A Bit of A Week - W/E 16th November 2024

This week started with us continuing our visit to Yorkshire. On Sunday, we had a free day before the funeral on the Monday morning. There was an Xmas Food and Craft Fair at a local farm shop, so we decided to go there and buy a few Xmas gifts. We didn't spend a lot, but made a start on a Food Hamper for OH's mum and I got a couple of very small bits for LB.

We then had a couple of errands to do to buy some flowers for OH's mum and a gift for my sister and her husband, whose 20th Wedding anniversary was a few days away. We'd arranged to meet them at a local pub for something to eat later in the evening.

Once we'd done that we headed to OH's mum's for an hour. We grabbed a sandwich there for lunch before heading to the railway station to pick up LB, who was arriving by train from London. Once we'd picked her up, we went  back to the cottage for an hour or so and then back to her Grandma's until we went out in the evening. 

We spent a lovely couple of hours with my sister and her family later. It was the only night they could get to see LB and they hadn't seen her for a couple of years. It was nice to catch up and it did take our minds off the funeral the following day. 

On Monday, the funeral went very well. It was a beautiful sunny day. OH's mum coped superbly, giving a reading and staying super composed and it was lovely to see so many people from the family, many of whom we'd not seen in years. I think we all had a good day. We did get a bit upset when it came to the Eulogy. I didn't think I would, but I did. I'd probably be more concerned if I didn't.

There was a reception with food after the church and crematorium ceremonies and it was good to get there, have something to eat and drink and be able to relax, knowing that everything had gone well. Later, after everyone had gone, we had to take LB to catch her train back to London, go back to OH's mum's for a while and join a few close family members there, before finally heading back for our last night at the cottage. We had a chill night watching Wolf Hall on TV when we got back, which we have started watching from the first series, as I didn't watch it the first time around. It's very good. I did some work on my hexi quilt too, which was a good way to relax after the events of the day.

On Tuesday morning, we packed up, headed to OH's mum's for a cooked breakfast before setting off back to London. The trip home was a bit longer due to heavy traffic on the M1, but we eventually got home around 5pm and were very pleased to do so. It had been a very busy and eventful few days. We'd felt sad leaving Yorkshire on this occasion. It was a sad feeling knowing that we wouldn't see OH's dad again when we next visited.

When we got home, we unpacked a bit, made something to eat and chilled for the rest of the evening, settling back into our own home. Funerals affect you on so many levels, making you think about so many things; the past, the future, the present. They just really put things into perspective and make you ask yourself questions about your life. It's quite unsettling.

On Wednesday, I needed to be up early, as I had an interview for a job arranged for 10.30 am. Originally, I'd been invited to go for an interview on the day of the funeral, but they had kindly rearranged it for me thankfully. I was a bit nervous getting ready. Although my current job is going okay, this opportunity came up and I found myself applying for it. I was kind of in two minds, but my heart was telling me to go for it and sometimes, you've just got to follow your heart and see where it leads you.

Anyway, I turned up at the interview only to find I was 3 and a half hours early.  The time had been changed, but I'd not been informed. I offered to go off and do my shopping and come back, to give the manager time, as she was busy doing something. I did just that and returned a couple of hours later. 

The interview seemed to go okay, but toward the end, I sensed a change in body language from the Manager. I know there were internal candidates and the job did sound a little intense, so maybe it was for the best.  There are some other jobs coming up there that sound more suitable, but the hours aren't quite as good for me, but I may apply and see what happens. 

I came home and unpacked the shopping. I was a little disappointed, but I think that what's meant for you will come to you and maybe this job just wasn't.

On Thursday, it was nice to finally get a lie in after probably a week of not sleeping too well with everything that was going on. I had a leisurely breakfast and then booked myself into the gym and headed off for a much needed work out, as I'd eaten far too much over the weekend.

I enjoyed my workout and then came home and fully unpacked from the weekend and tidied around upstairs, putting things away that I'd left out when getting ready for the interview the day before. I was due back at work in the evening, so later I got ready and headed off there.

