A Positive Start to the New Year

This New Year I feel has been positive. I can't really remember how I felt last year, save that we found ourselves in another Lockdown and there was a lot more uncertainty. I was probably relishing the idea of having a bit of time off work, until that stretched into months, which I actually hated.

This year is different and as a consequence, things feel possible, life feels possible, not impossible, which is a much more positive place to be.

I wasn't working on New Year's Eve, thanks to the kindness of a volunteer who stepped into run the shop. LB was recovering from a night out the night before, so OH and I decided to head out for lunch at a pub about an hour outside of London, and maybe pick up some manure for the allotment from a garden centre nearby.

We plumped for lunch first and headed straight to the pub. We passed the garden centre, which, of course, was closed early, but no biggie, we thought, we'll come back another day. Lunch was nice, the pub was nice. We got back to the car, and who would believe it, we had a flat tyre, not just a flat tyre, but a puncture with a nail right through. That's the 5th tyre that has needed replacing this December. Feels like some sort of curse.

Anyway, OH got out the spare and changed the tyre in the pub carpark, so all was well and we continued on to do a bit of last minute food shopping and then headed home. It didn't spoil our day, we were just completely aghast at our luck with tyres this month.  Hopefully, this curse is now left back in 2021. Incidentally, the tyre that got the puncture was the only tyre we hadn't yet replaced on the car, so at least when it is replaced, the car will have four new tyres, so will probably be safer and thus this can probably be seen as a good thing.

New Year's Eve was spent quietly. I ordered most of LB's birthday presents online, as there's only a couple of weeks to go. LB later went out to a friend's house for a small NYE gathering. They were all very sensible and tested themselves before going. We don't like to leave the dog home alone, as she is terrified of fireworks, so we stayed home. 

We watched a movie we'd never seen before on TV, which was good, I finished a jigsaw I'd been working on all week, had a few drinks and then I watched Ollie Alexander's New Year's Eve show on TV, which I enjoyed. It seemed quite a positive show and I enjoyed the music. I also watched the Central London fireworks and countdown. In addition, the fireworks in our neighbourhood didn't seem too onerous this year. Some years they seem to go on and on for hours, keeping us awake trying to calm the dog down. I even enjoyed watching them out of the window.

I slept well and woke feeling refreshed on New Year's Day. I finished reading my current book in bed and then showered and spent a bit of time cutting my toenails and plucking my eyebrows. In the lead up to Christmas, I just didn't get around to doing self-care things like this and it had got to the point where one of my little toe nails was cutting into the toe next to it, drawing blood and making it painful to walk. Terrible self neglect, I needed to do something about it. It felt good to spend a little time on myself to face the New Year.

The rest of the day was chilled. I watched a bit of You Tube, cooked a beef joint for us to use for wraps or sandwiches, as we just didn't feel like eating another roast dinner. I placed an order for some eco household and healthcare products that I need from Big Green Smile. It busted the household budget for the month, but I only place these orders a couple of times per year, so it balances out and I wanted to make sure I got free delivery. 

I feel positive about this New Year. I think it's going to be challenging in some ways, but I'm up for it. I'm not making lots of unrealistic resolutions. Yes, there are things I'd like to do better or improve about myself and I'm going to aim for self improvement in some areas, but with no pressure. 

I do want to rid the house of things that no longer serve me/us, clothes that don't look nice on or aren't practical for my current lifestyle, other household things that we just don't need or use. Clutter has built up again, as it always does, and there's definitely more stuff I can let go of. There's so much need out there, why am I hanging onto so much stuff that I don't like, need or use.

Anyway, later on New Year's Day, we watched Don't Look Up on Netflix, a parody, but a great movie, I'd definitely recommend watching it.

On Sunday, I had a very lazy day and didn't do much, nothing worth blogging about anyway.

Bank Holiday Monday a better day and was my last day off over the holidays, so I had a good lie in. I was tired, as I hadn't slept well the night before. I finished my current book, which is about the restorative effects of Pottering, one of my favourite things to do. I enjoyed reading it.

When I eventually got up, I had a shower and then I decided to do some little odd jobs that had built up over the festive season, but which I hadn't found the time to do, i.e. sort out some items to take to the charity shop, repair one of the hanging rails on my clothes airer, repair a brooch whose pin had come off, put some pictures into a frame, re-hang my grandad's photograph in the spare room and get OH to change the light shade in the spare room too. It looks nice with the new free (non-)shade on. Here's a picture:

 

That felt very productive.  Then I went onto eBay to order some items for work, that I've been meaning to order for a while and whilst on there I did a bit of research for some reusable products, that I can swap out for disposable things that I currently use. I can't afford them at the moment, but at some point in the year, I may buy one of each to try them, before laying out larger sums for more.

We were running a little low on a few groceries today, so I headed out to ASDA to buy a few bits to keep us going for the week, as I don't intend to do a proper food shop this week. We've still got plenty of things from Christmas to use up. When I got back, I went out to walk the dog and when I got back from doing that I made us a veggie spag bol for supper, essentially to use up some mushrooms.

I hope your New Year was a positive one and continues to be.