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.