Getting into a New Routine.

I'm still trying to get into a lockdown routine, now that I'm at home.  To some extent I have one, i.e. get up get ready, have breakfast, walk the dog, but once these things have been done, it is very easy to waste the day away, doing very little at all.

On Tuesday, I made a little bit of progress by downloading a Swing Train video from the company who organise the dance classes I attended. I wanted to try this Swing Dance based exercise class before the virus took hold, but didn't get the chance, so I jumped at the chance to try it out at home. The video cost £5 to download on Vimeo, but I can use it as many or as few times as I like and it provides some income to the dance teachers who must be struggling financially at the moment.

I tried it out straight away and actually really enjoyed it. It was quite energetic too, so I felt like I'd had a bit of a workout, despite it being only 30 minutes long. I did it again on Wednesday.

Unlike myself, OH was pretty productive onTuesday afternoon.  He went down to the allotment and put the potato seeds and shallots into the plot, which gets us off to a good start. Then, he and LB went out and did some shopping at the supermarket, as we needed some more fresh fruit, salad and a few other things. I'm happy to report that from what they told me, things seemed to have calmed down on the panic buying front for the time being, which is good.

I did very little that was productive that afternoon, save for catching up with a colleague over the phone. Later on in the evening, I did find a new limited series to watch on NETFLIX called Self-Made, which is the story of a Madam CJ Walker's struggle to start a cosmetics company in early 20th Century America.  I really enjoyed it and watched a couple of episodes back to back. I also indulged in watching the first episode of the new series of Made in Chelsea.  It's my guilty pleasure.  Don't tell anyone!

Yesterday, I was a bit more productive. Before even getting ready, I decided to do a very short arm workout with some weights, that had been sat neglected at the bottom of the wardrobe for years. I just did 10 reps of four different exercises, but anything's better than nothing. I'm going to try to do this daily to help get rid of my bingo wings.

After taking the dog out, I decided to spend some more time in the garden, as the weather was so beautiful. The main job that needed doing was to wash all the dirty plant pots, some of which might even have been dirty for two years now, as I can't remember doing this task last year, when I was super busy at work.

I filled up a couple of buckets, one with soapy water and one with plain water for rinsing and I was away. An hour or so later and they were all neatly put away in our new mini greenhouse, ready to have seeds sown into them in the very near future. 

There's still a bit of tidying to do at the end of the garden. It has become a bit of a dumping ground since we took down our old mini greenhouse and took it to the tip. The metal posts had rusted, which caused it to collapse. I'll work on that area another day and take before and after photos.

Having now put up a new mini greenhouse on the decking outside the back door, this will make it a lot easier to get out there and do potting on and sowing jobs. Schlepping all the way down to the bottom of the garden sometimes just feels like way too much effort.

Here's a picture of our new set up:

The greenhouse was a bargain that I couldn't ignore, as it cost just £4.99 from the Charity shop I work in and our old kitchen bin contains the newly washed pots stacked ready for use. I'll keep you posted with our gardening and food growing efforts as the season progresses. Have you been enjoying spending time in the garden during this lovely weather we're having?