On Friday, I was due at work at 1pm. We'd had a message on Thursday from a relative who was coming to stay on Friday, so the couple of hours I had free in the morning, were spent cleaning the kitchen, whilst OH cleaned the bathroom. I'd prepared a bedroom the day before. I then had to rush off to work, which was a good shift. It passed really quickly and I was back on a job I really enjoy. 

I finished work at 5pm and our young guest had gone off to meet some friends in town, so I decided to have a good look around the store I work in and use my staff discount to buy a few presents. Most of them were for me, although I did get a few for LB. OH tends to buy his own presents for me to give him i.e. cycling gear, so I buy things I want him to give to  me. We both do buy extras ourselves, but the main gifts we choose ourselves.  It just works well this way for us. To be honest though, I don't really want or need much this year. I always struggle to find things to buy for myself. I made a start with a few bits, i.e. a candle, a book, some socks, etc. I didn't spend much though.

We spent the evening watching Wolf Hall and I continued to work on my Hexi quilt, which was relaxing after a very busy day.

On Saturday, my hours were changed to start at 11am, so I wasn't able to go to the free session at the gym, but I did get to finish at 4pm, which was a bonus. Work was okay and passed really quickly. It seemed like Christmas shopping had started proper as it was very busy. It was lovely to get home and just chill for the evening. When I got back, our guest had gone to stay with LB for the night, so OH and I could have a quiet night in watching Wolf Hall as usual. As a consequence, the week ended on  a very chilled note which I was grateful for.

A Chill Week - Week ending 9th November 2024

This week started with a very lazy day at home on Sunday, as I wasn't working. I had a Whats App call with a friend in the morning. She'd moved to Spain 5 years ago and we'd lost touch. It was good to hear her news and I'm happy that she wasn't affected by the tragic recent flooding in parts of the country.

I didn't actually do a lot for the rest of the day. I did do a bit of sewing on both my hexi quilt and the scrappy cushion cover. I didn't complete the latter though. In the evening, OH and I watched the last episode of Jilly Cooper's Rivals on Disney+. It's been quite entertaining. I did love the 80's, despite the politics. We're looking around for something else to watch now.

On Monday, I wasn't working, so I had the whole day to go shopping out of town again and I was out the whole day too. I did some shopping using my staff discount at another store, to buy a few Xmas and birthday presents for LB that I couldn't get in our store. This saved me £11. I did a monthly Home Bargains shop for essentials that we use regularly. Then there was the Lidl and Tesco grocery shopping. I  managed to save £6 at Lidl using a 10% off voucher and then used a couple of Clubcard vouchers I'd been sent at Tesco giving me £8.50 off my shopping there, which all helps at this time of year. 

On Tuesday, I was booked into a class at the gym, so headed there in the morning, which was good. I had another day off on Tuesday and wanted to spend the rest of the day at home. I tried the sofa cover back on the shed sofa to see what it looked like now I've machine stitched it together and made the cushion cover. I was very happy with how it looked.

I continued to work on it, pinning and basteing the hem all around the bottom and doing the same for one of the front pieces. I'm just awaiting delivery of some velcro to securely attach it to the sofa. Then I just need to make the front of the arms which is probably the trickiest bit of the whole thing, as they are an irregular shape. I think I will need to create pattern pieces to do this bit. It has been lovely to have some time to work on this this week and make some progress.

OH, meanwhile, has been working on painting the stairs this week. Here's a picture of how they look for the moment:

We're not sure we're sticking with this colour. It's growing on us, but it was the best of the ones we tried and it does create a lovely matte finish on the stairs, which now feel much more luxurious to tread than bare with bits of nail heads sticking out. While we're waiting for some more paint samples to arrive, he's working on prepping the floor in LB's bedroom, ready to paint that. It's much easier to do that when she's away at uni with most of her stuff.

On Wednesday, I spent the morning doing more sewing. I hemmed the sofa cover on the machine, altered a thrifted skirt and finished my scrappy cushion for the kitchen.  Then it was time to get ready for work.  My velcro arrived today, so when I next have some time I can start to attach it to the hemmed edge of the sofa cover.

