A Super Busy Week

Now that I'm not working, most weeks are lived at a gentle pace, but every once in a while a super busy week comes along and this was one of those. The reason for this, was that we were due to go to a wedding on the weekend, LB was leaving Uni halls and was coming home with a bunch of friends to stay in the house for the weekend whilst we were away. As a consequence, we not only had to go over to South London to collect most of LB's belongings, but I also had to tidy and clean the house ready for her friends coming, as well as pack an organise myself for the trip up North.

I started the cleaning on Monday, but not until I'd tried out the new to me Yoga class at the Glass House that I mentioned in a previous post. I cycled there and I had forgotten what a nice cycle ride it was. The only difficult part was up the hill to the venue, but I walked the bike for that part, as it was just too steep for me to ride.

The class itself was really good. I've not always been the greatest fan of Yoga in the past, but I'm giving it a try, as I think it might be better for me post menopause. It was a super busy class, that filled the whole building virtually. As soon as I laid down in that lovely space, I felt super relaxed. I could have just laid there for an hour and felt better, without the yoga. Anyway, the class wasn't too difficult for a newbie like me. There were a few bits I found difficult, but overall I just enjoyed how calm it made me feel. The teacher was lovely too.

When I got home, after having some lunch, I started on the cleaning.  I began in the living rooms. They didn't get cleaned the last time I got around to cleaning, so they were badly in need of a thorough clean. I put away the fire basket and the fire implements for the summer, washed some of the cushions and throws and moved the rooms around, as we tend to spend the summer using the front room and winter using the back room. I probably didn't start until 3pm, so it took until around 8pm to finish, barring a couple of small things that still needed to be done. I went to bed feeling satisfyingly tired.

On Tuesday, I had a good walk with the dog, and then after lunch I started on the cleaning again, working my way up the stairs and through all the upstairs rooms this time, dusting and vacuuming as I went.  This was all done a few weeks ago, so it wasn't in too bad shape. I did have to spend quite a bit of time working on the sewing room, as it was really cluttered and dusty and I needed to both thin it out a little and clean it. 

In the evening after supper, I spent some time in the kitchen, cleaning some of the bits that I don't enjoy, like cupboard fronts, on top of the fridge and extractor hood (as they get very greasy). I also put some citric acid in the dishwasher and cleaned it, putting the extractor filters in there too to clean.

Unfortunately, there was no time for exercise on Tuesday, but cleaning will have worked off a few calories.

On Wednesday, we had arranged to head over to South London to collect LB's belongings from her room in halls. She had the day off Uni, so it was the best day to go. Whilst waiting for OH to get back from the dogwalk, I used the time to clean the oven out and put the oven shelves in soak for when we got back. Another horrible dirty job partly tackled.

LB was staying on in her room until the weekend, when she had to leave and bring whatever was left home with her. We took a few boxes, bags and a large suitcase with us to help load everything into the car and I took some cleaning things to help clean up the room after everything was removed. It was quite a big job, as when we got there it was a real mess. Bit by bit we got on top of it. I packed up the laundry and separated into whites and darks, so it was easy to throw in the washing machine when I got home, as there was a lot of it. We packed up clean clothes, then boxed up the remainder of her stuff and then I cleaned as we cleared various areas.

It was a strange feeling emptying her room. It must have felt worse for her, as this has been her home for the past 9 months. It was empty save for enough things to fit into one holdall and a small carry on case, which she could bring home on the train. It felt satisfying, except that then we had to unload it all at the other end when we got home. I just did it bag by bag. I hung up and put away clean clothes, started on the washing and hung it out on the line. I found space to put as many of her things in her room, as neatly as possible. It was a lot of work.

I then finished cleaning the oven. I just needed to clean the wire rack shelves and the air fryer that we brought home with us. OH made us some soup when we got home and I was in bed by 10 pm. I was so tired at the end of the day, that I was over 300 calories below my allowance, but just didn't have the energy to eat anything more.  

On Thursday, I needed to focus on cleaning the kitchen. It was the biggest job in the house. I had already cleaned a few cupboards, the oven and the dishwasher, so it was mainly worktops, cupboard doors, window sills and the floor. It was still quite a lot of work to do, and in between I continued washing LB's clothes, drying them outside and then putting them away, so that it was all done and dusted by the time she got home.  I was tired and a bit grumpy by the time I had finished, as it had been such a busy week. I couldn't wait to just get to bed and sleep.

I woke up on Friday morning, knowing that we were on the final stretch. I began by showering and then packing ready to go away. There were also lots of small jobs to do, just tidying a few last minute things away and then I needed to head out to Lidl to do a food shop for LB and her friends for the BBQ they were going to have. Once done, a lunch was packed for the journey and we could load everything into the car and go.

The journey itself was fine, until we got to the Humber Bridge, which takes you from Lincolnshire into East Yorkshire over the river Humber.  Unfortunately, there had been a serious accident on the bridge a few hours before and it had been closed in both directions.  We went to a nearby village pub for supper at this point, in the hope that it would reopen, but it didn't so we had to take a longer route to get across the river and were unable to stop off and see OH's parents as we'd planned. Instead, we headed straight to our cottage near to the wedding venue. We were glad to eventually get there at 9pm and just chill after a much longer journey than we expected.

Saturday, was the day of the wedding. We were due at the reception for 2pm, so I had the whole morning to get ready, which was good. The wedding reception was lovely. It was in the grounds of the bride's parents' home in a large Teepee in the garden. 

A lot of work and thought had gone into organising it, with lovely welcoming drinks, canapes and then lovely food once we got seated in the Teepee. We were sat with some younger members of OH's family, whom we hadn't seen for a number of years, so it was lovely to catch up with their news over the meal. Some family members were sadly absent, which was a shame, as it would have been nice to see them. Others, such as OH's parents were unable to attend for health reasons.

Later, after all the speeches and cake cutting, we had a good dance and just generally had a lovely evening. I didn't eat or drink too much, but it was difficult to count calories, so I didn't even try. The wedding ended at Midnight and we headed back to our cottage in a nearby village. 

We were invited to return the following day, to a kind of wedding breakfast/bbq, but we decided to go to see OH's parents instead, as it was Father's Day,  and his health has been deteriorating recently. We stayed a few hours before returning to London later in the afternoon/evening.

It was a busy weekend, but an enjoyable one catching up with everyone and their news. It was a priviledge to share in the happy couple's special day and the wedding was a lovely ending to a very busy week.