This week started off pretty productively, after cleaning the bathroom and LB's room the previous day, on Sunday, I was surprisingly still in the mood to do more cleaning. Not before we had a nice breakfast bap though, made with sausage patties and fried eggs.
This set me up for the day and I proceeded to vaccuum and mop the stairs from the top landing down to the kitchen. I also cleaned the vestibule, front door, and the downstairs toilet before calling it a day. There's only the living rooms and the kitchen to clean now. I felt like I was starting to get somewhere with getting on top of it all.
OH helped me by getting up a ladder and cleaning some outside windows at the back, that I couldn't reach. The only windows not yet cleaned are the front bay and the front basement office windows, which I might try to have a go at another day.
Later in the afternoon, we ventured out on our bikes to the Olympic Park. We took the dog with us, in a trailer and after stopping at a coffee shop, we let her loose around some ponds to hunt for rats. She loves it, but never actually catches one. We then cycled back to Hackney Wick and sat outside a bar and ordered a beer, before making our way home along the canal.
It was very busy out, with lots of people walking and cycling about. It's a very popular area, particularly on weekends. We passed the venue of a new to me vintage shop and a newly opened Sunday Flea Market that started this week, but we were too late to visit it, so maybe another week. It will make a fun outing.
I rode the electric bike for once and it was lovely to ride. I forgot how much I used to enjoy riding it to work in Central London, despite it being quite a long way. I rarely ride it now, because if I don't have anywhere secure to leave it, or I can't keep my eye on it, I'm a little scared someone might steal it, but I should ride it more.
Later, when we got home I potted on the last two houseplants that needed bigger pots and watered the plants in the living room. I must remember to feed all my houseplants next week. I also sorted some laundry before relaxing in front of the TV with OH. We're currently watching our way through Happy Valley, way behind most people. I didn't enjoy the first series so much, but I found the second series very watchable.
On Monday morning, I got up and pottered for a while, putting away and hanging out laundry. For the first time in a very long time, I decided to start the day with a short exercise routine that I used to follow during Lockdown. It's mainly weights and stretches, but I worked up a little sweat whilst doing it and the 10 minutes of meditation at the end helps me to start the day on a positive note. I'm hoping to do it at least a few times per week going forward.
Monday, is usually my day to do the food shopping, but OH needed the car to visit a client, so I wasn't able to use it for the weekly shop, as I had plans in the afternoon after he returned. We were pretty stocked up from my shop the previous week though, so we managed.
Once back from the dog walk, I cleaned out a few cupboards in the kitchen. I figure that if I do a couple of cupboards at a time, I'll get around it quite quickly and without struggling to do it all in one day. The ones I tackled were probably the most cluttered ones, namely the baking drawer, the tupperware/lunch box/jam jar cupboard. Hopefully, now they are more organised, it might inspire me to bake more or do some more preserving. It felt very satisfying to tidy them in any case.
OH's surprise birthday present came whilst he was out today, which was good, as it will keep it a surprise. I needed to buy a few more bits for him this week.
On Monday afternoon, I went to meet some friends for supper. I hadn't seen them since before Christmas, so it was good to catch up. I took the bus so that I could have a drink and I took a bottle of wine with me, as the restaurant allows you to take your own wine and pay a corkage fee. We had a pleasant evening and I was home by 8pm.
Tuesday, I was up and did my small exercise routine again. I then took the dog out for a walk. It was a nice sunny morning, so the walk was very enjoyable.
When I got back, I had the intention of going out to do the weekly shop, but I started to feel really tired and ended up retiring to bed for the afternoon. I was either a bit under the weather, or maybe a weekend of cleaning and being productive had taken it's toll and I needed some down time. Whilst there, I managed to finish one of the library books I had borrowed. It felt very self indulgent spending the afternoon in bed, but I enjoyed it.
I got up later to make supper and then we watched some TV. I stayed up later watching a documentary on Netflix, as I wasn't tired enough to go to bed, but I still slept well considering, thankfully.
On Wednesday, I decided not to go to the Soca Aerobics class. Just as well really, as the dog was very slow on the walk and I was out with her for two hours, so I wouldn't have got back in time anyway. By the time I got home it was almost lunchtime.
After lunch, I headed out to do the weekly shop. I went to a totally different Lidl than usual this week, mainly because I needed to buy some fabric for my current quilt and this particular Lidl is on a street that has lots of fabric shops. I had a wander up the high street afterwards, but didn't have much time, as I was restricted to only one and half hours in the supermarket carpark.
I did manage to find some fabric. It wasn't an exact match, but it was good enough and only cost £2 per metre, which was reasonable. It should allow me to finish the quilt top now. I used to shop down this high street a lot in the past. It felt strange returning there, as I used to frequent it at a very different time of my life here in London. I've bought lots of fabric from the shops there, but time moves on and things change somewhat, as do shopping habits and I do shop a lot less these days, hardly ever buying fabric anymore, as I have so much at home to use.
When I got back I felt exhausted. It seems like every little outing completely drains my energy at the moment. I don't know how I ever managed to go out to work. I think I'm just having one of those weeks, where all I want to do is stay home, sleep and chill.
Thursday followed in a similar vein. I didn't go to my volunteering session, as I was still feeling out of sorts. Instead, I spent most of the day reading, sleeping, working on my 1" patchwork project, wrapping OH's presents and a bit later I took the dog out and potted up some dahlia tubers, as we don't have room to plant them out anywhere this year. There's still a few more to do, but I ran out of compost.
After a positive start to the week, my energy levels seemed to have gone downhill and very got done around the house after Monday.
By Friday, I was feeling a little better. I had a few errands to run after walking the dog; library books to renew, a prescription to pick up and a few last minute edible/drinkable gifts for OH's birthday to buy. By the time I got home it was lunchtime. For the first time this week, I made myself a nice salad for lunch.
In the afternoon, I wrapped the rest of OH's birthday presents and wrote his card. I then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening working on my 1" patchwork project (a post will be coming soon). I'll be doing a separate post about OH's birthday on Saturday, as we went somewhere that was new to all of us.
I hope you had a more productive week than I did this week.
Sorry to hear you were feeling under the weather. I am not feeling great this week as I seem to have a rotten cold with horrid cough and snotty nose. This is annoying as I have no energy to do anything with my holiday!
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