Enjoying Some Time at Home

I've been enjoying some time at home this last few days, as I've had a whole four days off work. It feels lovely. It's taken two days to get into the right frame of mind, one day on which I did all of the grocery shopping and went to a gym class and one day on which I finally did some ironing, but today I'm actually going to do some house work, which is definitely progress.

I'm feeling like I want to stay close to home at the moment and appreciate my own four walls. Partly because of recent events mentioned in my last post, which makes me appreciate our house and want to look after it and partly because I got another 'ticking off' at work last week and just feel 'stuff that'. I'd rather be at home with my family, spending my time and energy with them and making our home a nice place to be. I'm starting in the living and dining room, as it's a bit of a mess and hasn't been tackled for a good few months I'm ashamed to say. I want to get it ready for autumn/winter by clearing out the bikes and getting the log basket out again for when we want to start lighting a fire in the wood burner.

I'm also thinking of having a bit of a change around of some of the furniture, as I'm intending to get a new cover for an old but huge sofa we have in the dining room, which is much more roomy and comfortable than the ones we currently have in the living room. I want to move it in there and see how it looks and works for us, preferably before I order the cover, which is going to be quite expensive, but definitely worth it to get more use out of the sofa and create a cosier and more comfortable space.

I had a lovely lazy afternoon in the living room yesterday, watching movies on Netflix, partly whilst ironing, and partly whilst just chilling out, as everyone was out of the house. It was a lovely self-indulgent afternoon and a bit of Bridget Jones and Ben Stiller never hurt anyone did it?

I started today with a lovely long dog walk, one I've not done for a while, as I always seem to rushing off to the gym or to work and can't take the time for us to go for a good long walk.  The dog has got quite lazy as a consequence and was a bit reluctant today, but I think she enjoyed visiting some old haunts for a change.  We went walking by the local horse stables, which always feels like a lovely rural walk when you live in London, as you don't see many people and there's lots of wildlife, so it was a nice start to the day.

Tomorrow is my birthday.  OH wanted to take me into town to do some shopping for it, but you know what, I just don't want anything in particular at the moment and as I work in Central London now, a day in town doesn't have the same appeal.  I decided I'd rather take our dog for a nice walk somewhere where we rarely go such as Hampstead Heath, and then go for coffee and a cake afterwards, before coming home and going out for supper with LB. It might sound a bit strange and ungrateful, but what's the point of buying stuff just for the sake of it.  A nice card, a bottle of gin, some chocolates and a book will suit me just fine and if he wants to give me money on top, that would be gratefully received, as I'd rather spend it in the shop at work on a few bits that catch my eye, rather than going around the big stores in town.

Talking of shopping, I have been doing a bit more Christmas shopping this week alongside grocery shopping.  Just a few bits here and there, some from the CS (consumables mainly), but I'm not really in the mind set for going out spending money on anything else. I've decided to make my own selection boxes this year as they can be such a rip off and quite disappointing when you look inside.  I need to buy them for at least four for children in the family, so I've been buying multipacks of different chocolate bars and I'm going to box them up in pretty Christmas gift boxes.  This way, they'll actually get more in their box and with less plastic packaging. Hopefully they won't mind.


I did buy one other non Christmas thing on eBay this week.  Isn't eBay just a wonderful thing? 

I've needed a new toilet roll holder insert for a while, as ours was broken and held together by sellotape. I like our ceramic toilet roll holder, which was in the house when we moved in 10+ years ago and I didn't want to replace it. For £1.89, it is now like new and ready to go for another 10 years.  I know it's a strange thing to post about, but these small victories are often the most satisfying. I could have spent ages wandering around numerous shops looking for one of these things, if it hadn't been for eBay.  It's still a great place to find obscure necessities. I love it.

Finally, I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who commented on my last post.  I'm sorry it was a bit of a rant, but I guess I just needed to vent my frustrations. I'm trying not to tar everyone asking me for money with the same brush, but you were all so supportive and I really appreciate it. I know I'm very lucky and I do appreciate my lot in life and I know life is a lot harder for some people who aren't as fortunate. I'm trying hard to be mindful of this.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a good week. I'll try to do a birthday post if I get chance.