A Week in Lanzarote - Part Two

After a mixed start to our week in Lanzarote, we were determined to just relax and enjoy the rest of our stay, so on Wednesday afternoon, we headed out in our rental car, to visit some other parts of the island.

First stop was the Museum of Cesar Manrique just north of the island's capital in Arrecife. Senor Manrique was a very famous local born artist who built an amazing house into the lava rocks in the north of the island. It is a beautiful house.  Seeing some of his works and finding out about his life and his struggles to protect the island from overdevelopment by tourism was interesting. 

Here are a few photos from our visit:

We then drove a little further and stopped off in the pretty and very friendly town of Teguise, in the centre of the island. Whilst OH sat in a small bar, LB and I explored a couple of local tourist shops and bought a few bits of local hand made jewellery. There were lots of items made from gemstones and the black lava from the island's volcanoes, and it was some the latter that I bought.

We then joined OH at the bar for some sangria and tapas and had a lovely relaxing evening, before returning to the villa.

On Thursday, I started the day in the usual way that I started each day on this holiday, sitting by the pool for few hours, whilst OH went for a ride around the island. I finished my book and enjoyed getting a good dose of vitamin D. The locksmith came in the morning and completed the repairs to the lock on the gate, so it was good to get that resolved. 

Later in the afternoon, we headed out again, to a beach a bit further down the coast this time and spent some time on the beach getting sand in every possible orifice, as it was very windy. It was nice to sit on the beach though. I almost can't remember the last time I did that.

After an hour or so, we retired to a bar on the beach front for a beer, before heading home and picking up some rotisserie chicken on the way for supper.

Friday, was our last full day on Lanzarote, so in the early afternoon, we headed out to do a bit more exploring of the island. On this occasion, we headed to the north of the island, which was stunningly beautiful. We also stopped of at a cactus garden created by Cesar Manrique, which was also beautiful, with many hundreds of different species of cacti. Here's a few pictures of the garden:

Later, we stopped off in the beautiful town of Haria for drinks, before driving south and through the National Park of the Volcanoes, whose landscape was stunning, being made up almost solely of volcanoes and lava, which was spewed out in the 18th century over a period of 6 years of continuous eruptions.

We finished our day out at a restaurant for supper on the way back, to celebrate our last night in Lanzarote. We were ready to go home. We'd had a lovely time, but we always look forward to seeing our dog again. We miss her when we're away, she's part of the family.

On Saturday, we were probably the palest family on the plane. We never tan very deeply in just a week and hardly look like we've seen any sun during our stay, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I tend to be the one of us that spends the most time sitting in the sun, but I try not to overdo it and always wear plenty of high factor sun screen these days. The flight back was delayed unfortunately, so we were late getting home and picking up our dog, but it was so lovely to see her again and she was very happy to see us too.

We had a lovely week and there's still lots of things that we didn't get around to doing, should we ever visit the island again. We all came home feeling very relaxed, having had a much needed break.

A Week of Two Halves in Lanzarote, Canary Islands - Part One

Apologies for being quiet here on the blog. The week before last was a bit of a count down to our holiday, so I was busy packing, working, etc. and I never like to discuss online when exactly we are away from home, as you just can't be too careful these days.

We flew out of the UK early on Mothers' Day. Our destination was Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. We've been to several of the Canary Islands before, but never Lanzarote, so we were excited to visit somewhere new to us.

I had a bit of a nasty surprise as we were waiting for our flight. I realised that I'd forgotten to take down my online listings, when I got an email telling me I had sold an item. I was mortified and I had to message the buyer and hope they wouldn't be too upset, as I wouldn't be able to post their item out on time. I haven't yet received a response, so I'm hoping they are okay with it.

That wasn't a great start, but the flight went okay. When we got to Lanzarote, it was a shock how warm and sunny it was. I knew that it would be warmer than the UK, but I was still surprised at how much hotter it was. It instantly felt great to feel the sun on our skin. We collected our hire car and made the 10 minute drive to our villa. Luckily, it was ready early, so we were able to settle straight in. Here are a few pictures from the property:

The villa itself was lovely, Nicer than I'd anticipated, with lots of rooms and outside space and a small swimming pool. It even had two resident budgerigars living in a big cage in the garden. They were so sweet, and very chatty. (I kept a budgie in my late teens and I love them) We unpacked and then a little later headed into the nearby town for a drink and something to eat on the beach front, to take a look around and to do some food shopping. 

