Making a Start - Bank Holiday Weekend.

This week began with another Bank Holiday. It's lovely to actually enjoy them, now that I'm taking a break from working in retail. One perk at least of leaving my job.

On Sunday morning, OH took the dog out, so I was able to get up at my leisure. I ended up staying in bed and doing a bit of work on my 1" square patchwork project. I think it's just going to be a runner or something similar, otherwise it might take the rest of my life to finish.

I eventually got up and ready and did some laundry. OH came back from the dog walk and cooked us both a lovely big breakfast. We never do this, so it made a nice change. It almost felt like being on holiday.

I decided to try to make this Bank Holiday count and actually make a start on some cleaning. The whole house needs attention and I've just not really been motivated to do anything about it. Spurred on by Sophia from My Great Challenge on YouTube, who has been showing her new self-devised cleaning regime in recent videos, I decided to make a regime up for myself. 

It's not going to get done every week, but it involves starting at the top of the house in the master bedroom and sewing room and working my way down the house doing one floor at a time. It kind of makes sense to me and l'm hoping it might work going forward, although I'm not very good at sticking to routines.

Anyway, I started in the Master bedroom, which really needed a good clean. Everywhere was really dusty. I removed the bedding, opened the window to let some fresh air in and got stuck in. It took most of the afternoon, probably as a consequence of not having done it very regularly over the last few months, but it felt very satisfying when I mopped the last little bit of the floor. One room completed at least.

I then came downstairs, did some more laundry and decided to make some flap jack/tray bake out of things that I had in the cupboards. It only takes a few minutes to throw everything into a bowl, mix it, and put it on a tray. I then baked it for 20 minutes and it was done. It will be nice to have something to nibble with a cup of tea through the week.

OH, meanwhile, spent Sunday working in the garden. He dug over the second raised bed, the one I couldn't face, as it had been used as a cat toilet over the winter. We just need to put all the leaf mulch we made last year on top of it and then top up with more compost and then he can plant it up. He managed to recover some dahlia tubers that I'd planted in there last year and is going to plant them at the allotment, which will be good, as I may get more cut flowers from them and it will add some colour to the plot.

The cat poo situation has seriously put me off doing anything in the garden this spring, but now most of it has been disposed of, I might be able to venture out there and do more. I know it's silly, but I've got a serious aversion to it. I think it stems from a previous garden we had when I was pregnant with LB and we had the same problem with cats using it as a toilet. Since having the dog, we haven't really had this problem, until this winter, when the neighbourhood cats seem to have got much more daring, as the dog spent less time outside due to the weather.

In other news, I received a rejection email on Sunday, for the merchandising job I'd applied for. It's a pity, but to be honest, I wasn't 100% sure about it anyway, so it's probably for the best. I'm sure something suitable will come along at the right time. In the meantime, I can spend some time on my home and getting caught up with everything that needs doing. I'm happy to make that my priority for the moment.

On Bank Holiday Monday, I got up and out with the dog quite early. I was conscious that we were forecast rain and I wanted to make sure she got a good walk in. 

When I got back, I decided to tidy up the side return in the garden. The honeysuckle was a bit overgrown and I could hardly get past it to retrieve the leaf mulch that I needed to get out and put on the raised bed, so I decided to cut my way though with the shears. It was then a case of sweeping up all the leaves and it looked a whole lot better and was much more accessible. A small job, but one I've been meaning to do for a while.

You can see the years of growth in the thickness of the underneath of the honeysuckle. It's a lovely mature plant.

Here's a view of the trimmed honeysuckle from the kitchen window. It is actually a plant in our neighbours garden, but I do love it and it grows back really quickly. I usually trim it on our side twice per year, once in spring and then again in the autumn. I love to look out on it when I'm stood at the kitchen sink.

OH then helped me to spread the leaf mulch in the raised bed. It was very well decomposed, so it should be good nutrition for whatever we plant in this bed.

I did one more small job that I'd been meaning to do for a while too, namely trim the ivy that grows over our front garden wall. It had got so long it was touching the pavement, so I chopped 6 inches off it, weeded and swept underneath and then swept the front path. 

Doing all these small garden jobs was very satisfying. I was done by 12 noon and then could spend the afternoon relaxing a little. There are still a couple of jobs I need to do, one of which is to clear the patio area at the end of the garden, as there is a lot of bindweed growing there, but it will have to wait for another day.

The rest of Bank Holiday Monday was spent updating my CV, applying for another merchandising role, pottering, napping for way too long and eating a lovely homemade Morrocan style soup made by OH. I ended the evening watching a movie on Netflix whilst working on my current quilt. It's coming along. I may do an update shortly.

You can probably gather from the fact that I'm being a little bit more productive these days, that I'm slowly getting my mojo back. It's taken a few weeks since leaving my last job, but I'm gradually getting my act together.  I do hope it continues, as being behind on jobs, is like carrying weight on your shoulders. I'm looking forward to a time when I feel like I've got things a bit more under control.

Anyway, it's been a fairly productive Bank Holiday weekend, which feels good. I hope you've enjoyed yours.