Sunday, 16 March 2025

Some Changes, Some Sewing Projects and A Bit More Garden Maintenance - W/E 15th March 2025

On Sunday, the week got off to a slightly different start, as on account of being scheduled to work on Monday afternoon, I decided to do our weekly shop locally on Sunday instead. I had a bit of a lie in and then got up and did a bit of machine sewing on a current project, before getting ready and heading down to breakfast. I've really got my sewing mojo back at the moment, so I'm running with it.

I had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out to do the shopping. Going locally, there are many less distractions and possiblities for overspending, which is good.

It was another lovely sunny day, I decided to wear my new chunky boots for the first time with a skirt. I was happy with how they looked. I wore some thick boot socks inside, which made them much more comfortable. Here's a photo:



Later, when OH got back from cycling, we ventured into the garden to do a bit of pruning. I did more supervising I have to admit, as most of the pruning involved using a saw, which isn't my strong point. I'm loving being in the garden again now the weather has picked up, but we are forecast more cold spells before the month is out, so I'm making the most of it while I can.

The washing machine wasn't working today. I googled the fault setting to find that it had a drainage issue and must have had a blockage or kinked pipe. OH managed to mend it later, thankfully, so I could finally do my laundry.  I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some slow stitching. I finished one project and started another small project. I've already posted separately about the things I made.

On Monday, I decided to make some changes to my everyday habits.  The weight I lost has steadily been creeping back on and I've decided that the only way to stop it, is to go back to a calorie deficit. It's not something that I really wanted to do, but I think it's necessary. I've been way too relaxed about my eating and consuming too many snacks, so I've decided to take necessary action and get it under control again.

I've also decided to make a couple of other small habit changes. One is to spend at least 5 minutes per day sewing. It's an idea I got from Just Get It Done Quilts on YouTube, to ensure I make time for sewing. Today, I did a bit of work on my latest slow stitch project. I had 5 minutes worth of machine sewing to do on it, which I did before getting ready for work. I also did more handstitching on it later in the evening whilst watching TV.

I wasn't working until 1pm on Monday, so I went for a run in the morning and then I decided to cycle to work for the first time. It's only a 15/20 minute cycle ride away, it was a dry day and I was leaving work at 5 when it was still light. The ride itself was okay, but when I got to work, it turns out that leaving my bike in the stockroom isn't as easy as I thought, as it is full of stock and equipment and I have to be careful where I leave it for health and safety reasons. I felt a bit thwarted by this, so I'm not sure I'll continue unless there's somewhere else I can leave it.

I also started another small habit today, which was to try to wash my face and brush my teeth well before bedtime. I usually always leave it until I go to bed, but I want to get into the habit of doing it earlier. This is partly to help my skin breathe without makeup for a while, to help me avoid snacking late at night whilst watching TV and also to avoid those very occasional nights where I just feel too tired and don't bother. I feel that this might be a difficult one to get to stick, but we'll see how it goes.

On Tuesday, I managed to book into my usual class at the gym at the last minute. On leaving the class I headed into our local town centre. I bought some more new gym socks from Primark, plus a t-shirt and some earrings. I then bought a few bits for the house/sewing projects from a small hardware store. Finally, I dropped into a favourite local charity shop and spent £7 on a t-shirt to wear for the gym which cost £1.50, a couple of bits for my slow stitching which were 75p each




and a brooch, which I couldn't resist. I also bought a skirt from the £1 box, but I'm going to cut it up and use the fabric to make a bag with, as the skirt is a little short for my liking. 

I was working on Tuesday evening and had a good shift at work on one of my favourite jobs. The shift passed really quickly as a consequence.

On Wednesday, I was due at work 1pm till 5pm again and I decided that having been thwarted at riding my bike to work, I would attempt to walk it. It's a 2 mile walk and took about 45 minutes which wasn't too bad. It's mostly across wide open parkland which makes it quite a nice walk too. My shift was okay, but passed a bit more slowly. On leaving, I decided to walk home too, so I ended up doing over 11,000 steps which was good. I felt pretty tired though. I may do this again when my shift times and daylight allow, as it's good to get me up and moving around more and costs nothing.

Some good news on Wednesday, when I received a letter from the Nationwide Building Society, with whom I have a savings account, telling me that I'd be receiving £50 in my account next month, to thank me with regard to their recent takeover of Virgin Money. I'll happily take it.

I was off work for the rest of the week from Thursday. It was lovely to have a lie in and get ready in my own time on Thursday morning. I caught up on reading my favourite blogs over breakfast, did some banking and then got ready to go out of town to do a bit of shopping. I'd run out of a few essential things and fancied a trip out and a change of scenery. 

My shopping trip went well, but I did spend a bit more than I intended and I overspent on the £25 thrifting budget by £11, on account of finding a few good things in the Charity shop. I need to stay out of charity shops now for the rest of the month which may prove difficult. I've will, however, do a little post on what I bought.

On Friday, I decided that I was going to have a day at home. I did go out for a 5km run late morning, but the rest of the time was spent at home, sewing, pottering, etc. I started work on a new small hand bag. I created pattern pieces from a bag that I already own, cut the fabric pieces out from the skirt that I bought earlier in the week and then pinned and tacked the zip in and the pieces together ready to machine sew. I'm not sure how this project is going to pan out, but I'll do my best with it and do a post about it if it goes well.

On Saturday, I was late up and had to quickly get ready, have breakfast and head out to my usual free gym session. It was worth it though, as I felt much better for it. I picked up a freebie on the way to the gym, namely this letter rack. I've decided to use it in the kitchen to house all my spending/money/weight loss journals that I use on a daily basis to track my spending/calorie consumption. It keeps them all neatly together and easy to access. It's got a few marks here and there, but they don't bother me.



I did a bit of cleaning in the afternoon, made a veggie chilli for supper and then just chilled really for the rest of the day. We've now nearly finished watching four seasons of Yellowstone on Netflix. It has got better as the series have gone on. I'll miss watching it and look forward to when season 5 is available to watch on Netflix. We're going to watch 1889 next, which is a prequel movie to the series and then we'll have to look for something new to watch. Any suggestions are welcomed.






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