The food was lovely, OH and I had lovely big salads. It felt like a world away from London. We had a little drive around the town on the way home, which was very old and pretty in parts and then headed to Aldi to get the basics for our stay. We always love a supermarket shop when we go abroad. I love to see the different foods you can get.

When we got back, OH struck up the BBQ and we chilled later watching the series Daisy Jones and the Six on Amazon Prime, via LB's laptop. We worked our way through it through the week.

On Monday, I spent the morning sat by the pool, which was lovely. The water was a little cold for me to swim, although LB did go in for a dip, but I was happy sat reading my holiday read which was Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It was an entertaining read and it was so lovely to sit by a swimming pool in the sunshine, for the first time in 4 years. We haven't travelled abroad together since before Lockdown. I have to say, that I have really missed how relaxing it is to be out of the UK and in a warm climate, away from your everyday life.

Later on Monday, we headed into town again to wander around the town, shop a little and hire some bikes for the week. We then went to eat out and realised that we'd left our shopping somewhere, possibly at the bike shop in town, which was now closed for 36 hours. 

In addition, when we got back to the villa, we found that there was an issue with the lock on the gate, it had jammed up completely and we couldn't even remove the key. Luckily, we'd got into the property before this happened.

It was too late to do anything that day, so on Tuesday OH called the owner/manager of the villa who came to attend to it, but they couldn't actually resolve it fully that day and had to come back another day to completely change the lock.

We spent Tuesday chilling all day in the villa and then in the evening, OH and I cycled along the coast a little on our rented bikes which was enjoyable, but quite tiring for me, despite it not being far, as there were a few uphill sections.

On Wednesday, after a leisurely couple of hours, sitting by the pool and breakfasting outside, OH and I decided to cycle back into town to the bike shop, to hopefully collect our shopping. It was a nice ride along a lovely coastal footpath and cyclepath.  Unfortunately, when we got there, we were told that our shopping wasn't there.  

We checked a couple of other places we possibly could have left the shopping, but neither had had anything handed in. We were disappointed that nearly £100 worth of sportswear just disappeared into thin air, but we just had to chalk it down to experience.

At this point, we just thought, we need to take stock and not let this ruin the holiday for us.  It was only money and we determined to enjoy the rest of our stay.

This Week - W/E 4th March 2023

This week has been busier than usual in many ways. The week started off with quite a productive Sunday doing different jobs in the sewing room, which felt satisfying. I think I've been in quite a hibernative state over the last few months and have made little effort to do much around the house, so it felt good to make some progress. I've posted separately about what I got up to.

On Monday morning, I continued with more re-organising in the sewing room before heading off to work in the afternoon. I managed most of the weekly shop before work and did the rest before heading home.  The shift was quite busy, presumably because it was the end of the month and people had been paid and had money to spend. 

On Tuesday, LB came home in the afternoon to stay overnight, which was so lovely. It was so great to see her. I knew she was coming, as we'd discussed it on the phone, but it was still lovely when she got here. We did a lot of chatting and catching up. She was showing me her crochet project that she's taught herself to do from YouTube. I'm so proud of her for taking up some sort of craft related hobby. I think she's already finding it very calming. I let her look through my small wool collection and take whatever she wanted to use for other projects, as I just don't use it.

OH took us all out to supper at our local pub, which was a nice treat. It's always great when I don't have to cook these days. We all then had quite an early night, as OH was flying off to Spain early the next morning, to go on a 5 day cycling holiday with his friends.

On Wednesday, I got up early and did a few small tasks I'd been meaning to do, before feeding and taking the dog out. I was on double dog walking duty until OH returned. By the time I got back, LB was getting up. She'd stayed up late crocheting with some wool I had given her and her make was lovely. Unfortunately, she didn't have quite enough wool to finish it and the wool itself was discontinued.  We couldn't find it anywhere, despite trawling the internet, so she was going to have to find a dupe somewhere.

Anyway, she cut my hair for me before she went back to Uni, which I was very grateful for. I dropped her off to catch a train as I headed off to work.

Work was a useful distraction that night. I did a bit of shopping instore before I started and bought some things we needed and a new suitcase for LB for our upcoming holiday. My staff discount makes it much more reasonably priced.