Work was okay. I was doing a different job, which was a little slow, so I was glad when the shift finally came to an end.

On Thursday, OH was out all day and I booked myself into the gym and headed off. I had a good gym session and then came home and started to try to make the arm fronts for the sofa cover.  It is a bit tricky, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually. I almost got one pinned in place.

I then had to get ready and go to work for 2pm. I was on a section that I enjoyed today, so the afternoon flew by and before I knew it, it was 6pm and time to go home. It was my last shift for a few days which felt good. It was nice to go home after work and have supper with OH, rather than eating late on my own after a late shift.

I wasn't working on Friday, so I did more work on the sofa cover and got both arms basted to the cover. I now just need to machine sew them into place. I also spent some time packing for our trip to Yorkshire for OH's father's funeral. We were setting off the following day.

On Saturday morning, we decided to go to the gym before setting out on our journey to Yorkshire.  There was a free session at 9.30 am, so we attended that, then went home to get showered, packed up the car and then set off. Our journey there was pretty straightforward with very few hold ups, which was great. We got to OH's mum's house for mid afternoon and stayed for a few hours chatting and catching up on news. She was good and coping very well with everything.

Later, we made our way to the lovely cottage we were staying in, in another village. We were pretty tired by the time we got there and were going to go to the pub for a drink, but decided against it and stayed in instead. Luckily, the owners of the cottage had left us a bottle of Prosecco as a welcome gift, so we made some supper and I had a couple of glasses of that whilst we watched some TV.

It was nice to be back up north, but we were a little apprehensive about the funeral and how everything would be on the day. Only natural I think.

Getting Back My Sewing Mojo

This last month, when I've had a bit of time off work, and now that we're heading into autumn winter and I'm spending more time indoors, I've felt the desire to re-kindle my love of all things sewing, be it hand sewing a patchwork quilt or machine sewing to create a new item of clothing or home furnishing.

It started with doing a bit of work on the sofa cover that I'm making for the sofa we've relocated to our garden shed. I had already pinned and basted part of it, but needed to machine sew it together.

I don't know about anyone else, but when it comes to sewing, I need time. Time to get into a creative mindset, time to do the actual sewing and of course allow time for mistakes and errors which inevitably occur, as they did in this instance. I was happy enough with my progress though, but there's still a lot more to do until it's finished.  Here's a picture of the part of the cover I've done so far, fitted onto the sofa concerned:

I'm pretty happy with progress so far. It's not perfect and the seat cushion needs a bit of an iron, but then it doesn't need to be. If it extends the life of the sofa and makes the shed feel a bit more cosy, than that is good enough for me.

As mentioned in a previous post, I also altered a jacket that I'd thrifted, which was a kind of short, swing mac, which originally had a collar and very large buttons. I decided to unpick and remove the collar to make the jacket collarless, which I much prefer. I didn't take a before picture, but here's a picture of the jacket as it looks now:

It's a couple of sizes too big for me, but I'm happy with how it looks now and I'll probably wear it to work whilst the weather is still mild, as it's easy to throw on.

After watching a few YouTube videos lately, of people altering thrifted clothing and making their own clothing, I'm definitely feeling like I want to get back into sewing my own clothes. There was a time, probably around 10 or so years ago, when I used to make a few items myself and I'd like to get back to it. I had a couple of fabrics and patterns put aside to make and I might start with them when I next get a block of time.

The first is probably going to be this pencil skirt pattern which I'm hoping to make using this lovely plaid fabric that I've had in my stash for a long time. I think it will make a lovely addition to my autumn/winter wardrobe. I used to love wearing skirts, but very rarely reach for them these days, so this might inspire me to wear a skirt a bit more often and they are probably one of the simplest things to make when you are starting out or getting back into sewing.

I've also got a bit of a compulsion to do some more scrappy patchwork projects. I started last week by laying out the pieces for a cushion cover for the kitchen. I've stuck to blues because part of the kitchen is painted blue and we have blue curtains.  

