lockdown shopping spree

Sainsburys raised delivery prices, no more 50 pence slots, and the cheap 1£ slots are only available in the new 4 hour flexible slots. and far as i know the normal 1h slot prices went up, they are anything from 4£ up. Tesco doesnt really have any free slots at all (in our area anyway), and Ocado raised their prices long ago. so we essentially use Sainsburys for deliveries. it helps that we like their selections...  there is an iceland and waitrose nearby where do some daily shopping.

Magnus Carlsen commenting on women in chess in the Guardian.

with another lockdown i faced with the same "problem" as the first time; navigating conversations with friends who are really suffering. im lucky in that lockdown doesnt change my life too much in practise, and mentally its not hard on me either, but so many friends are really struggling. and boohoo, my first world prob is how do i manage our discussions or what do i say? relationships are full of situations where one is facing a struggle that the other isnt. like a divorce, illness, depression or just a bad day...  now with lockdown, we are more less on the same boat at least in my group of friends (eg. no single parents who lost their job or something 'extreme'). but where one is saying its really rough, im just trying to find a way of expressing empathy and talking about my own situation without making it weird. the easiest is to not talk about myself at all, just focus on understanding the other person. but during covid times in general conversations are a lot about sharing experiences. and if there is one rule i know, its that if someone is down, dont gloat about your own fortunes. maybe that combined with the finnish "dont gloat - ever" attitude just makes me feel like i should look and sound all gloomy even when it conflicts with how i feel inside. but okay, this is really a small issue and now ive dedicated a chapter to it. but it really has puzzled me and i think i basically feel guilty for not suffering?

omg ive been with the same person for 10 years and 8 months. not that ive ever been averse to long relationships, but on a general level 10+ years is impressive, and its ONE QUARTER of my life, jesus. 

weekends together are the best. i dont mind the weekends doctor is working since i enjoy time alone too, but of course a weekends together are kind of ideal to have. on saturday typically doctor goes buy the saturday newspaper (Observer), then spends a couple hours reading that. i do computer stuff (news, social media, random research on curtain holdbacks and whatever). maybe we clean around a bit, like today. and in evenings we watch some series or a movie. lately we also played boardgames like Codenames duet - i love it although im not amazing at it. in the life before lockdown i would meet friends often, for a brunch or dinner, or we would meet them together, have a dinner at someones place maybe. sundays are 'holy' and i wear my pink nightgown which is dedicated for that day and i do nothing. well, maybe laundry or something sometimes, but not meeting people for sure. when doctor is around we might go for a walk at the park. we get a coffee from Starbucks on the way which is slightly awkward cos i rarely buy coffee from places like that. but the point is to have a cute tradition more than anything i think.

Codenames Duet

some mornings are beautiful. this is the view from my work station.

ive been crazy on candles lately. ive done a lot of comparing the past few years and i admit Yankee Candle does it the best, others are hit and miss...so ive stocked up on them in the lead to christmas.  my fav scent is Home sweet home, very cinnamony. 

my finnish shopping continues. Iittala bowl....    also got a Marimerkko dress (Shiftaa). and i ordered some sweets and other things from suomikauppa a couple days ago.

i upgraded my personal monitor (on the right). it arrived today. its a 2nd gen version of my work monitor on the left. ive enjoyed the work monitor so made sense to get something fairly similar looking, they are like sisters?! (HP z27n G2)
i know someone else would just get a huge curved monitor but i find it super important to keep work and personal separate, although in the weekends i often borrow the work monitor to get more space like below. 

well, this is very "i bought this, then i bought that...". but during lockdown, what else woud it be?? okay, i guess i couldve learned to bake or build lego castles. ok nevermind. but im really good at buying stuff, maybe that is my special skill which im honing. speaking of that, i also suprised doctor by buying the cordless Dyson v10. he'd been talking about it forever and i was against it due to space issues and cos im just against change in general. but i slowly figured where we could store it and any other concerns i had. and surprising him is the best. i admit i myself have been surprised at how good it is... of course i assumed it must be good, for the price and praise... but i was still quite impressed. its a great overall vacuum. super smooth. 

the park

i found these red led lights when i dug up christmas stuff and we put them in the bedroom. they look pretty satanic or gothic in the photo, but really it's just nice dim red in the dark. maybe a nice change to the ordinary.