Work was steady, with enough to keep me busy. It was strange going home to an empty house, but it's only for a short time.

On Thursday, I took the day off from my usual volunteering, as it starts too early to get the dog walked and fed and get there on time. Besides, it was nice to have a free day off on a Thursday for a change, especially with OH away. I decided to use the time to do some cleaning instead. I started by emptying the ironing basket as much as I could. It had some summer items in it, which I may take away with us, so it was good that they got ironed.

Once I'd done that, I started to tackle the cleaning of the front living room. We don't use this room in the winter, as we use the back living room where we have a wood burner and which is more cosy in the colder months. It took me the whole of the afternoon to work my way around this room and vacuum and clean the floors, but it felt good to get it done.

In the evening, I sat in the living room and stitched whilst watching Vera on TV.

On Friday, I had a day's annual leave. I'd deliberately booked it for whilst OH was away, as I would need to walk the dog twice and I wanted to spend some time cleaning. After the morning dog walk, I did some laundry and had some lunch and then started work on the back living room.

Once again, it took me the whole of the afternoon. I worked my way out into the hallway and down into the vestibule and downstairs toilet. The house felt significantly cleaner once I'd tackled these areas, which was very satisfying. I also washed all of the dog blankets and baskets, which badly needed doing.

It has been lovely this week, to stay home and spend some time looking after my home. I just don't seem to have the time or the motivation during a normal working/volunteering week, as I like to spend my limited time off doing the things I enjoy doing, rather than cleaning all the time.

I promised myself that if I got the cleaning done, I could then spend the evening stitching in front of the TV again, this time with a glass of wine.  Not exciting, but a nice relaxing end to a busy week. Having time to relax is equally if not more important to me these days. Too much excitement and drama is definitely overrated.

On Saturday, I was due back at work in the afternoon. I spent the morning walking the dog and pottering a little.  Work was pretty busy for the most part, so it passed quite quickly. I was happy to get home to the dog though and make more progress on my quilt project.

I ordered some beautiful wool for LB from eBay this week and it arrived on Saturday. It's so pretty.  It's the same range as the ball I gave her, but a different colourway.  I thought that at least she'd have enough of this to make a complete item and she can have fun crocheting with it when we go on holiday. Here's a picture of it:

Apologies for the lighting, I took the picture last night to send to her.

So that was my week, I hope you've had a good one.

A Productive Sunday

This Sunday, I was determined to be a bit more productive than I usually am. The first thing I did when I got up was to put together the ottoman I'd bought for the sewing room. The ottomans are pretty inexpensive and not that sturdy, but they are covered in velvet and hold quite a lot, so they are a good enough solution for the time being, as they look a lot more attractive than plastic boxes.

In the sewing room, I was able to empty three large plastic storage containers into one ottoman, which I found very satisfying.  The boxes had been stacked at the end of the bed and made the room look quite cluttered, so the ottoman made a big difference here.  The contents are items that I want to sell online, but haven't got around to listing yet. Now they are all together and much more easily accessible and take up a lot less space. I'm sure I or OH will find use for the empty plastic boxes, if not, I can donate them. 

When I got back from the dog walk, I decided to tackle LB's ottoman. This was used to mainly house bed linen and towels that she uses when she's home. There's still lots of room inside to store more, but it looks tidier than before, when they were all just piled up elsewhere. There isn't really any room in her drawers, or there won't be when she brings all her stuff back for the summer. Here's a picture of this box in situ:

After doing this, I then went back into the sewing room and did a bit of sewing on my machine. First, I made a fabric wall hanging for LB's room using some fabric that had a New York print on it. She loves New York, so I hope she likes it. I couldn't see myself using it for anything else. 

