse before and after, followed by making Easter cards and electric circuits.

So that's my day. Fire evacuation training at work tomorrow!

Five things...

1. My Cubs. They're a great Pack of young people and we had lots of fun. A few of them asked where I'd been as I missed the last two meetings because of my back. One of them said she hoped my back felt better. What lovely kids!
2. Painting. I might not be very good at it, but I enjoy doing it. It's nice and relaxing.
3. Breakfast at Dolly's. Forget Tiffany's, Dolly's does the best breakfast!
4. My bosses at work. I still struggle a lot with my back but my bosses are so good to me. They're reassuring and always help me.
5. Our Firestick. It's a bit first world of me, but I am grateful to have it for days when I'm off, especially when I'm off on my own. I put my favourite radio station on through the TV. Today we watched NCIS through Prime on the stick because it tends to work better than streamed through the Virgin