A Marginally Calmer Week - W/E 21st September 2024

This week, I was hoping for a calmer week after the busyness of the last few weeks. I started the week with a day off on Sunday, which is always nice. It was a nice sunny day too. It was lovely to get up in a leisurely fashion, make a nice breakfast, catch up with blogging and make a shopping list, as I needed to go out and do the weekly shop locally, using a final £5 off voucher.

It was also the day of the year when our local Jumble Trail happens, so I was tempted to have a walk around our neighbourhood and check out the stalls.  In the end, I decided against it. I really do not need to bring more stuff into the house, and besides, OH was out cycling and I had the house to myself which felt indulgent.  It was nice to just potter and catch up with a few jobs after being away for a few days last week.

OH's mum had sent us home with some cooking apples from her garden, so I ventured to make a crumble for OH. I did cheat and bought the crumble mix from ASDA, but it did make the process very easy. It tasted super nice though. 

I pottered in the garden too, processing some marigold seeds and lavender that I'd harvested and dried in the greenhouse. I already have lots of marigold seeds from past seasons that remain viable, but I can't resist continuing to harvest them each year as it's so easy. I may have enough lavender to make a small bag to put in the wardrobe to deter moths. (I only have one plant) I also stripped some dried rosemary branches from the allotment. I want to make a rosemary salt to season potatoes and wedges with. I just need to find a way to either chop or grind it right down now.

I headed out to do the shopping, but stopped to collect a couple of parcels from a neighbour. I'd not spoken to this neighbour in a while, so it was good to catch up. I eventually went out and got some of the shopping done using a £5 off voucher in the process. When I got back, I was shattered. I think the last couple of weeks is finally catching up with me, so I just chilled for the rest of the evening. OH made us a lovely soup and we caught up on an episode of Celebrity Race Across the World which was good.

On Monday morning, I got up and began my new dental hygiene programme at last. I was waiting for the specific toothpaste to arrive before I could start. I'm hoping that this new programme will help keep my mouth a lot healthier, but only time will tell.

I then headed out of town to finish off our weekly shop in the morning as I needed to return something I'd bought the previous week for LB, that wasn't suitable. I needed to be back early though, as I was due at work at 5pm.

Much later after I'd got home from work, LB came home.  She'd been out with friends locally and she came home to go work at her local job for a couple of days. 

On Tuesday, I woke up to a message from work asking me to work that night, so I agreed to go in. I was booked into a gym class late morning, so I went there and enjoyed the class. After lunch, OH and I ventured to the allotment to do a bit of harvesting and watering. I weeded and dug over some of the plot ready to put it to bed until the spring. There isn't too much work left to do there now, we should be able to wind things down completely by the end of October.

Later, I went to work, which was okay. The shift passed a little slowly tonight though.

On Wednesday, I was looking forward to having a whole day off and not needing to go to work or anywhere else. There were a couple of things that I needed to do at home, one of which was to do some financial stuff,  i.e. paying some bills. The allotment fees were due this month and next month my Pay As You Go gym membership needs renewing.  Luckily, they are relatively small sums.  

Once I'd done that I had the day free to do as I pleased. I sat in the garden with my coffee for a while as it was lovely and sunny and then decided to work on making the cover for the sofa in the shed.

I proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon basteing various pieces of the cover together. I got a fair bit done to be honest. More than I expected. I now just need to machine sew it together before proceeding any further.  Here's a photo of how far I got:

I'm reasonably pleased with my progress, although the parts I've done are the relatively easy bits.

LB wasn't feeling too good today. She came down with tonsilitis in the morning, but still needed to go to work. She managed to get through the day okay though. I think all the travelling and working in the last few weeks have taken their toll on her and she's got a bit run down. She's only got a few shifts left at the job, as she has decided that the travelling to and fro is too much.  Hopefully, she'll still be able to work for them during holiday periods when she's back at home. I think she's done the right thing, as she is in her final year at Uni and will have a lot of work, including her dissertation to contend with this academic year. It's better that she doesn't try to do too much outside of Uni and put too much pressure on herself.

Later, OH and I watched the final episode of Celebrity Race Across the World. I'll miss this series, it's about the only thing I watch on TV at the moment.

On Thursday, OH headed off early to Wales to compete in a Cycling Track Race at Newport Velodrome. I got up and got ready and headed to the gym late morning for a workout.  LB was still feeling unwell and spent most of the day in bed. I took her up some food and medication. 

By the afternoon, she was still feeling awful, so I encouraged her to contact the GP surgery and see if she could get some antibiotics. She didn't actually get to speak to a doctor and was only offered an appointment next week, which was ridiculous. I couldn't do much as I needed to go to work, but the following morning, I rang the surgery and explained that she needed assessing by a doctor and she was given an appointment that morning. She eventually got some antibiotics and could head home to her flat in the evening.

I was at work again on Friday afternoon and evening, and it was a busy shift. I'm liking the role that I have now. It can be a bit intense and stressful, but it keeps me busy and usually the shifts pass quite quickly.

On Saturday,  I went out to the gym in the morning to the free over 50's session that had restarted. When I got home I just chilled, watered the houseplants, did some laundry, made a pack up for work and then made some lunch before getting ready for work. I was working all afternoon and evening again. I bought a couple of items in store today. One was a set of salt and pepper grinders to make some rosemary salt from the rosemary I harvested from the garden.  They were on clearance, so slightly reduced. The other was skirt to wear for work which was also on clearance. It just gives me an option other than trousers to wear during the winter. I have been pretty good spending wise this week, so despite being on a low spend month, this little splurge wasn't too bad.

Work was good and passed quite quickly. I was kept very busy as my tasks were varied and the store was very busy. When I got home OH informed me that he'd hurt his shoulder falling off his bike that morning. We don't think he's fractured it, but it's very painful and sore. Hoping it heals okay.

It's been another pretty busy week to be honest, not as calm as I'd hoped, with a few unexpected things to negotiate, but it has been a bit calmer. I'm hoping that next week will be a more regular week, but we'll just have to see what happens.