A Few Days Off and a Birthday Celebration

After spending Sunday and Monday at home, I was not relishing returning to work on Tuesday this week, but I was consoled by the fact that once I had finished work on Tuesday, I would not need to go back until Saturday, as I was taking some time back after working last week, by taking Thursday off. Three days off sounded like sheer bliss to me as the house was still a mess after Christmas and New Year and I needed to do a bit of a tidy round and catch up on some jobs.

After sleeping really well on Tuesday night, I felt suitably refreshed and ready to make the most of my time off. I began by taking some decluttered items to the clothing bank, charity shop and little free library. I loaded the two boxes and two bin bags into the car, dropped the bin bags into a nearby clothing bank, then took the dog to a favourite spot that is just a little too far to walk to.  After a lovely walk in the fresh air, I dropped off the two boxes at the charity shop on the way back and put one book that was a little too well read for the charity shop, into a nearby little free library. It felt great to be relieved of more items that had been clogging up the landing over Christmas.

That is just the tip of the iceberg with regard to the having a clearout. I haven't even started decluttering proper and I am actually looking forward to being a bit ruthless, especially with things I don't wear, things that don't fit well or which don't look nice on. There's plenty of those in my wardrobe and drawers, that's for sure.

After lunch, I retired to the sofa for a few hours and watched a few programmes on iPlayer and Netflix, which included an interesting series about Andy Warhol and a period film drama. Later, I wrapped LB's birthday presents. Not a hugely productive day, but some things did get done, which is progress.

On Thursday, it was LB's birthday. I strung up a few balloons and a banner, put a candle in her cake and then headed out with the dog as she wasn't yet up. By the time I got back, she'd surfaced and OH and I watched her open her presents. The few things that we were still waiting for by post, miraculously turned up at the same time, which was good fortune. She seemed very happy with her presents, but then she always is.

We headed out to lunch at a restaurant near to the centre of the area in which we live. We don't often venture much further than our small local high street to eat out, as it has a few nice restaurants, but we thought we'd do something a little different today. We last went to this particular restaurant on my birthday two years ago.

Lunch was a lovely relaxing affair with good food and an accompanying glass of Prosecco by way of celebration. I did have to have a nap on the sofa when we got home though, as daytime drinking isn't my forte.

When we got back, we tucked into LB's Rocky Road Birthday cake, which was nice. 

Later, I potted up an amaryllis that I'd forgotten to pot up before Xmas. I got a shock when I opened the box, as it had been so keen to grow that it had produced a large shoot and flowerhead in the box. I felt suitably guilty and neglectful. It's currently a bit curled up, but I'm hoping that with some sunlight, it might straighten out and green up. Here's a picture:

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Netflix. A very lazy day all told, but I don't care, I enjoyed it.

Friday was my last day off this week. I woke a bit late, as LB came home in the early hours, so my sleep was interrupted. I had to get ready and go straight out to the doctors for a blood test. I fasted, but found when I got there that I hadn't needed to. Typical! Anyway, it went okay, I just now need to get a new prescription for the statins, as I will run out this weekend. Having to work for a full week, put me behind in relation to sorting out stuff like this, because I just didn't have the time to get to the doctors earlier.

I spotted a new Little Free Library on my way to the doctors, so took a look on my way out. I found this book, which sounded quite good.

After finally having some breakfast, I took the dog out for a walk.  I didn't have any plans for the day, save that I needed to do some top up food shopping at some point.

After lunch, I went off to do the shopping, as the traffic gets bad the longer I leave it.  When I got back I put away some laundry, did another load of washing and then decided to sort through our Xmas decorations. I needed to declutter them before they went back in the loft. There were quite a few decorations in there that I no longer wanted to keep for various reasons. I won't be donating them now, as it's not a good time for charity shops to receive these kinds of items, but I'll keep them somewhere until later in the year and then donate them.

Friday night saw my three days off coming to a close. I'm slightly apprehensive about going back to work. It's been good to have a complete break for a few days. I've really managed to switch off from it, which has been lovely. I think I'm still recovering from the intense lead up to Christmas and then working over Christmas and New Year. Not having a proper break of a week or more has taken it's toll. I'm sure I'll feel more energetic soon, but for the moment I'm still feeling pretty tired most of the time.