The weekly shop on Monday this week was a little different. I had promised LB a trip to IKEA at Lakeside this summer, which is about 20 miles away and today was the day. I wanted to get a couple of small things from IKEA and we could stop there for lunch too. LB wanted to get a haircut in the mall there and I wanted to pay a rare visit to the huge Primark store, just to have a look really. It meant doing the weekly shop somewhere different too, which was no bad thing.
It was another hot day. The hot weather seems never ending at the moment. We are now officially in a drought, in addition to the hosepipe ban, which is not good. Anyway, we headed off and were there by about 11am.
We spent the first two hours in the mall, which, if I'm completely honest, was torture for me. I was desperate to get out of there in the end. I had a good look around Primark, whilst LB was getting a haircut, but I really didn't see much that I liked. I then decided to go to Boots, as my expensive mouthwash was on offer, but got lost in the mall. I had to ask someone for directions and even then it wasn't easy to find. LB was having a similar experience herself.
I'm just not cut out for mall shopping these days. I just couldn't ever again be bothered to trawl shop after shop looking for clothing. Thrift shopping just seems so much easier, i.e clothing hung according to type of garment and by size, makes clothes shopping so much easier, plus you are presented with multiple brands, prices are cheaper (mostly!), you are keeping unwanted things out of landfill and giving money to a charitable cause. It's a no-brainer for me. Yes, sometimes what you come across is random, but I see that as a positive too. To be honest, I get overwhelmed on Vinted too, unless I'm looking for a specific garment from a specific brand. Just too much choice.
Our next stop was IKEA, lunch first, where I had a lovely Indian Summer Salad, which was very tasty. Rested and fed, we walked around the store, but I only bought a couple of things, one of which was a new bathmat. They sell lovely large deep pile ones, which feel so soft under foot. They are not cheap, but they feel luxurious. We have one already, and I'd wanted to get another one for a while, but I was waiting for them to bring it out in another colour, which they had, so I indulged.
Another reason, we went this far out of town today, was to visit a newly opened charity superstore nearby. We did eventually get there, but sadly I didn't find anything I wanted to try on let alone buy. I guess the shop had probably been picked over, as it had only opened a few days before, so probably not great timing. It was also a little more expensive than the store I usually frequent.
Eventually, I did get around to doing the weekly shop too, having to stick just to Lidl this week. By the time this was done, I was more than ready to go home. It had been a long day.
Tuesday, it was back to normal and my Zumba class at the gym, which was good. I was glad to spend the afternoon at home, not going anywhere. I spent an hour or so shredding financial paperwork, but didn't really make a dent in it. It was interesting, however, to study past purchases on my credit card statements. A bit of a blast from the past. I definitely spent a lot more then than I do currently, that's for sure, mostly online too. I rarely shop online these days.
Later, in the afternoon, I watched a couple of episodes of Clarkson's Farm and then decided to try to make a lentil chilli, using ingredients from our fridge and pantry. I've not made a veggie chilli before just using lentils, beans and vegetables and wanted to try one out. I have to admit it wasn't strictly veggie, as I used some left over chicken stock that was in the freezer. It was more a practice run to see how it would turn out and if we like it, I will make it this way in future (minus the chicken stock), instead of using Quorn mince or beef mince. I'm trying to get comfortable with less meals including meat. OH makes a banging veggie curry and if I can make a good veggie chilli, we're part way there. Then, I just need to broaden my repetoire a bit more to include a few more veggie dishes to make things a bit more interesting. Baby steps, but progress all the same.
After supper, I sat down to watch this week's episode of the Sewing Bee. We got 5 minutes of light rain today. Without wanting to sound ungrateful, it would be good to get a bit more.
Wednesday, I spent at home. I did some laundry and tidied around a little, changing bedding and towels. In the afternoon, I decided to go through all the clothing I'd put aside for the Car Boot and priced anything I was planning to try to sell for more than £1. (There are a few new items which still have tags insitu). I got the clothing rail out and hung them all, to see how much space would be left for LB and then I packed them all in a large suitcase ready to go. I also pulled out a few more non-clothing items to take and bagged them up.
In the evening, OH went out to the Royal Albert Hall to watch one of the Proms, so it was a quiet evening spent watching Clarkson's farm. I didn't fancy going with him, as it's quite a trek across town. He just cycles there when he goes on his own, but it's too far for me to cycle.
On Thursday, I was back at the gym as normal. It was much cooler today and almost felt like there was a chill in the air. I loved it. It felt like the first normal day for weeks.
In the afternoon, I sat out in the garden for an hour watching a video about permaculture on YouTube, before heading back in. As it was cool out, I decided to boil up some beetroot I'd harvested the previous week, in order to pickle it. Once that was done, I retired to the living room to watch a bit more of Clarkson's Farm. It got a little more interesting for me, when he started becoming interested in regenerative farming.
A pretty uneventful first half of the week, how has your's been?
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