May Already and a Catchup

I can't quite believe that it's May already, time is passing very quickly this year. Life hasn't been wildly exciting lately, just trugging along doing the usual work, rest and play. 

Work seems a lot calmer lately, there's still a lot of work to do, but I don't feel quite as stressed as I did and I've finished the recent round of recruitment with the last induction yesterday, so now I feel I can concentrate on working in the stockroom, which is what I actually enjoy most about the job.

April was a very expensive month for me with a dental check (no treatment needed thankfully) and an eye test, plus new glasses and sunglasses.  This was the biggest expense of all, but hopefully I won't need to buy any more for a couple of years or longer.  I'm thinking of changing opticians for my next eye test, as I just don't like all the upselling that takes place every time I go.  I know I should just say no. I do try to exert myself, but find I am not very good at resisting hard sell and never have been. My best chance is to go elsewhere where it is hopefully less intense.

May is going to be expensive too, as it is OH's 50th birthday coming up very soon.  We're going to Centre Parcs with some other members of his family to celebrate, which should be nice.  I need to try to think of something special to buy him, although he says he's not really bothered about presents. I've mostly bought him consumables so far, as he likes these and I'm going to make up a little hamper of his favourite food/drink items, plus some spirits and wine.

At the moment, he seems to have got the gardening bug.  Due to my work commitments and not getting to the allotment as much, he has been going instead and doing much of the work.

OH's cucumber seedlings

And the tomato plants he's been nurturing which should be going into the allotment soon

This has led to him getting more and more involved, sowing his own cucumber and chilli pepper seeds, ordering and planting asparagus and potatoes and growing on tomato plants, which will eventually be planted out on the plot.  I have to admit that he is better at gardening than I am in many respects, as he prepares things very carefully, whereas I tend to just chuck some seeds or plants in the ground and hope for the best.

I've been doing a bit of gardening in our garden this last week, after buying a new wooden planter from Home Bargains on Monday. The planter was used to plant out some euphorbias that I bought a couple of months ago, but couldn't find the right spot for in the garden. 

I also filled another wicker basket that I bought from the CS last year, with some flowers this time, mainly geraniums and trailing verbenas bought very inexpensively from Lidl and a local shop.

It looks nice and pretty out on the decking, as does the one I filled with herbs a couple of weeks ago. I added a sage to the thyme and oregano this week.

Finally, I also managed to buy some half price mange tout plants from B&Q, which I've planted next to canes in one of the garden raised beds.  One side is sweet peas bought from a local shop, the other is the mange tout, which desperately needed planting out.  Some more have been planted out at the allotment, as I bought two pots for 75p each, which I thought was a total bargain.

We'll probably head over to the allotment later today, so expect a catch up from there next.

In other news, LB has started her GCSE exams, so is in the thick of it for the next few weeks and beyond. I've just finished watching The Widow on ITV, which I really enjoyed, and we're both looking forward to the last episode of In the Line of Duty on Sunday night. I've got three days off now, today, the first day, I'm taking it easy and having a very lazy day.  I'll probably work up some energy to do more tomorrow and Friday.

I'll try to keep posting this week as I realise I haven't been posting much at all lately, I have been reading and have tried to comment as much as I can though.