A Busy Week

This week got off to a busy start on Tuesday. I returned to work after the Bank Holiday weekend feeling a bit rejuvenated and keen to get stuck in. I decided to go up to the shop floor for once and take out all of the clothing that had been in the shop too long. Call it a Spring reset if you like. It's not something that I've done very often in the last two years, as very capable volunteers have taken on the task, but as no-one had done it the day before, because the shop was closed, I decided to do it myself.

It was nice to be on the shop floor for a couple of hours. It makes me realise how much I miss having contact with our customers, the vast majority of whom are lovely. It makes me feel more connected than when I'm just downstairs working away in the basement, so that was good.  In the afternoon, I was back downstairs getting stock ready to send upstairs. It felt like a very productive day. 

On Wednesday, I stayed home. When I got up, I did a few small organising jobs that I've put off for ages and put away various things that had just been thrown to one side until I got the time to deal with them. Baby steps of progress, but there is just so much to do at home at the moment. This is why I need to get a work/life balance.  At the moment, most of my time and energy goes into work and I'm tired on my days off. It's not how it should be.

I wandered out into the garden in the morning and it was lovely to see things growing and it greening up. Such a tonic. Several of my dahlias are starting to sprout.  After walking the dog, I came home and spent a couple of hours in the garden. 

Firstly, I attempted to tidy out and mend our mini greenhouse. Quite a few of the plastic joints had split, causing the frame to collapse in places, so I had ordered some new ones on eBay and they'd been sat on the kitchen table for weeks. I finally managed to fit them where I thought they were most needed and then ordered some more, as there were several more that needed replacing. They'll take a few weeks to arrive as they're coming from China, but that seemed to be the only place I could get them from on eBay.

Next, I used the large pot I found on the dog walk the other day, to plant out some sweet peas that I bought from outside someone's house near Spurn Point, when we were there the other week.  Here's a picture of them planted up and my attempts to protect them from birds, etc.

In amongst the sweet peas were a few pansy and foxglove seedlings, so I transplanted them into pots too.

 

Free plants make me very happy, I can't see them go to waste. I also planted up the last dahla tuber that I had bought. If they all grow well, I should have a lovely selection of colours this year, to keep the house looking cheerful in late summer.

Later in the afternoon, I hung out some laundry, had a nap for an hour, read a chapter of my current book and then I attempted to tackle the ironing mountain. I have way too many clothes and the ones still in the ironing basket are probably things that I no longer need to keep, as I just keep leaving them there. I need to sort through it and possibly send some of it to the charity shop.

It felt like this was my first day off in weeks, where I had been productive at home and it felt good.

Thursday, I was back at work. When I got to work there were quite a lot of donations to process, so I just got on with those. Donations kept coming in all morning. Anyway, eventually, having done as much as I could, I then moved on to another job that needed tackling and that I don't get time to do every week. This felt quite satisfying.

On Friday, I decided to take action about a health issue I've been having lately. I've had a cough for the past six weeks or so, which seems to be getting worse and it was particularly bad on Thursday at and after work. I'm starting to think that I might not be taking good enough care of my health and need to make some changes.  I decided to ring the doctor on Friday, as I am an ex-smoker and I wanted to be sure it's nothing serious. It could just be allergies connected to pollen in the air or even clothing fibres at work, but I wanted to get some advice, as I never normally have health problems like this. 

After a conversation with the doctor, she sent me for a chest Xray and advised me that until the results come back, I should try some steam inhalation and hayfever/allergy medication to see if this helps.  She was super nice and very thorough in her explanations of what could be causing it, which was very reassuring. I decided to go for the chest Xray the same day, so that I can get the results as soon as possible.

I also went to Home Bargains today, to pick up some bits we desperately needed. It was a bit of a drive, but I needed it just for a change of scenery and to clear my head.

On Saturday, I was back at work. We are quite short of volunteers on Saturdays at the moment, but we managed to get through the day okay and also to get quite a lot of stock onto the shop floor. I was glad to get home though and just chill for a couple of days, it's been a busy week.