"If you try to knock me you'll get mocked. I'll stir fry you in my wok. Your knees'll start shakin' and your fingers pop, Like a pinch on the neck of Mr. Spock"

Day 42:

Today Ive definitely been feeling a little more myself which has made the day so much easier. Getting out for a nice walk this morning really cleared my head (which I definitely needed). Todays word on our #creativelockdownproject was 'Intergalactic', Opeie wasn't feeling it so I went it alone today and created this Watercolour galaxy collage. The daily creative project is giving me something positive to focus on each day and its good to have that little nudge to get me creating.

"Where oils lumber... watercolours prance."

With the last 15 months being like an emotional rollercoaster, it's been really difficult at times to properly relax and get myself (and Opeie) into a good, clear headspace. When you're dealing with a heartbroken kid its hard to think about anything else. Ive been doing my best to keep us both entertained though and have been really surprised at some of the things we have found to relax.

We've always been an arty pair, always creating something and we've used so many different mediums over the years,  I've always avoided watercolour though out of fear. I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous but I was 110% confident in the fact that I couldn't produce something I was proud of and because of that I held Opeie back too (naughty daddy), until now.

With a little creative guidance from someone that knows what they are talking about we found ourself a few weeks back sat at a desk with paper taped down and paints and brushes at the ready. It turns out that painting is one of the most relaxing activities (after LEGO of course) that we could have been doing and definitely nothing to be afraid of. 

There is something so satisfying about experimenting with colours and then turning the experiment into something fun. I can quite easily get a little lost in the activity, which recently I feel pretty thankful for.

Opeie has really been getting into the beetles too but he's also been having fun with colour mixing and creating galaxies (as you can see he's a bit of a Doctor Who fan). I love seeing him get into creative ventures like this, its nice to see him concentrating on something so positive and activities like this are really good for the soul.  

So thanks for the tips, sitting with us and taking the edge off of my watercolour fear, you know who you are. 💜

"Well, here we are: a thief, two thugs, an assassin, and a maniac, but we're not going to stand by as evil wipes out the galaxy. I guess we're stuck together, partners."

I'm a big kid at heart, but I like to think I'm a grown up where it counts. I love playing with the boys, they come up with amazing, fun ideas and act out all sorts of interesting role play. There's never a dull day here. By 8pm everyone's in bed though and it's time for me to flip back in to grown up mode.

Some nights though we'll have been playing with the LEGO and after they've dropped off to sleep I can't seem to switch my LEGO brain off. I love building fun useful items and recently me and Mrs M upgraded our phones. I'm not one of those people that are really in to my handset, the exciting part for me With a phone upgrade is 'new phone, new LEGO case'.

You may remember the custom jobs I built for my last handset, these included aquaman, the cat in the hat and the storm trooper case that I built for the golden brickies, photographed below with a ukGarrison Stormtrooper (strangely that case ended up being rehomed by another UkGarrison trooper).

I needed this case to have the wow factor, I think it has definitely got that though after I received a phone call picking seth up from school and as I pulled it out of my pocket I saw young jaws dropping (job done).

Being such a huge fan of the LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy range, I knew my new accessory needed to be inspired by the Milano. I loved the blue, grey and mustard yellow colour scheme, plus I had a few spare minifigures knocking about to possibly include. It was never going to be a scaled down version as I knew that wouldn't work as a phone case but I wanted to build a spaceship. 

I'm not one for tooting my own horn but the end result turned out amazing and has received loads of great comments from people out and about. Star Lord now gets to fly about everywhere I go and the boys can play with my phone without fear of a drop and smash scenario unfolding.