Trying to Get Stuff Done - W/E 30th November 2024

The week began as usual with a shift at work. It was a nice short shift though, from 11am until 3pm, which passed pretty uneventfully and allowed me to get home at a reasonable time and eat supper with OH.

OH had continued to do some work in the garden whilst I was at work and this continued into Monday and Tuesday. I made a separate post about garden progress.

On Monday, I headed out to do the weekly shop as usual. I didn't go to many shops this week, just Lidl and Sainsburys. I was back home pretty quickly, as I was due at work for 3pm.

Work was actually a bit different, as I was working on maintaining a different section that I don't work on very often. I was asked to put lots of new stock out too, which I don't very often do, so it made it a bit more interesting. We got to leave half an hour early too.

I wasn't working on Tuesday and Wednesday, so on Tuesday I booked into my usual class at the gym. I did a bit more shuffling and tidying around in the garden in the afternoon.

LB came home late on Tuesday, with her flatmate, after a night out in East London. I got to catch up with her for an hour or so, which did make it a late night, but it was worth it.

I was late getting up the next day, and when we all did eventually get up, OH treated us all to lunch at a local restaurant, which was a nice treat, after which OH and her flatmate headed into Central London to see the Xmas lights and have a mooch around, before going back to their flat.

I didn't really settle to doing much for the rest of the day, save for working on my hexi quilt. I couldn't really put my mind to much else. It's such a busy time in the lead up to Xmas, my head is always so full of different thoughts and ideas of things I want to do.

On Thursday, I was determined to make the most of my time. I'm trying to do something productive every day, no matter how small. I went to the gym first thing and then came back and decided to do some sewing. I'd prepped a few Xmas patchwork cushion covers the previous week and decided to start sewing them together. I almost got one done and I also made a festive curtain for the pantry cupboard in our hallway using some vintage Laura Ashley Xmas fabric from my stash. It was very easy and quick to make and it looked nice in situ. Here's a couple of pictures:

 

I then had some lunch and needed to go to work. I thought I was working from 3pm, but when I got there, my shift had been changed to 5pm, so I came back home. It only takes me 10 minutes to get home and I had things I wanted to do with my time rather than idle the time away waiting to start work. I finished one of the Xmas cushions and then started on a second one, which I almost finished before heading back to work. 

I returned to work and the shift went okay. It was a little slow, but I always try to keep myself busy. We got to leave half and hour early again, which was fine by me. I found out that we're not having an Xmas meal out this year. Instead, we are getting gift vouchers to spend. I'm happy enough about this.  

On Friday morning, I got up and ready and tidied around the bedroom before sitting down to finish the second Xmas patchwork cushion for the shed.  It didn't take long, but I wasn't as happy with it as the first one I made. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of the two of them:

They're nothing special, but they will make the shed feel a bit more cosy and cheerful this Xmas. LB will probably use it more than anyone, when she comes home for a couple of weeks over the festive period. I'm hoping to get the sofa cover finished in time for Xmas too.

OH took the Xmas decorations down from the loft on Friday morning. I'm not ready to put them up yet, as I need to do some cleaning and move the living room around for the winter. We use the back reception room in winter, as it has a wood burner and is smaller and cosier.

It was nice to get all my Christmas crockery, linen and kitchenware out and start to use it in the lead up to Xmas. I can also start wrapping presents now the Xmas wrapping bag is accessible.

For the rest of the morning, I did a bit of work on my hexi quilt. I was due at work for 2pm, so I couldn't really get stuck into any big jobs. It was payday too and also double discount weekend again for staff, so I decided to go into work early and get a last few gifts and other things we needed for Xmas. I'm just about done with Xmas shopping now and definitely all shopped out. I'm looking forward to spending December getting my home ready for Xmas, having the odd festive outing with OH and not having to brave the shops other than for groceries.

Work on Friday and Saturday was okay. We were given our Xmas gift vouchers at work on Friday night, so I'll no doubt be treating myself to something sometime soon. I finished work at 2pm on Saturday, in time to get ready and then head off to Kent for a 50th birthday party of a cycling buddy of OH.

The party was upstairs at a pizza restaurant, complete with disco and pizza. It was a good party, everyone seemed to be having a really good time.  We caught up with some friends we'd not seen in a year, so it was nice to see them and catch up with their news before driving back to London. It was a nice end to the week.