I really enjoy the process of laying out the scraps from my scrap box and using up small bits that are too small to use for much else. What can be more satisfying than making something useful from virtually nothing, that costs nothing but your time and uses what you already have.  My idea of heaven. 

Here's the finished cushion:

I spend a lot of time sat at the kitchen table these days and a cushion on the wooden chair is a necessity. I'm happy with how it turned out. I may now make a Christmas version out of some Xmas scraps.

I'll keep you posted with any sewing progress over the coming weeks.

Not Quite So Low Spend October 2024

Buoyed by my relative success at keeping my spending low in September, I decided to continue in the low spend vein during October.

The start of the month coincided with my recovering from a chesty cold and so a visit to Home Bargains was in order to stock up on medications, i.e. cough linctus, lozenges, paracetamol, vitamins, plus other essentials that I use regularly, such as my favourite mouthwash, dettol, a few snacks and laundry products. I did throw a few extras in, some hair claw clips and some french manicure false nails, but these cost just 99p each. I also bought some chocolates for the Xmas tree and an Xmas gift for OH too. It all added up to a £42 spend. Fortunately, it's usually only a once a month visit.

My Pay As You Go gym membership needed renewing this month too, which cost a one off payment of £44.80, so I took care of that at the beginning of the month.

I got a little extra in my pay packet this month, as I'd worked quite a lot in September. This came in very useful, as we had a trip to Spain/France on the ferry booked and I needed to buy some euros to take on the trip.  I spent around £185 whilst on holiday, mainly on gifts for OH and LB for Xmas/birthday. I bought very little for myself, save for a few bits from Emmaus. I didn't really need or want anything. Besides, it was my birthday whilst we were away, so OH bought me a few bits for that and some new perfume when we got home, as it was cheaper to buy here than in France.

After returning from holiday, my spending did increase. I've been buying small bits and pieces for Xmas all through the month, and placed a £26 Approved Food order, so it definitely wasn't an ultra low spend month. I made a few charity shop visits this month too, buying a few bits for myself, OH and LB and in addition bought myself a sweater from Tesco and some inexpensive boots from Primark (for work) this month. I also treated us to one new set of towels for the bathroom. (A second set I bought at the beginning of November)

LB also furnished me with her Xmas wish list towards the end of the month, so I bought a couple of things from that this month and I gave a birthday gift of £30 this month too.

I was way too optimistic about my spending in October, after doing so well in September. I didn't spend all of the money in my account, I let some carry over into November and then at the end of November I will probably transfer some money to savings, depending on whatever is left. My total spend was, however,  £400 more than the previous month, so a bit of a fail on the low spend front. 

I can't see November being much better, but who knows. I'll keep you posted.

Another Busy Week W/E - 2nd November 2024

This week started with a trip to the Car Boot sale on Sunday morning, as OH wasn't cycling again. It was one of the last boot sales of the year, as they stop in two weeks time, so it was nice to catch a late one. I had a good wander around the stalls. I didn't buy a lot. A couple of vinyl records for LB, some food on the fruit stall including this lovely box of large satsumas for £4. 

I easily spend £2 or £3 per week on satsumas or clementines and this has so far lasted two weeks and will probably stretch to a third. I also bought some other food from a couple of stalls and a couple of other small items. Nothing very exciting, but I always enjoy a trip out and a mooch.

We then stopped off in Hertford on the way home for lunch in a cafe and a walk around the town. I had a lovely brie and cranberry toasty, a favourite combination.

This week wasn't supposed to be that busy, but I was given a couple of extra shifts at the last minute due to some unforeseen situation, so I ended up working more than I thought. Work has been fairly busy. You can tell that we're getting closer to Xmas and that Christmas shopping has started in earnest, which is good for business at least and means that shifts pass quickly.

I had a relatively quick shopping trip on Monday, as I was due at work for 4pm, so I had to get back and get ready. I did pick up a few bits for Xmas whilst out, not many though.

I was then working Monday through Thursday evenings, so I took it easy during the daytimes, just going to the gym a couple of times and then spending the rest of the time at home.

