A New Week and Easter Greetings

Sunday marked the start of a new week. I could put the stress of the last week behind me and just look forward to new things on the horizon.

LB messaged on Saturday night. She'd been feeling unwell for a few days and asked if we could come and pick her up and bring her home. We were very happy to do so, as we love to have her home and it is the Easter holidays. I think it's good for her to have a break from life in halls. Besides, I could look after her if she came home.  Who wants to be all alone in their room when feeling unwell when you can be at home with mum and dad looking after you.

We managed to pick her up late on Sunday night. We had tried earlier in the day, but the Blackwall Tunnel was closed southbound and this caused a lot of traffic queueing to get through another tunnel to South London, so we turned back. She was happy to return to her bedroom at home, to recover from a very bad cold/flu.

I've been suffering quite a bit this week with more pain in my face. I promised myself I'd see a doctor this week as it was almost becoming unbearable at times and the pain killers were getting less effective the more I used them. I was a bit of a mess really.

I returned to work on Monday afternoon. It was a pretty busy afternoon with a constant stream of customers. It went quite quickly though.  I did some of the weekly shop before work and some afterwards. I got some very inexpensive root vegetables, as Lidl was competing for Easter customers. It was 19p for potatoes, carrots and parsnips, so I got a bag of each for OH's soup making. I also stocked up on pain killers, as I was running low. I qualified for a free small Easter egg from their own range, as I spent over £25 on my shop. I can't say no to free chocolate and besides, it's very cute.

When I got home, some wool I had bought on eBay for LB had arrived. Here's a picture:

I'm hoping that she will be able to make something nice from it. I was intending to give it to her for Christmas, if she's still crocheting, but I might give it to her in the summer holidays instead.

Thankfully, for some reason on Monday night, I managed to go to bed without taking any pain relief and slept well and then didn't take anything until 11am on Tuesday morning. After brushing my teeth the pain started again. It felt like perhaps I'd turned a corner. I was just grateful for any relief I could get.

On Tuesday, it was a lovely sunny day. LB headed off to Norwich to stay with a friend for a few days. I was happy that she was getting out of London and Uni Halls and visiting some non-Uni friends, as the change would do her good. She was feeling much better after a couple of nights at home.

After she left, I took my morning cup of tea out into the garden to sit in the sunshine and then I proceeded to potter a little, empty out some dead plants from pots and then sweep bits of the decking. It felt good to do this. Baby steps in the right direction, but steps none the less. 

To be honest, I need to do some serious work in the garden. It is currently the neighbourhood cats' toilet and this is putting me off going out into it. It needs a very good clear up. 

We found out the other day, that one set of our immediate neighbours may be selling up in the near future.  They have young children and need more space.  They were going to extend their house, but building costs are so prohibitive at the moment, that it is probably less expensive and less stress to just move to a bigger house if they can find one. They have been good neighbours.

The rest of the day, I spent pottering at home, washing up, washing veg, etc. It was the first day I've been able to do absolutely anything I wanted to, since before our holiday and it felt very indulgent. I need to get used to the feeling, as when I leave my job, I will have lots more days like this.

On Wednesday, I woke up in the early hours in pain and had to take some pain killers, which didn't kick in for an hour. It felt like a long hour. When I woke up again in the morning, I rang the doctors and made an appointment for the afternoon. The doctor was very accommodating, but she did think the pain was probably dental and not caused by anything else.

I was due at work at 5pm, so I stopped off at the doctors en route rather than going backwards and forwards. This meant that I was very early, but I used the time to pick up a few bits I needed from ASDA and then to buy a few things from the store I work in, using my staff discount before I leave next week. I may still shop with them online after I leave, but to be honest, there isn't too much that we need in terms of homewares, as we have so much already. I just needed some new sheets and bedding, which tends to be a reasonable quality and price where I work.

Work itself was okay, as it was quite quiet. I've always liked Wednesday nights, as I enjoy working with the Managers that are on duty on this particular night. I had a good chat to one of them tonight, who was really sweet about my leaving. This lady was the Manager who interviewed me and I did feel bad for letting her down by leaving, but she was very nice about it. I got the chance to thank her for the opportunity she gave me to work there, as it served to toughen me up and gave me back some confidence, at a time when I was quite fragile and I'll always be grateful for that.

On Thursday, I was up early and off to my volunteering session on the bus again. I was the only person there for the first half hour, then a couple more guys turned up, so we got a bit more done than if it had just been me on my own.

I dropped into a local Poundland on the way home and found a lazy susan that I needed for spices in the kitchen cupboard. I want them to be easily accessible for when OH wants to make soups in his new soupmaker. It's not anything special, but it serves it's purpose and only cost £4. I'd been looking at some on eBay and they were much more expensive. This will do fine for the moment and it holds all the herbs and spices we have. Here's a picture:

Later, when I got home, I went to bed for a nap for a couple of hours. I've got one more week of working lates before my voluntary work the next day. Hopefully, after that, I won't feel so tired on the afternoons after I've done it and I might even go off exploring some old haunts out and about, which would be nice.

On Friday, I was at work for 9am, so I was up early and off. As it was Good Friday, it started off slowly but then got busier. It wasn't a great shift for a couple of reasons. When I left I headed to Tesco to do an Easter shop and used another voucher for £6 off a £60 spend. I bought all the food we needed for the Easter weekend, some Easter Eggs, spring flowers, plus various other things.

On Easter Saturday, I was working 3 til 8pm. I wasn't really looking forward to going, but then I checked my work schedule on the work app and realised that I wasn't going to be working on Easter Monday. I'd asked for annual leave, but had assumed I wouldn't get it, as I requested it quite late, but to my joy, I had been given the day off, so I only had one more shift left to work after Saturday.  That in itself helped get me through the day and it wasn't quite as busy as I expected which also helped.

LB was coming back from Norfolk on Saturday afternoon too, so it was nice to see her when I got home and catch up with her news. I was so happy to have the next three days off, before returning to work my final shift and in addition, my toothache seemed to have almost disappeared and I wasn't needing pain relief, which was a game changer.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter weekend.