Enjoying Another Week Off

My week off  this last week, got off to a good start on Sunday, in that I was able to spend the afternoon machine quilting rows on an unfinished quilt project from last year. It felt so nice to do something creative, as I just haven't had much time or been in the right place mentally for it lately. 

I got a bit frustrated at times, when I made mistakes and had to correct them, but eventually it was done and I could move onto the next stage of binding it. I always enjoy this stage, as it's like putting the finishing touches to something you've worked on long and hard and is very satisfying.

I picked up a couple of freebies on the dog walk on Sunday, from a local Little Free Library. Someone had put some seeds in there, so I took a packet of tomato seeds for OH and the book for me. He has already sown these. You can't beat finding a freebie now and again. Especially when you're on a tight budget.

On Monday morning, there was another storm raging here, with high winds, but I headed off to Zumba regardless and then went on to do the weekly shop. As it was the last shop of the month, I tried to keep it to an absolute minimum, in order to stay on budget as much as possible. I had a £2 voucher to use at Lidl and a £4.50 voucher to use at Tesco this week, which both came in handy. 

I did, however, get tempted in the Middle of Lidl, and spent £12 in total on a squirrel proof bird feeder, a vest and some leggings.  The leggings are definitely going to be returned, as I don't know what I was thinking there, but the other two items I will keep. I think being on such a tight budget this month, has definitely led to a few lapses.

On Tuesday, our dog was due at the vets to have an operation. This was, of course, a big source of stress. She needed some teeth removing and some lumps too, one of which had grown quite big. I busied myself sewing for much of the day, trying to stop myself from worrying about her. I was glad when we got the call to say we could collect her. She looked very dishevelled and confused, bless her. We don't take putting her through this lightly, but her teeth were causing her pain and needed attention.

On Wednesday, I took LB to the opticians for an eye test.  The two pairs of glasses that she eventually chose, cost more than I had anticipated, as there always seem to be added extras to pay for. The bill came to £124 and that, of course had to go on the credit card, which is thoroughly depressing as it leaves me with another big credit card payment next month. I'm hoping that this is the last month this year when this will be the case. I really didn't think I'd be entering a third consequetive low spend month this year, but such is life.

The remainder of Wednesday afternoon was spent working on the binding of the quilt I've almost finished, whilst watching the last available episode of Sanditon on iPlayer and then later, I cooked up some offal for the dog. After her ordeal at the vets, it was the least I could do, bless her.

On Thursday, I managed to finish the quilt I'd been working on which felt great. I've done a separate post about it, for anyone who's interested.

In the evening, I had arranged to go and see the reading of a new play in Victoria. A few other people that I knew had also been invited, so I met up with them there and we had a really lovely evening catching up and enjoying the play. 

On Friday, we made the decision not to go away for the weekend. Prices and availabilty just weren't ideal due to it being half term, and to be honest, we have so much stuff to get on with at home currently. We may go to France for a week in April instead, if I can get some time off work.

Having made this decision, this meant that I still had four full days left of my leave to try to finish a couple of other sewing projects and maybe do some work in the garden. I'll make a separate post about these last few days of my week off.