I finally got LB's Xmas list, which was particularly light this year, I think she needs money more than stuff at the moment, which is all good. A bit of this week has been spent ordering some of the things from her list.

I had a day off on Friday which I was ready for. I managed to do a bit more sewing, making the sofa cushion for the shed sofa. It's not perfect, but will look fine when in situ. It was good just to get a bit more of it done.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon watching Netflix and working on my hexi quilt, always a favourite past time when decompressing from work. I watched an interesting documentary about Martha Stewart and then a cheesy film. Got to be done sometimes.

I got some bad news on Friday, namely that I'd been given a fine when driving to work one night last week. I wasn't a happy bunny, but I'd momentarily stopped on a yellow box to let a van cross into a street and got caught on camera doing so. It is becoming more and more difficult to drive in London without getting tickets. It feels like an extra form of taxation.

On Saturday, I was due at work for 3pm, but I went into work a bit early, mainly because I wanted to do a bit of Xmas shopping, on double discount weekend for staff, which I didn't want to miss out on. There were a couple of things that I wanted to buy for LB and a couple of other bits for the house. I didn't find everything I wanted, but I'll try another store on Monday.

I got paid on Thursday this week and received some holiday pay, so I decided to treat us to a couple of sets of new towels, as some of ours are getting past their best. Here's a picture of the sets I bought:

(I love the William Morris design.  One thing I don't mind buying for the house are good quality towels (bathroom or kitchen) and bedding. Well worth the investment)

Work was okay on Saturday night, it passed quite quickly and I got to leave a bit early which was a good end to an unremarkable but busy week.

Approved Food Mini Haul - October 2024

In my weekly blog post last week, I made reference to having placed an Approved Food order for the first time in months. For anyone who doesn't know anything about Approved Food, they are a company who sells mostly out of date products, although by no means everything is out of date. Some items have short dates, some long, some items are long out of date whilst others are only a month or two out of date, but mostly only a best before date as opposed to a use by date, so they can be still safely eaten way past the BBE date.

As I've already stated, I haven't placed an order in months, partly because many of the items they sell are things I don't eat anymore, i.e. crisps, chocolate, sweet treats, etc. so I've deliberately avoided placing orders as it creates temptation to have these kinds of foods in the house, especially whilst I've been trying to lose weight. Now, however, I'm more on maintenance and I do eat the odd treat here and there, but I still try to be careful and not eat really calorie dense foods, so I've tried to be careful what I've chosen to buy in this order to minimise temptations.

The reason I placed the order was that there were a few things that we use regularly or that would allow us to control our consumption more easily which you'll see as I go along on this post. So here's what I ordered with Xmas on the horizon and a very busy time at work expected over the next couple of months. Here goes:

These were the main offers that I was drawn to when I received an email from the company in my inbox. The box of 10 x 2 slice packets of Soreen fruit loaf was on offer at £1 for the box. These are great little items to take to work or travelling. When I'm working long days at work and need to take a packed lunch, they are great to pop into my lunch box as a sweet treat that isn't too calorific, containing only 150 calories per pack.

Similarly, the lotus Biscoff biscuits, which incidentally are packets of single biscuits like you get in a cafe with a coffee, and are another thing that I can take to work or limit my consumption by eating one biscuit at a time or maybe two. The biscuits themselves are 30 calories each, so again, they will be useful for work or just dunking in a cup of tea. I never buy biscuits, mainly because it's too easy to eat one after another until the packet is gone. 

I do admit that the plastic packaging is excessive on these, but surely it's better to use them than for them to be just tossed into landfill. I could even use them crushed as a crumble topping or to crumble into yoghurt or other desserts. This box contains 300 biscuits and also cost £1, which is totally insane, but it has been out of date for a very long time. I did try one as soon as the order came and they are only very slightly soft, but this doesn't bother me at all.

Talking of tea, these PG Tips Decaff teabags were a good deal too at £2.99 for 140 teabags. Branded teabags are so expensive these days, so to get some at a reasonable price really appealed. They are past their best before date, but I like my tea weak anyway, so I doubt that it will affect my enjoyment of a cuppa.