I also made a couple of tea towels whilst I was in there, from some fabric in my stash. I've been wanting to do this for ages. The fabric I used wasn't actually that thick, so I don't know how absorbant they will be. I'll have to wait and see. They were very easy to make though. Here's a picture of the two I made:

It felt good to sew things other than the quilt I've been working on lately. I also started using the tiny 1" square patchwork set I bought last week. I pinned up about 50 small squares using lots of fabric scraps from my scrap box. This felt very satisfying, as there's very little else I could use such small pieces of fabric for.  These will be a great project to take with me when I travel or go away for a couple of days, as they can be stored in this small bag:

The pieces are so cute. Most are currently only pinned, but I have basted a few. Here's a picture of the ones I started to make:

Lastly, I decided to hang a curtain in the sewing room, that I'd bought from work a few weeks ago. I bought a pair, but the second curtain I'm going to use the fabric for another big quilt project later in the year. Here's a picture of the new curtain in situ:

It needs a few more curtain rings adding, but I need OH's help to do this as I can't reach the pole to slip them on. It can be done at another time. The curtain is very plain, but it is lined so should block out more light during the summer months and keep more heat in during what is left of the winter months. The curtain I made for this room was only ever a temporary measure, until I could afford to buy one. I've now donated it.

Later in the evening, I attempted to reorganise beneath the shelves and desk in the sewing room, as the area was a bit of a mess and looked untidy. I managed to make progress, but I need to seriously declutter and simplify this room, as there is so much stuff in it and it's looking very cluttered at the moment. I'm doing it bit by bit, as I can afford solutions to the issues that I'm dealing with. I'll keep you posted on progress.

It felt like a very productive day for a change, which felt good.

Reducing Spending in February

February has been a much better month in financial terms than the last couple of months at least. With, Xmas, plus all of my expensive dental treatment out of the way and no birthdays or other gifts to buy this month, save for small gifts for Valentine's Day, there was much less pressure on me financially and it felt so liberating.

As a consequence, I was able to spend a bit of money here and there on the house and improved solutions for storage and windows, etc. I purchased most of these from work using my staff discount, which helped to keep the cost down. Even the smallest tweak can make a big difference to how things look.

I bought some new curtains for the sewing room from work.  They were reduced in price. I have only hung one. The second I will use to make a quilt for the bed in there, so that the decor is a bit more co-ordinated if it needs to be used for guests, but that will be a project for next winter, as I have plenty of other things on the go for the moment.

I also bought some velvet storage ottomans, which I've used to replace plastic storage boxes and they look much better and take up much less visual space, but hold more, if that makes sense.  I'm pretty happy with these purchases and I am intending to buy a few more things for LB's room to improve the room and make it look a bit more grown up, but I am waiting until I find the right things.

I mentioned in a previous post, that I bought a lovely bird print tray from a charity shop the other week and wanted to make a table display with it for the kitchen. In order to do so, I finally purchased an orchid, which I've been promising myself I would do for over 6 months, to place on the tray, along with candles and tealights. Here's how it currently looks, complete with my current candle which is almost finished:

The tealight holder is an old antique ink well that used to belong to my mother. I had several of them wrapped up and packed away, as I didn't really have a use for them, but didn't want to let go of them either. When I got this one out, a tealight fitted in perfectly, so instead of buying a tealight holder, which I was thinking of doing, I can now use this, and it's a pretty colour too.  It feels good to actually put it to use. The blue tin is a hot chocolate tin from Whittards of Chelsea that I use to store spare tealights. 

I'm quite happy with how the display looks, as it cheers me up when I'm sat at the kitchen table and prevents clutter accumulating as there isn't room to dump stuff now.

The tealights themselves were a bargain from work. They were part of a clearance bag that included 8hr and 3hr tealights that I bought for £2. They had all come from damaged packs and had been gathered up and sold in a mixed bag. There was the equivalent of a full pack of 8hr tealights, which normally cost £3.50,  and also lots of these 3-4hr ones that I intend to use in the kitchen and outside in the summer, so they were a bargain.

In digging out the tealight holder, I came across some curtain pole rings that I had left over from hanging a curtain in the sewing room back in the summer. I'd subsequently bought a pack of these from work thinking I might need them to hang the new curtain, but I can now take them back and get a refund, which will save me more money.

Aside from the expenditures mentioned here, my monthly overall spend was half what it has been for the last two months, which felt great, as I'm trying to be careful not to waste money at the moment and keep some in reserve.

Finally on the frugal front, this morning, when out on the dog walk, I came across these lovely baskets that someone had put outside for anyone to take. I quickly picked them up and brought them back home, as these will be ideal for LB's room. I was thinking of buying some storage, and still might need to, but these should save some money too. They look like they've hardly been used too.

I seem to be waking up from my winter hibernation and starting to get the house back into shape, which is all good. It's surprising what the longer days and a bit of sunshine can do to give you more energy and enthusiasm.`