With Xmas on the horizon, I bought this Cadbury Yule Log for £2. It is not yet out of date, but will be by the time Xmas rolls around. It will still get eaten though. It's a bit indulgent, but if I eat thin slices it's not too bad and I do like a Yule Log at Xmas.

I also bought the Schweppes Bitter Lemon tonics for drinking with the odd glass of gin at Xmas. They are slimline and therefore full of sweeteners, but I doubt a couple of bottles will hurt. They cost 50p each. The SanPellegrino are also a purchase for Xmas as a treat. I look forward to drinking these. They are Pomegranite and orange flavoured and are only 68 calories per can. They cost £2 for the six cans.

Also with Xmas in mind, I bought some treat sized bags of Maltesers for £2.99. They tend to be a bit more expensive than this in the shops and I like to eat a small bag sometimes to treat myself. If I open a box or pouch, I'll eat the lot, so this way I can be a little more disciplined at 99 calories per bag. Also, I use them in my hand made advent calendar by putting a few Maltesers in some of the little homemade pouches I use for each day of the calendar. I'm thinking of doing this again this year. Otherwise, they can be taken to work in a packed lunch, or put in Xmas crackers or stockings as an extra treat, although I doubt they'll last that long.

Other food items included a couple of pouches of Tikka sauce at £1 each. We use these regularly and they were in date until sometime next year. The two multipacks of crisps at £1 each were also thrown in, as I buy these weekly for OH to eat. (I only eat lentil or corn snacks these days, so I rarely eat them) The mini apple pies are also mainly for OH, but I may eat the odd one at only 100 calories each pie. These cost £1.49 and were just a day out of date.

The final few items were toiletries, namely a Nivea shower gel for OH which was £1.25 (I use a bar of soap, so never use shower gel, but OH likes to use one) and the refill pouch of Carex hand wash, which I bought to bulk out the order. The handwash costing £2.50 didn't really work out cheaper than buying handwash elsewhere, but I like the idea of the pouch refill rather than buying two bottles and it is almost on a par with buying handwash at Poundland, which I often do.  The two small packs of cleansing wipes were a great handbag size and at only 39p each, I threw a couple into the order as they can be very convenient to have in your bag when you're out and about.

I ended up spending the minimum amount to place an order and with the £3 delivery charge, it came to £26 in total, which didn't break the bank. I'm pretty happy with what I ordered, I think I did okay, so let's just hope I can resist over-eating the biscuits. Wish me luck.

A New Week - W/E 26th October 2024

This week started with a lie in. I wasn't working on Sunday for the first Sunday in a while (save for our holiday). It was a morning of OH speaking to/messaging various members of his family to see how everyone was after the sad news the night before. We didn't head up to Yorkshire, as OH's two sisters were at his mum's. He was planning to travel up later in the week.

We stayed home today. OH wasn't cycling as he's recovering from an injury, so we just chilled at home. I spent the morning changing my wardrobe over to Autumn/Winter, which was overdue. I also went through the drawers where I keep t-shirts/gymwear, etc. and I decided to donate quite a few things that I just don't wear anymore. It felt good to get all the summer clothing packed away until next year.

I chilled for the rest of the day, had another nap in the afternoon, as I felt very tired and then later after supper, we watched TV. We're watching Jilly Cooper's 'Rivals' on Disney at the moment, amongst other things, which is quite entertaining.

On Monday, I got up, ready and headed out shopping as usual. It felt nice not to have to be back for work in the evening. I could take my time and have a good look around, especially with Xmas on the distant horizon. I did buy a couple of small bits for Xmas, but didn't really see much that I wanted to buy at this point in time, as I'm still waiting on LB's Xmas list. I did venture into my favourite charity shop too and despite being on a lower spend month, I did buy a few bits of clothing for my winter wardrobe. I stayed away from anything black for a change, as I need more colours adding to the mix. I had a lovely day, in any case and then headed home.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class at the gym. It didn't get off to a great start, as there was a heated argument between a couple of people attending, which seemed a bit unnecessary. Anyway, things calmed down and the class was okay. 

After class, I came home and had some lunch and then I decided to go up to my sewing room and start work machine sewing the shed sofa cover together, or at least, what I'd done so far of it. It started off okay, but I made a few errors and had to unpick some bits and resew them.  The top corners of the cover where three or four different seams meet was tricky to get right. I did the best I could.  It's not perfect but I'm hoping it will still fit when I try it on the sofa again. It felt good to get this done and very relaxing to have an afternoon sewing.

I also did a slight alteration to a jacket I thrifted the other week. I removed the collar and then stitched across the top, as I much prefer the jacket collarless. I also changed the buttons, which were way too big and looked cheap, replacing them with some nice vintage ones from my stash. I was happy with the result and will be much more likely to wear it now.

OH meanwhile, did some work on sanding and undercoating the upstairs landing. It's made the upstairs a bit messy with dust, but it will look a lot better once finished. We just have to choose a top colour now. We've had bare floorboards up the stairs for years now, since we took up the stair carpet about 3 or 4 years ago, so it feels good to finally start to tackle them and make them look more finished. I'm hoping we'll have it all finished and possibly LB's room too by Xmas, but we'll have to see what happens.

Wednesday, was my last day off before I returned to work on Thursday. As a consequence of not needing to be anywhere, I decided to have a lie in. It's quiet here at the moment, save for building noise from next door, as our neighbours are away. I eventually got up and showered and went down for a late breakfast.

After lunch, I made some small egg muffins for snacking and made another apple crumble, as I needed to use up more of the cooking apples OH's mum had given us. I then picked up my hexi quilt again and did some work on that which I enjoyed. I've really loved having free days to do as I please this last week, it's been so restorative.

On Thursday morning, I woke early as OH was heading off to Yorkshire to visit his mum. I was also booked into the gym first thing, so I headed off there for a workout. When I got back, I got quite a few jobs done. I sorted some laundry and put more on, I also changed some bedding and tidied around upstairs. I placed an order with Approved Food, which I haven't done in an age, but a couple of bargains were hard to ignore. I didn't spend much and stuck to things we will definitely use. I find that they have less food on the site now and more beauty products, which are usually of the expensive kind, so I rarely shop anymore. I may do a little haul when my order arrives. 

A couple of items I'd ordered from eBay came today too, one, a lipstick was okay, but not quite the shade I had hoped, but I'll still wear it. The second was a foundation that I've been wearing for a while.  I think it is discontinued in shops now, but I often find things on eBay that I can no longer find anywhere else, when I want to continue using the same product.

I was due at work for 5pm. It always feels a bit strange going in when I've been off for a stretch. I had plenty of challenges to quickly get me back up to scratch though, lets just put it that way. The night wasn't too busy but passed quickly and before I knew it I was heading back home to an empty house, which also felt a little strange.

On Friday, it was nice waking up and knowing I didn't have to go anywhere until later in the afternoon, so I could have a lie in and a leisurely breakfast. I spent the day at home, planning future sewing projects and doing odd jobs. Work in the evening was okay. It's been a strange week at work, one minute it's much quieter than normal and then there's an influx of people, not the normal steady flow. Probably because it's the end of the month and a lot of people are waiting to get paid.

Saturday was much the same as Friday, but I was working from 2pm. I didn't get to the gym in the morning as I was feeling too tired after not sleeping well. Work passed okay and we got to leave a bit early.  When I got home, OH was back from visiting his mum so we caught up on his news. The funeral has now been arranged and luckily I've got a gap in my shifts around the exact time. I just need to tell my Manager and ask for my rota to remain unchanged for that week and we should be able to go to Yorkshire for a few nights.

Another week that has whizzed past. Less than 60 days to Xmas now (you can tell I work in retail) and I need to start thinking about starting my main gift shopping, as I like to be finished by the end of November and not have to venture to the shops in December.

I hope your week went well.